Representative Hernandez Luna signs on to HB 117

With only a few weeks left hoping HB 117 will get a hearing the bill has picked up another Coauthor. Vice Chair Hernandez Luna (D-Houston) has signed on. Thank you Rep. Hernandez Luna!

Successful needle exchange program in Albany, NY run by local Catholic Charities

The first year operation of a needle exchange program in Albany, New York has met with great success. The local program, Project Safe Point, is an AIDS services project of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Albany. In an article in The Albany Times Union, profiling the success of the program, Angela Keller, executive director of Catholic Charities' AIDS Services reports:

"This is a health problem that's not going to go away and we've learned in our first year that it's a greatly needed service."

"We help people who are ready to take the steps of not using drugs anymore," Keller said. "They come to us when they've decided they're tired of living that way and want to get help."

Project Safe Point collected over 8,500 used syringes and referred 13% of its clients to drug treatment in its first year of operation.

Kudos Project Safe Point!

Read more here: Program shows a need for needle exchanges

Syringe Exchange: Responsible, Prudent, Compassionate

Check out Bill Martin's article, "Syringe Exchange: Responsible, Prudent, Compassionate," in the April 2011 issue of Recovery Today online.

Excerpts from the article:

"Recognizing that HIV and hepatitis were both spreading at alarming rates among injecting drug users (IDUs), public health officials in both the Netherlands and Australia began experimenting in the mid- 1980s with programs to supply addicts with clean needles in exchange for their used ones. The immediate and obvious success of these programs in reducing the incidence of both diseases—the rates quickly dropped as much as one third— led authorities in Canada and numerous European, Asian, Middle Eastern, and Latin American countries to follow suit. In some locales, sterile syringes can be exchanged at pharmacies, police stations, and even from specially designed vending machines. At St. Vincent's Hospital, in Sydney, nuns operate the exchange. Even the hyper-conservative mullahs in Iran have approved of syringe exchange as an acceptable way to fight an HIV/AIDS epidemic spread mainly by drug users."

"Even more striking, at the November 2010 Harm Reduction Conference in Austin, Texas, Dr. Don Des Jarlais, Professor of Epidemiology at New York's Albert Einstein College of Medicine, reported that the incidence of new HIV infections among IDUs in in New York City has dropped to under one percent per year. "We appear," he said, "to be very close to eliminating injecting-related transmissions in a city with over 100,000 injecting drug users."

"No one seriously any longer seriously disputes the health and financial benefits of SEPs. In 2009, Congress finally removed its long-standing ban on using federal funds to support such programs. State laws vary, but 36 states have syringe- exchange programs and 13 others make other provisions for IDUs to obtain sterile needles. Only Texas still flatly prohibits the purchase or possession of syringes for the purpose of injecting illegal drugs, and that prohibition may not survive the state's 2011 session of its legislature."

Read full article here.

Letters of support continue to pour in while HB 117 awaits hearing

Letters from individuals who support House Bill 117, including a mother, several concerned Republicans and Christians, a family member who lost a loved one to HIV/AIDS, and an United States Army Veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom continue to urge Public Health Chair Kolkhorst to give this bill a hearing if legislators are serious about saving money and saving lives. Their letters reiterate that House Bill 117 would save lives without encouraging drug use, would save the individual taxpayer the expense of treating further disease by halting its spread, would protect the community by decreasing the risk of children and adults finding improperly discarded drug paraphernalia in parks and public spaces as they do currently, and promotes an evidence-based disease prevention model. One Republican and Christian supporter states:

"I have seen the costs of inflicted on taxpayers from the spread of diseases which can be prevented through these programs. State funds are so critical and changes must be made for Texas to remain a strong state. This bill requires none of those decreasing funds."

A mother writes:

"I don't wish for my son to carry the burden of the cost to treat individuals infected by carrying a needle carrying an explosive disease that can then be spread to other users and non-users when a simple and effective program such as syringe exchange could be operating in our state. These programs are designed to protect law enforcement, medical professionals and the common man."

A letter from The CHOW Project (click on photo at right to join The CHOW Project on facebook) in Hawai'i, a statewide syringe exchange program in existence for over twenty years, asks Texas to join them in "helping stop the spread of blood-borne pathogens and making our communities safer for everyone." Research has shown that, for every year that it has been in operation, the Hawai'i program is not only cost-effective but has decreased the transmission of infectious disease, lowered the chance of needle stick injuries in public spaces by ensuring proper disposal of contaminated syringes, and connected drug users with treatment and other services. Texas could realize these same benefits by passing HB 117 and allowing syringe exchange to operate in jurisdictions that opt to authorize programs, and all without requiring the use of state funds.

Write to Chair Kolkhorst urging her to schedule a Public Health Committee hearing for House Bill 117! Write to your Texas House Representative urging them to help save lives, reduce disease and drug use, and save taxpayer money by supporting syringe exchange as disease prevention.