Needle Exchange
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81US: As HIV Spreads, GOP Unlikely To Fund Needle SwapsSun, 17 May 2015
Source:San Francisco Chronicle (CA)          Area:United States Lines:Excerpt Added:05/18/2015

WASHINGTON - In 1988, archconservative Sen. Jesse Helms successfully pushed Congress to prohibit federal dollars from being used to distribute sterile syringes to intravenous drug users, equating an effort meant to slow the spread of AIDS and other diseases to federal endorsement of drug abuse.

Now, with a severe outbreak of HIV and hepatitis due to a surge in heroin use in states including Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia, the question of whether to let federal money support needle exchanges is back. Still, in contrast to a new willingness by state politicians to accept needle exchanges, Congress appears unlikely to overturn the moratorium even with drug problems hitting hard in states represented by those responsible for the spending bills that impose the ban.

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82US AK: Proliferation of Used Hypodermics Spurs Talk of NeedleSat, 02 May 2015
Source:Alaska Dispatch News (AK) Author:Hollander, Zaz Area:Alaska Lines:Excerpt Added:05/02/2015

WASILLA -- A different kind of blight is emerging from heroin use in the Valley: discarded hypodermic needles littering roadsides, parks and waterways from Butte to Houston.

Valley residents say they find syringes without trying -- at a school bus stop in Big Lake, riding horses in Houston, in the sand next to Wasilla Lake.

Houston Fire Capt. Christian Hartley found 30 needles in a stretch of road near a gravel pit just off the Parks Highway in April. Last year, most of the hypodermics turned up along the Parks Highway -- maybe users just threw them out vehicle windows, he said -- but this year most cluster along King Arthur Drive, Houston's busiest artery.

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83 CN SN: Editorial: Needle Numbers An Uncomfortable PokeWed, 15 Apr 2015
Source:Prince Albert Daily Herald (CN SN)          Area:Saskatchewan Lines:103 Added:04/17/2015

The numbers are staggering and frightening and raise many questions about our future.

In recent days the Daily Herald has been looking at the issue of discarded needles that are being disposed of by intravenous drug users in and around Prince Albert.

Thousands a year are ending up anywhere but where they are supposed to, putting average Prince Albert residents, especially children, potentially at risk.

Just as alarming are the number of needles actually being handed out to these individuals. It is stunning.

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84 CN SN: Unaccounted For Needles Total 59,671Tue, 14 Apr 2015
Source:Prince Albert Daily Herald (CN SN) Author:Clarke, Tyler Area:Saskatchewan Lines:108 Added:04/15/2015

Number represents 95 per cent return rate to Straight to the Point exchange

Of the 1,203,382 needles handed out to intravenous drug users in Prince Albert between April 1, 2013, and March 31, 2014, 59,671 are unaccounted for.

This represents a return rate of 95 per cent of the needles handed out at the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region's Straight to the Point Harm Reduction Program's needle exchange.

On Thursday, members of the Prince Albert Fire Department walked through a field littered with thousands of used needles while attending a grass fire east of the Central Avenue viaduct.

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85 CN SN: Discarded Needles Prompt DebateSat, 11 Apr 2015
Source:Prince Albert Daily Herald (CN SN) Author:Clarke, Tyler Area:Saskatchewan Lines:64 Added:04/15/2015

Dumped on the boulevard just outside his home, Coun. Lee Atkinson found dozens of used needles and other drug paraphernalia first thing Friday morning.

Not too big a surprise, he shrugged, noting that needles are a common sight around his midtown area home.

A few houses down, there's a vacant property with several needles, aerosol cans, clothing, a mattress and mouth wash containers strewn about.

As the snow melts, evidence of a winter's worth of nefarious acts are being uncovered, prompting the Prince Albert Fire Department's annual warning to look out for sharps.

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86 CN ON: Pilot Project Aims To Reduce Threat From Dirty NeedlesFri, 10 Apr 2015
Source:St. Thomas Times-Journal (CN ON) Author:Bunnell, Eric Area:Ontario Lines:90 Added:04/13/2015

Public health officials want to take a long-running needle-exchange program to the streets.

It's a one-year pilot to reduce the threat to the public from sticks from improperly discarded hypodermic needles, by locating a collection bin in a downtown parkette across Talbot St. from city hall, and a second bin on the north side.

Dr. Joyce Lock, medical officer of health for Elgin St. Thomas Public Health, says the initiative is part of a multi-pronged approach to harm reduction in drug use.

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87 US DC: PUB LTE: The Need For Needle ExchangesThu, 02 Apr 2015
Source:Washington Post (DC) Author:Piper, Bill Area:District of Columbia Lines:34 Added:04/02/2015

Regarding the March 27 Politics & the Nation Digest item "Governor authorizes needle exchanges":

With two Midwestern governors - Mike Pence (R) of Indiana and Steve Beshear (D) of Kentucky - recently supporting syringe-exchange programs in some fashion, it is a good time for Congress to repeal the federal ban that prohibits states from using federal prevention dollars to make sterile syringes available to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C.

