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Syringe Access Interventions
Knowledge Asset Policy Brief
Published: January 2009
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Injection of illegal drugs using unsterile needles and syringes has been a significant source of HIV infection in the United States, contributing to nearly one-third of U.S. AIDS cases. The U.S. Public Health Service deems one-time-only use of sterile syringes to be essential to reducing rates of transmission among injection drug users (IDUs).
A comprehensive approach to limiting HIV spread via unsterile needles includes syringe exchange programs (SEPs), sale of syringes in pharmacies and other retail outlets without prescription or other limitation, and elimination of laws and law enforcement practices that deter IDUs from possessing syringes. SEPs have the added benefit of facilitating entry into drug treatment, which is independently protective against HIV.
Despite substantial evidence that expanded syringe access benefits public health without causing other harms, state laws on syringe distribution and possession, law enforcement practices, and actions by the U.S. Congress that limit federal funding for SEPs may be inhibiting the potential of syringe access programs to prevent HIV.
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- It Is Legal to Prescribe, Dispense Needles to Injection Drug Users in 48 of 52 Jurisdictions Studied (Grant Results Reports)
- A U.S. Needle Exchange Program Dramatically Reduces HIV Transmission (Grant Results Reports)
- Exploding Preconceptions About Needle Exchange Programs (Grant Results Reports)
Related Web sites
It Is Legal to Prescribe, Dispense Needles to Injection Drug Users in 48 of 52 Jurisdictions Studied
Publication date:
December 09, 2005
Summary:
Principal investigator Scott Burris, J.D., collected and analyzed laws, regulations and court decisions governing physicians' prescribing and pharmacists' dispensing of sterile needles and syringes to injection drug users.
A U.S. Needle Exchange Program Dramatically Reduces HIV Transmission
Publication date:
March 01, 2002
Summary:
The Yale University School of Organization and Management and the City of New Haven, Department of Health, worked to expand and evaluate a model needle exchange program in New Haven.
Exploding Preconceptions About Needle Exchange Programs
Publication date:
Nov 1, 1996
Summary:
The City of Baltimore's Needle Exchange Program purchased a mobile van to distribute clean needles to intravenous drug users to prevent the transmission of HIV, reduce AIDS deaths, and provide a way for addicts to obtain treatment.
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