Needle Exchanges Help Curb Disease, but Legislators Don't Like Them 

good topic! I did part of my Master's degree on this topic! really interesting study results. before starting my Data analysis I was unsure where I sat on the topic, but the evidence was very convincing about the benefits of the programs.

Once again, the compassionate thing to do is also the most cost effective. The sad fact is that some people don't want harm reduction, even when it saves tax payers' dollars. They believe that those who 'misbehave' by using certain drugs should be punished by the threat of various diseases.

Myself and other trans people in my community use the local syringe exchange because our insurance won't cover our syringes and needles (or if we get into a bind and run out, but need to do our shot before we can get access to needles). They're great because they don't ask questions (even your name!) and provide So Many free services. I really wish there were more places like it around the nation so thank you for making this video to raise awareness!

Yes! Yes! Yes! Needle exchange (and naloxone) programs work to save both lives and money! Shout out to one of DC's harm reduction orgs, HIPS, that has been at the forefront of these issues, moving policy forward and saving lives!

John Green just sent me here and wow you guys are awesome! Thank you all so much!

Needle exchanges are life saving and so important! thank you for making this video!

I love your channel I was about to do policy proposal for my MPH and I will use all your studies cited here for my lit reviews

I volunteer at a NSP in Australia. People are so thankful that they can get clean equipment, even though the programs here have been running for well over 10 years. The new frontier here is proving injection room so people can safely use and have access to support programs. The evidence for such room is as sufficient as for NSP programs, yet there is only one in the whole of the state. All the same arguments against NSP are being used against injecting rooms, even though the evidence contradicts all of them. I hope that Australia will have injecting rooms as standard practice within the next 5 years.

Love this channel. It is like a medical Mental Floss.

Thanks for talking about this..spreading truth helps create awareness to hopefully cause eventual change.

Being a resident in USA I have never seen authorities put so much effort in the war against drugs than America yet it's a failure in numbers , and it's not the fault of the people that operate these things but the entire strategy of the war against drugs. Syringe exchange is an a possible solution that would help cure these disease and even though people reuse these syringe for drugs like heroin and cocaine. syringe exchange is an uncongenial but successful protocol toward the fight against drugs and also decreases. many countries have moved away from these conventional methods and have shown success in their strategy and therefore I think we should think about outcome rather than cost, to think about the goodness of the deed but not the prices of it . therefore the government should act toward new methods that would profit the many in the long run instead of short term solutions.

I noticed needle/syringe disposal boxes showing up in the public washrooms of Toronto's Union Station recently... At the same time clinics opened up to give severe heroin addicts legal free doses unconditionally so they don't OD on bad drugs they got on the street. I'm assuming that may be a reaction to stuff being laced with Fentanyl. Ontario also just made naloxone (Narcan) available at pharmacies without a prescription. It would be nice to see other places take similar steps.

I live in very urban Newark, NJ. One of our better funded social service agencies, NJCRI runs a number of services for homeless, LGBT youth and addiction services. They also do a needle exchange and free instant HIV and hep screening. In June of this year, our esteemed Governor Chris Christie set a line item budget veto to $70,m in funding for such programs and noxolon. Their facility is in the South Ward where Bergen becomes 1st St. In July, there were two shooting and a number of armed robberies within a block. NJCRI was affected but not crippled by the loss. It is also very near to the major E,W rout linking the Turnpike with the wealthy western suburbs. Wen you go to the distribution point of the exchange, there are an awful lot of Mecedes and BMW s. I somehow doubt that they are owned by homeless, LGBT youths. Funding comes from somewhere else. Please note: The Governor restored the cuts and added 30m in September, just after he gave up his presidential bid. His approval rating here is around 30%right now and he is up in 2017

I interned at a health department and my supervisor had spent some time doing HIV and STD tests during the Scott County outbreak. He said that nurses and public health workers had to escort people participating in the needle exchange program from one healthcare facility to another because the cops were just waiting outside to arrest participants for drug use.