This ban has cost thousands of lives and millions of dollars. Repealing it would reduce federal healthcare expenditures and give states greater flexibility. Decades of peer-reviewed studies have conclusively shown that syringe-exchange programs save lives without increasing drug use.

States should be free to use prevention money on these effective services if they want.

Bill Piper, Washington The writer is director for national affairs of the Drug Policy Alliance.

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88 US NC: Volunteers Collect Needles, Other Drug Materials Around CitySat, 28 Mar 2015
Source:Star-News (Wilmington, NC) Author:Bellamy, Cammie Area:North Carolina Lines:67 Added:04/01/2015

WILMINGTON - An object about the size of a AA battery glinted in the dirt. Susan Stroup turned it over with her tongs, revealing milliliter markings along the side.

She picked up the broken syringe just a few feet from a jungle gym at the edge of Robert Strange Park.

"Yep, that's exactly what that is," said Stroup, an N.C. Harm Reduction Coalition volunteer, as she dropped the syringe into a biohazard container.

On Saturday, the coalition hosted an event to collect needles discarded by injection drug users around Wilmington. Volunteers searched areas including Greenfield Lake Park, parts of Orange and Ann Streets, and the railroad tracks near 17th Street and Oleander Drive, finding eight syringes, one crack cocaine pipe and other drug paraphernalia.

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89 CN SN: 'Tis the Season for Needle DiscoveryFri, 27 Mar 2015
Source:Prince Albert Daily Herald (CN SN) Author:Fish, Myles Area:Saskatchewan Lines:70 Added:03/28/2015

Safe Handling Methods Crucial to Cleaning Up

Across Prince Albert, the snow is disappearing and needles are appearing.

It is an unfortunate reality of spring, but one that a number of local agencies are prepared to deal with.

There are seven permanent needle drop boxes in Prince Albert - most found in the downtown - and two numbers to call for help with needle disposal.

While the vast majority of the needles, or "sharps," used for intravenous drug use in P.A. are returned to the Straight to the Point Harm Reduction Program on 15th Street East or disposed of in the yellow drop boxes, thousands are revealed once the snow melts.

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90 US IN: Ind. Governor Ok's Needle ExchangeFri, 27 Mar 2015
Source:Boston Globe (MA)          Area:Indiana Lines:35 Added:03/28/2015

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Governor Mike Pence overrode Indiana law and his own antidrug policies Thursday to authorize a short-term needle-exchange program designed to help contain HIV infections in a rural county where 79 cases have been reported, all of them tied to intravenous drug use.

Pence issued an executive order declaring a public health emergency in Scott County, an economically depressed area about 30 miles north of Louisville, Ky., that has seen dozens of new infections since December. The county typically sees only about five HIV cases each year, health officials said.

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91 US CT: PUB LTE: Needle-Exchange Program Was Daniels' 'GreatestTue, 24 Mar 2015
Source:New Haven Register (CT) Author:Hammer, Paul Area:Connecticut Lines:41 Added:03/25/2015

Several years ago at a public forum, I found myself sitting in front of Mayor John Daniels. I took the opportunity to ask him what he thought was the greatest legacy of his administration. He responded that community policing would have been his greatest legacy but that the city had all but abandoned it. Fortunately this approach to law enforcement has since been restored.

Mayor Daniels said that the city's needle-exchange program had been his greatest single gift to the city. This program, which he had first opposed and ultimately embraced, was shown by a landmark Yale Public Health study to have reduced new AIDS infections in New Haven (80 percent of which were transmitted by hypodermic needles) by a third. The level of trust created by not being subject to arrest by participating also provided an opportunity for health professionals to refer addicts to drug rehabilitation programs that they might otherwise not have known about or been open to considering.

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92 US WA: Why Is This Rogue Needle Exchange Handing Out MethWed, 18 Mar 2015
Source:Stranger, The (Seattle, WA) Author:Kiley, Brendan Area:Washington Lines:397 Added:03/19/2015

The People's Harm Reduction Alliance is one of the most daring and innovative needle exchanges in the country.

And it's run by users. Five years ago, they started giving out crack stems.

Now they're expanding services for methamphetamine users.

On a sunny afternoon the first week of March, in an alley behind the University District post office, volunteers for the People's Harm Reduction Alliance needle exchange open the doors, set up their outreach table, and begin another afternoon's work.

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93 CN ON: Column: The Piercing Damage Of Cuts To Needle ExchangesFri, 30 Jan 2015
Source:Toronto Star (CN ON) Author:Fiorito, Joe Area:Ontario Lines:86 Added:01/31/2015

Queen St., just west of Dufferin, outlines a sharp edge of roughness in my neighbourhood; here, you watch where you step. On a recent morning, I found evidence of hard drinking on the sidewalk - use your imagination; evidence of hard sex - use your imagination; and evidence of hard partying, in the form of a forlorn scarf of blue feathers fluttering on the pavement. I was on my way to the community health centre where there is evidence of much that is good in Parkdale: a free dental clinic; the help of various physicians, social workers, physiotherapists; and specific care for things such as diabetes or sore feet. And a needle exchange. I was not there to exchange needles.

