House Public Health Committee set to hear syringe access bill next week

Senator Deuell's syringe access bill, SB 188, is scheduled for a hearing in the House Public Health Committee on Tuesday, May 5, 2009, at 8:00 AM in E2.012 in the Texas Capitol. Click here to see the full text of the bill, as well as its fiscal note and analysis. Find names and contact information for the Representatives who sit on the committee here.

If a majority of the committee members vote to approve the bill on Tuesday, it can then move on for consideration by the House Calendars Committee.

Texas agency concludes syringe exchange programs do not increase drug use and do increase the use of drug treatment

The Texas Department of State Health Services posted their official conclusions about disease prevention through syringe exchange. They conclude:

Numerous studies indicate that SEPs do not increase drug use or crime, but do increase the use of substance abuse treatment services.

It's funny how sometimes things that seem obvious turn out to be false. It seems obvious to many that exchanging a clean syringe for a dirty one from a drug addict would encourage drug use ... but it turns out the opposite is true.

Syringe exchange programs often become an injection drug user's only window into the functioning world. As they exchange their syringes, they are kindly offered a path to recovery at the same time. These studies show that many users choose to enter recovery, and many successfully recover, by accepting the invitation to treatment which they were only offered in one place time after time - their syringe exchange program.

As syringe exchange programs have increased, researchers' access to hard data has increased and it all seems to be pointing to the same conclusion. Our Texas agency now joins the National Institute of Health, the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Johns Hopkins and New York Academy of Medicine, the Chicago Recovery Alliance Outreach Program, the New Haven Connecticut Syringe Exchange Program, the Tacoma and Seattle Washington Syringe Exchange Programs, and others who have concluded that syringe exchange programs increase drug users' use of drug treatment and recovery services.

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Why do some people oppose disease prevention?

Syringe exchange programs are accepted throughout the United States as part of a comprehensive approach to prevent infections like HIV, Hep B and Hep C among drug users and the innocent victims they expose to these deadly diseases. They are also the number one proven way that these addicts enter recovery.

So why do some people oppose them? While most people have benevolent intentions, some people claim that they oppose syringe exchange programs because they want injection drug users to die. This cruel sentiment has been expressed from time to time throughout the history of HIV prevention programs, as well as in recent cyberspace and blogosphere postings in conversations about the Texas legislation.

When discussing the Texas legislation, some people have advocated poisoning the drug user's needles with cyanide. Others have suggested ending their lives in other ways.

It's difficult to know what to say when a fellow Texan takes such a harsh position, condescending to the point that they claim human life is disposable. One approach is to decline to engage in this line of conversation.

Thankfully most Texans on both sides of the issue are interested in saving lives and preventing deadly diseases and the exposure of innocent victims. Most Texans believe in the ability of a person to change. In other words, fortunately the rest of Texas is having a respectful and interesting conversation about the issue this session.

House subcommittee hosts Senator Deuell to speak about bills

Subcommittee Chair Susan King led a fast-paced and productive meeting on Thursday morning to consider giving locals more options for HIV and Hep B and C prevention. She and subcommittee members J. Davis, Naishtat, Coleman and Zerwas heard from Senator Deuell, Chairman of the Senate Republican Caucus, as well as House bill authors Chair McClendon and Representative Ortiz.

The authors agreed to sign on to Senators Deuell, Van de Putte, Wentworth, Hinojosa, West and Zaffarini's bill SB188. Chair King and the subcommittee members agreed that Chairman Coleman would lead, and that they would move quickly to draft three changes to the bill to strengthen it.

The Christian thing to do

Sunday's Houston Chronicle featured an opinion piece on why allowing local options for setting up syringe exchange programs is the Christian thing to do. Author Dr. William Martin addresses the shift toward ministering to people with HIV/AIDS that has taken place within conservative Christian churches in recent years:

Then, in 2002, Franklin Graham hosted Prescription for Hope, a global conference attended by more than 800 Christians from many countries and denominations. PBS Frontline pointed to that gathering as the moment at which Christians got involved in confronting HIV/AIDS. Soon afterward, Rick (author of The Purpose Driven Life) and Kay Warren launched a major HIV/AIDS initiative. Today, many other churches, large and small, minister to people stricken with this disease. These ministries do not screen the people they serve to make sure they were infected through no fault of their own. They meet them at the point of their need and offer what help they can.

Then at the end of the piece Dr. Martin poses a compelling question:

How can we justify saying it is permissible, even laudable, to help people after they have contracted HIV/AIDS, but wrong to approve of measures that significantly reduce their chances of contracting that disease? Jesus had nothing to say about needles, but we do know how he treated social outcasts and sinners, and he had a great deal to say about people who let prim concern with their own righteousness interfere with offering needed assistance to those in peril.

In other news, last week the San Antonio Express-News editorial board again called on the Texas Legislature to "finally give Bexar County and other municipalities the ability to invest in a proven life-saving and cost-saving effort." The editorial also addresses common misconceptions about syringe exchange programs:

The great myth about needle exchange is that it subsidizes and encourages illegal drug use. In fact, the drug use is already taking place. Studies of needle-exchange programs around the nation demonstrate they do not increase illegal drug use.

Deuell's bill does not require communities to create needle-exchange programs. It simply gives them the option to do so.

Click here to read all four of the local option bills filed this session.

Needle-exchange program curbing disease: Sask. study

Our friends to the north released a study in February concerning needle exchange programs with positive results.

"A study released Tuesday suggests a provincially funded needle-exchange program is making a difference in Saskatchewan by sharply curbing disease.

The review, for the provincial Health Ministry, found that seven health regions have a needle-exchange program and an estimated four million needles are provided to Saskatchewan's 5,000 intravenous drug users each year.

The report concludes that the programs are meeting the goal of reducing the spread of disease.

It estimates that infections such as HIV and hepatitis C, which are expensive to treat, have been reduced in numbers by up to one-third among drug users, saving an estimated $4 million in health-care costs per year.

Despite the positive findings, the review notes there is room for improvement, especially in the area of needle returns and cleaning up discarded needles.

More

This supports much of what we said here a few weeks ago

Local options for HIV prevention

Did you know that a privately-funded charity worker who is trying to save lives can be arrested and incarcerated in Texas if their program includes exchanging clean syringes for dirty ones that might carry HIV or Hep C? 73-year old Chaplain Bill Day currently faces a year behind bars for his volunteer work in a program funded in part by his church.

Did you know that a county government or hospital district employee can be sent to jail in Texas if they carry out an HIV prevention program that has been proven to save lives and tax dollars, and is currently legal in every state except Texas?

Today our local governments and private charities have no options due to a state mandate that criminalizes the exchange of clean syringes for dirty ones.

Local options would be allowed by the HIV prevention bills authored by Senators Deuell, Van de Putte, Wentworth, West, Zaffirini and Hinojosa; and Representatives McClendon, Crabb, Ortiz, McCall, Rodriguez, Coleman, Naishtat, and Farrar. The bills would allow each local government in Texas to choose whether or not to allow these disease prevention programs in the local area, and to choose whether or not to use tax funds to pay for the programs. Several national charities would like to fund the programs privately without any tax dollars - but right now state law says "no."

When the United States government funds HIV prevention through syringe access, which President Obama has promised that it will do ... wouldn't it be tragic if Texas medical providers and charities were threatened with criminal prosecution by state government if they choose to utilize the funds to save lives?

Chairwoman Kolkhorst, Chair of the Texas House Public Health Committee (pictured above), will decide tomorrow whether or not to set these local options bills for a hearing next week.