Since the first diagnosis of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in the U.S. in 1981, more than 500,000 Americans have died from the disease.
One-third of the fatal cases in this country can be attributed to drug users who were infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), the virus leading to AIDS, after using dirty needles.
Still, even with the number of HIV/AIDS diagnoses on the rise, some people still don’t understand the close correlation between shared needles and new AIDS cases.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2006, 36 percent of AIDS cases in the United States were among intravenous drug users, their children and their sexual partners. Twenty-eight percent of new cases were traced directly to the users themselves. This high transmission rate is largely due to contaminated needles.
In an attempt to contain the epidemic, needle exchange programs were established to offer sterile needles and syringes to drug users that could possibly spread the disease throughout the community.
While lawmakers had a good start by implementing the needle exchange programs, others decisions have brought about harmful setbacks.
Restrictions were recently attached to two House appropriations bills that would prohibit any funding to centers operating within 1,000 feet “of a public or private day care center, elementary school, vocational school, secondary school, college, junior college, or university, or any public swimming pool, park, playground, video arcade, or youth center, or an event sponsored by any such entity.”
With many urban areas being the center for most drug operations, this restriction could virtually dispose of a program willing to combat a major contributor to the AIDS epidemic. Needle exchange centers not only allow drug offenders a place to exchange dirty needles but also provide them with the necessary programs and information for getting clean. They also provide a safe haven for those in the community to get screened for HIV.
Those who oppose needle sharing programs say addicts’ tendency to share needles is often due to their lack of care for their own health and a carelessness demonstrated by their own recreational drug use.
However, many paraphernalia laws play a major role in preventing the availability of clean tools. Legislation that requires a prescription to buy needles and syringes that are normally available over the counter has been adopted by 11 states as well as the District of Columbia. In addition, one could be prosecuted if caught distributing the items. Legislation such as this only furthers the use of dirty needles since it makes it so difficult to find clean ones.
Despite studies that have shown decreased HIV transmission and heroin use in cities like New York, cities that have needle share programs, federal funding for these programs was cut in 1988, according to Harm Reduction Journal.
According to the CDC’s Web site, in 2007, some of the highest rates of AIDS cases in America were in cities where the centers have been completely outlawed, including 41.7 cases per 100,000 people in San Francisco, 36.6 in New York and 34.5 in Washington D.C.
By refusing to allow needle exchange facilities in urban areas, citizens ostensibly concerned about their communities are denying drug users the access to clean needles that would prevent them from infection, as well as counseling services available through many of these centers. The centers are also equipped to dispose of contaminated needles, which could cause danger to people who don’t use drugs when improperly disposed of.
Up to this point, society is taking an “out of sight, out of mind” approach to not only the AIDS virus, which is encroaching upon the well being of our cities.
There are currently 185 needle exchange programs in the U.S., operating in 36 states. This is hardly a drop in the bucket when considering how much damage HIV/AIDS has caused across the country.
While the “War on Drugs” has received much attention and government resources, more thought needs to be given to the other health risks addicts are exposed to, ones that could hurt more than just themselves.
Beyond distributing sterile needles and syringes, the presence of these needle sharing facilities confronts society with the AIDS issue that many choose to believe is a distant problem or simply inapplicable to themselves.
Jessica Barba is a journalism senior and Mustang Daily guest contributor.