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94 US WI: Fatal Overdoses Fall To Zero, But Needle Giveaways SkyrocketFri, 23 Jan 2015
Source:La Crosse Tribune (WI) Author:Jungen, Anne Area:Wisconsin Lines:65 Added:01/26/2015

La Crosse County leaders fighting the local heroin epidemic credit a life-saving drug with eliminating fatal overdoses.

No heroin users died in 2014, thanks in large part to the availability and skyrocketing use of Narcan, the antidote for an opiate overdose. Two people died in 2013 and five in 2012 of accidental heroin overdoses, La Crosse County Medical Examiner Tim Candahl said.

Nationally, heroin deaths surged 39 percent in 2013 in 8,260, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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95 CN AB: Half A Million Needles Handed Out As Harm-Reduction ProgramThu, 22 Jan 2015
Source:Metro (Calgary, CN AB) Author:Modjeski, Morgan Area:Alberta Lines:71 Added:01/23/2015

More than 1.8 million clean needles distributed over past four years

Nearly half a million needles were handed out in Calgary last year as uptake of safe injection services offered through Alberta Health Services' Safeworks program continues to rise.

According to AHS data provided to Metro, 499,086 needles were distributed through the harm-reduction program in Calgary last year, an increase of roughly 27 per cent from the 390,285 handed out in 2011.

Debbie Newman, executive director with the Calgary Drop-In and Rehab Centre, which offers a needle-exchange program to its clients through Safeworks, said the increase is encouraging, on the whole.

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96 CN BC: Getting To The Needle PointFri, 21 Nov 2014
Source:Maple Ridge News (CN BC) Author:Melnychuk, Phil Area:British Columbia Lines:157 Added:11/21/2014

The number of clean needles handed out to drug users by Alouette Addictions has more than doubled this year, from 18,000 to 50,000.

That doesn't mean, though, that the number of drug users has jumped by that amount.

"What we're seeing is that people are becoming more aware of the service. People are becoming more aware of their health," and are exchanging the needles to keep themselves and the streets cleaner, said Annika Polegato, executive-director of Alouette Addictions Services.

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97 US FL: OPED: Pro: Pot Will Reduce Needless Suffering in Fla.Sat, 01 Nov 2014
Source:Palm Beach Post, The (FL) Author:Mills, Jon Area:Florida Lines:87 Added:11/02/2014

Retired Air Force Capt. Jeff Lahman served 25 years in the Air Force, including time in special ops.

He ended up with a series of injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He and his wife, also an Air Force officer, lived in Arizona. He was prescribed a large dose of oxycodone and other painkillers. Those prescription medicines brought him to a new low.

A doctor suggested he try medical marijuana. He did and it changed his life. He was himself again. His wife saw the difference. Just last year, Lahman moved to Florida. He is a strong supporter of Amendment 2 because it would allow him to legally consult a Florida doctor about using medical marijuana.

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98 US MA: PUB LTE: Another Needless Victim of the Misplaced WarWed, 01 Oct 2014
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Eisenberg, Mark Area:Massachusetts Lines:25 Added:10/02/2014

The subject of your article "Hooked. Terrified. Trapped." is another needless victim of the woefully misplaced war on drugs. Instead of getting this student the help he needed for treatment of his drug addiction, campus security coerced him into becoming a police informant. I hope the University of Massachusetts Amherst uses this unnecessary tragedy to recognize that substance use among college students is a public health issue and not a matter for the criminal justice system.

Dr. Mark Eisenberg

Brookline

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99 US CA: PUB LTE: Those Convicted of Drug Crimes NeedlesslySat, 26 Jul 2014
Source:Chico Enterprise-Record (CA) Author:Cooper, Garry Area:California Lines:44 Added:07/26/2014

Ask yourselves how much sense this makes and how much good this does for our society.

Millions of young people are being convicted of drug felonies in our country. They are then excluded from federal financial aid for college, cannot join the military, are excluded from most government employment, and they wear this brand of being a felon for the rest of their lives, which devastates their employment in private industry for life.

These people often turn their lives around but struggle to make a decent living and struggle even more if they marry and have families. They often find themselves with car problems, behind on rent, needing school clothes or needing birthday presents for their kids like everyone else. They have but one way to earn good money and that is to sell drugs. What do you expect them to do? The law enforcement/prison industry expects them to re-offend and continue contributing to their lucrative industry that they have carefully crafted for themselves by buying influence to place such counter-productive (to society) laws on the books from our ever-so-ready-to prostitute themselves politicians.

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100 CN BC: Editorial: Lift The Needle Exchange BanFri, 11 Jul 2014
Source:Mission City Record (CN BC)          Area:British Columbia Lines:65 Added:07/15/2014

Drug users shouldn't be given clean needles. It only encourages them, you see.

It's that kind of misguided, short-sighted thinking that leads to bans on needle exchanges and other harm reduction measures in communities.

Abbotsford went down that ill-advised road in 2005. In 2010, the Fraser Health Authority (FHA) urged the city to reconsider, citing among its concerns Abbotsford's hepatitis C infection rate, which was higher than regional, provincial and national averages. Earlier this year, Abbotsford council did the right thing and rescinded the bylaw.

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