I strongly agree that syringe exchange should be put in place everywhere. Although some may see this as an encouragement for drug users to keep using drugs and get clean syringes as a reward. Although that it does give them clean syringes, like you said there is an 60% reduction in the risk of getting hepatitis B or C. That is a very big reduction and will help stop the spread of those terrible diseases, that many drug users already have. Like you said studies show that when the syringe exchange was not in order people are more than 3 times as likely to contract H.I.V. I do not understand why this has not already been available for everyone everywhere, you would think that the government would want to decrease the amount of people that has diseases that come about from using dirty and sharing of needles. The cost comparison is a lot less as well like you stated, one dollar towards syringe exchange saves about six dollars in the cost with H.I.V. If this information is told to everyone they will be more than happy to get in place syringe exchanges. Everyone will do anything to save a couple of dollars, especially if it will also help the spread of diseases. I also really like how you brought up how this program can also help drug users transition into treatment. People need help when it comes to using drugs and this will be very useful. You would think the government would be thinking in a beneficence type of way because they are there to put in place things that will be for the benefit of others. This syringe exchange not only benefits the overall community by saving them money but also will benefit the people that do use drugs by supplying them with clean syringes, in order to stop and help the spread of diseases.

I'm in an addictions counseling program and this conversation is well overdue

You could run a whole series on Harm Minimization v. Moral Hazard. I had my own 'Puritan' moment with HCT's last vaping video. I found myself thinking: even _IF_ vaping turned out safer than smoking (and that's a big _IF_) it still _FELT_ like an immoral half measure. [Edited]

could you make a video about the healthcare system in Austria?

Wait, Pence supported something helpful and forward thinking? Was that on Opposite Day or something?

We have a needle exchange program here in Huntington, WV. After your video, I am encouraged that this is a good thing for our heroin epidemic. I had no idea there were so many reasons supporting their use. There is a lot of local public resistance to the program though.

Removing infected syringes from circulation would help prevent the spread of certain viral infections. I think that is a good thing to do because if someone comes into contact with a syringe that is infected then they have that risk of getting something from that syringe. It may cause a person to inject themselves more often than what they use to because now they can get clean syringes and inject themselves and not have to worry about getting a viral infection.

This video was something that I have never paid attention to in the past for two reasons, the first being that I have never heard of the needle exchange program and also because I always thought that they were clean and unused needles/syringes being used. I found it very disturbing after watching this, when I started to do more research on the program itself and the specificity of it. The first thing that struck me was the fact that there could be a "60% reduction in the risk of contracting hepatitis B or C" by having the exchange program and by not having it people are three times more likely to get HIV. Right here was when I first thought "why is this program not put into place?" A few years ago there was a big discrepancy on HIV and it makes me wonder if this could have been one of the roots to the problem. It also made me question the government and where our tax money goes to. Yes I know that it does not always go where we want it to but the fact that this program would save money and the money saved could go elsewhere. Why allow someone to contract HIV and have the public have to pay for them, instead of just spending the money to lessen the chance of it? Even with all of this information there are only 200 Needle Exchange Programs and with the 200 programs, none of them are completely supported by the government, they were just given the okay to spend the money how they wanted. So my question is, why doesn't the government take action? I understand that they think it will give people the okay for injecting drugs but there are non-illicit drug users out there that need the injections to be able to go about their life? The other thing that the government does not think about is all the other people that the HIV is hurting and I am not talking about the person that contracts it from the needle or syringe. I am talking about their children if they ever get pregnant, their sexual partners if they do not know about it, but also the emotional effects it has not only on them but their family. Everyone is involved not just the person that contracts HIV. With the ongoing issues, I wish the government could give a legitimate answer as to why they do not want to fund and save many lives.

Also, this program should definitely be made for daily exchange or at least 3-times a week. So many addicts have the WORST time with punctuality ( I Did!

Ooo Stan did the outro this time!

What about free commerce of needles and syringes, (buying them over the counter at the pharmacy)? wouldn't that have mostly the same effect without the need for a special infrastructure?

How to file a lawsuit on drop-in center if I've been exposed to bad radio frequencies needles

So our government is really that worried about people using needles for drugs even though going through this route helps people with many more severe problems. Why can't this country take more things into accountability. Not to mention it wouldn't be hard to regulate where the needles go so those using the needles for drugs couldn't get them easily. Come on Government!!

Why are these programs not in every health care facility with all the benefits that it can provide humanity with. Reduced in the contraction of many diseases such as hepatitis B and C and even with HIV. Not only that it reduces the amount of cost that we pay through taxes and will save us a great amount of resources. On negative brought up in the video was an increase of drug usage in communities. However I am curious about how long the container for the needle exchange will last through constant use? Also, how is the contamination prevented from person to person? Does the needle simply eject off of the utensil? But, the research does not lie there is only benefits in using these programs reduction of diseases that can kill someone is a great payoff. Finally, not many people hear about these new programs and they could even change the world one day. Why does the government believe this program will cause such harm to the society?

