{"id":771,"date":"2013-02-18T23:36:36","date_gmt":"2013-02-18T23:36:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/?p=771"},"modified":"2013-02-19T23:43:32","modified_gmt":"2013-02-19T23:43:32","slug":"clean-needle-and-syringe-distribution-is-a-necessity-not-a-menace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/clean-needle-and-syringe-distribution-is-a-necessity-not-a-menace\/","title":{"rendered":"Clean Needle and Syringe Distribution is a Necessity not a Menace"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Penelope Jernberg, a former intern with Santa Cruz needle exchange, is independent of that group now and speaks as a free agent.\u00a0\u00a0 She is currently working to decriminalize syrine possession to start operating syringe services in Nevada.<\/span> I received the following letter from her on Sunday February 17th.<\/span>
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Hi Robert,<\/div>\n
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First, I would like to address the confusion about “best practices” for syringe access and public health recommendations. \u00a0The current recommendations for syringe access are to provide as many\u00a0unused syringes as possible. \u00a0The reason for this is that for each injection a person should be using a new syringe, for every time. \u00a0That means if a person injects 4 times a day, they need 4 needles a day, not reusing one. \u00a0The health concern for this is that reusing makes the syringe dull, this can tear skin more than needed. \u00a0The more pressing reason is that reusing a syringe exposes the syringe to many bacteria, that bacteria is then injected\u00a0straight\u00a0into blood or tissue which frequently causes or puts them at higher risk of other health problems such as MRSA (drug resistant staph), necrotizing fasciitis (flesh eating bacteria), and a host of other disease.<\/div>\n
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This is not even including sharing syringes. \u00a0As I’m sure you know sharing syringes is the number one cause of Hepatitis C in our country, which estimates that over 70% of IDU’s (injection drug users) contract it. \u00a0This is what fuels me. \u00a0I’m not sure at what point any person should be condemned to a slow death of liver failure due to their own preferences. \u00a0Some drugs are legal and some are not. \u00a0People are prescribed serious opiates by doctors and those that can not get them use heroin, which in its pure form is actually safer and better for your health than fentanyl, morphene, and oxycontin.<\/div>\n
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To not have access to syringes is the primary reason that people share theirs with others while using drugs. this is not just the first cause of transmission for HCV it is also the third cause of HIV transmission in our country. Another life long and deadly disease.<\/div>\n
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\u00a0The current CDC\u00a0recommendations are that an IDU use a new syringe for every injection. \u00a0That implies they would need as many as they use personally. \u00a0To\u00a0have\u00a0a one for one policy restricts the amount that an individual has access to at any given time. \u00a0If they only have one and the exchange is not open for another two days and they inject five times a day…that’s only simple arithmetic to know they do not have enough to inject safely every time. \u00a0The previous exchange at the drop in center had a one for one policy. \u00a0I urge those that are against it to think about the repercussions of not giving enough syringes. On a human note, without regards to literature it just makes sense. \u00a0I recall on one such occasion working at the drop in center when an individual was trying to get just one needle and I could not give it to him because he did not have one. \u00a0He told me he was on his way to the metro to fish one out of the biohazards, likely to contract some disease. Why would we do this to someone just because we don’t agree with a policy? \u00a0We as a community condemned him to that because we couldn’t accept a one for one plus program. \u00a0This occasion and the many others that were similar broke my heart, and they push me every day to do more research, to try harder, to help those that can not help them selves.<\/div>\n
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To go back to resources and policy. \u00a0There are numerous federally funded studies that prove with significance that one for one is not an effective policy. \u00a0The Surgeon General endorses syringe access and the federal government has such loose language for oversight or recommendations that you could throw unused needles out of a window and that would follow federal guidelines. \u00a0So when anyone says it does not follow guidelines, I’m curious which ones? \u00a0There are none. \u00a0http:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/hiv\/resources\/guidelines\/PDF\/SSP-guidanceacc.pdf<\/wbr><\/wbr><\/a> (a copy of the most up to date federal guidelines)\u00a0Syringe access has been passed on to state and local governments as a policy, way too large of a policy for a small government to regulate. \u00a0When the Santa Cruz City Council first claimed SOS did not have the correct paperwork to operate a syringe access program I can address that: There is NO paperwork, there are no permits, there are very few to no regulations discerning what a syringe access program can and can not do.<\/div>\n
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Several years ago when I was more involved and helped to establish the exchange we filed an MOU with the HSA that recognized us as a viable program, to this day they support us completely, including following a one for one plus model. During this time I tried to connect with the police department to establish some agreement with them. \u00a0What happened was appalling at best. \u00a0I tried to have a conversation with Steve Clark who immediately cut me off and suddenly was yelling at me over the phone, thank goodness I did not try to go in there. \u00a0I was and still am offended. \u00a0This man clearly should not be in a public position as I experienced him loosing his temper in a matter of minutes. \u00a0He then went on to say he did not and would not support our program because we did not follow federal guidelines. \u00a0\u00a0Obviously\u00a0I tried to address the fact that there are NO federal\u00a0guidelines. He used his same tactic, and barely let me talk. \u00a0So, we never established anything with the police department, but boy we tried.<\/div>\n
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The only grounds that the City Council legitimately has on SOS is that they were operating without consent of the\u00a0laundromat\u00a0owner, we also tried to contact him when we first took over, I do not even know who he or she is.<\/div>\n
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To address discarded syringes: the primary reason people improperly discard their syringes is police harassment. \u00a0It is currently legal\u00a0to posses up to 30 unused syringes and any amount\u00a0that are containerized. \u00a0This has not changed with law enforcement practices. \u00a0People are going to jail for possession of paraphernalia laws that no longer exist! For fear of arrest they are throwing them where they can (in general). As my previous anecdote states, I’m sure police practice won’t change since Dick Clark er, Steve Clark won’t even talk about needles\u00a0without yelling. \u00a0I for one hope never to talk to him again.<\/div>\n
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Finally, to address the current laws, they are both current and correct. \u00a0Let me specify a few points of them both. \u00a0Pharmacists are allowed to provide up to 30 syringes without a\u00a0prescription. \u00a0http:\/\/www.cdph.ca.gov\/programs\/aids\/Pages\/OASAOverview.aspx<\/wbr><\/wbr><\/a> (law here)<\/div>\n
The downsides to this law:<\/div>\n
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