What's the evidence for pill testing? There's been a bit of debate around testing pills at music festivals in Australia.

Well according to the cost effectiveness analysis if we spend one dollar by investing in syringe exchange programs, we end up saving six dollars in costs from JUST H.I.V. by itself. That should be almost enough to convince the federal spending/budget sector that this is a good idea. So not only is it 1. cost effective but it can 2. lower crime rates and drug abuse, 3. provide a transition into treatment. These studies were then reviewed by the WHO and by the UN and for some reason they still aren't implemented in the U.S. I think that the pharmaceutical companies have such a hand in the government that their lobbyist groups prevent things like this from being instituted. Big Pharma would rather see patients stay sick and spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on the medications to "prolong" HIV/AIDS patients lives than to actually help them. Then in turn new people are becoming infected because that community is sharing needles due to the lack of access to clean needles, and so then they are infected and have to buy into the pharmaceutical company as well. It's a snowball effect. I think it's less about the government and more about the pharmaceutical company in America.

Because programs like this are working so well in San Francisco. Madness.

Well, your first problem was ind your statement suggesting the government should "generously fund these programs." The government doesn't fund anything via generosity, it funds programs via forced redistribution of resources. While sometimes this is done for legitimate functions of government often times it is not. I believe needle exchanges are a worthy cause backed up by evidence. Therefore it should be possible to convince those in your community to fund them voluntarily, not force as is the case with taxes. Government's role is to remove any hindering regulation so that communities can come together to create these programs.

honestly, I think that if a person who uses drugs in a harmful way; they ought to be able to take a drug test to prove that they use the aforementioned drug so they can qualify for a maintenance program. Takes money away from the dealers people that would charge high prices that cause ruined lives, and allows the user to take a drug which is less contaminated and harmful. But of course a program for "LEGAL HEROIN" would make for some serious news ads. So that probably won't happen soon

He hasn't been to Eureka, CA, otherwise he might think different.

Needle exchanges do work in curbing spread of disease within the drug community. But they are not without their own risks tho. it increases the use of injectibles, leading to way more od's and increases the risk to exposure to these same viruses to front line services and children. I'm unsure that the lives are drug users are worth the lives of social workers or kids.

It is asinine these ne'er do wells we elect are too busy passing judgement than to do the right thing. Self righteousness blinds them from seeing these programs are cheaper, better for the people, and help to lay out a line these folks can climb on when they decide they need help.

people are going to do drugs, no way around it. especially as drugs like heroin are typically easy to go about finding. saying no to needle exchange as it encourages drug is the same as the old "free condoms" story. as do they really think someone is gonna go "Free needles??? might as well get myself addicted, i mean its need right!"

Why is there opposition to needle exchange programs? Is there some special interest working against it? Or is it ideological opposition?

To say nothing about how needle exchange programs also reduce the risk of non-drug users in these communities contracting these diseases.

Needle exchange programs are very important but safe injection sites are much more safer

How about remove the junkies from society, that will reduce the spread of hepatitis C, HIV, and other bullshit associated with junkies, such as drug cartels.

You really need a pause before the endcap.

Well maybe that's what's causing the fraudulent needle needle exchanges

Why can't congress do it job and help people?

I think it would have helped to say what syringe exchange programs are. Please don't forget to define any terms you mention in your videos. Without them, your message won't reach a lot of people.

If this country ran on reason and evidence based decision making we wouldn't be where we are today.

I thought each syringe is only used once and disposed immediately? because they are just made of plastic?

I must be a complete idiot because if we want to stop the spread of diseases contracted by IV drug use shouldn't we be actively trying to discourage IV drug use? If people were getting killed taking naps on train tracks does that mean we need safer trains and tracks, or that people should just stop sleeping on train tracks?

I've gotta argue against drug exchange programs in a debate lol Anyone got any good arguements against them?

first?

What is a syringe exchange? You should define what you are talking about in the beginning

Pence 2016

Clean needle programs do nothing to help addicts kick their addictions, but I'll tell you who the programs do help: drug dealers. Clean needle programs help keep alive addicts who will continue buying drugs until the day they finally die.

I dont know... I've watched this a few times, and Im still missing the reason why they dont like the programs. Making so many points as to why theyre effective. But why dont they like the programs? Because they promote drug use?

I support needle exchange programs as long as they AREN'T taxpayer funded. I shouldn't have to pay for other people to get high. Overall the war on drugs should just be ended so that users can buy their own needles cheaply without getting in trouble.