Analysis Of The Needle Exchange

Although these clients will still be abusing illegal substances, Sheon (2004) indicated that any reduction of harm is a step in the right direction, and the amount of success is measured by the client’s quality of life and well-being (as cited in Brown et al., 2005). “Harm reduction is about being respectful in somebody else’s world” (Georgina Perry, Service manager and co-author, England as cited in Cusick et al., 2010). By not respecting somebody else’s choices, the clients feel they must lie about their unhealthy lifestyles, which prevents the clients from getting assistance because they were trying to protect themselves from the real situation (Georgina Perry, Service manager and co-author, England as cited in Cusick et al., 2010). A way to reduce the harm from illegal substance abuse is clean needle exchange, and teaching clients how to properly inject themselves (Brown et al., 2005). The needle exchange is a program where clients exchange their used needles for clean ones, which helps reduce the spread of diseases such as HIV/AIDS (Brown et al., 2005). With continuation of these programs the harm from abusing illegal substances is reduced and the spread of life threatening diseases, such as HIV,

Peter Beilenson and Patrick McGuire had many obstacles and disappoints in their path to establish a needle exchange program in Baltimore. Peter Beilenson did not come up with the idea by himself, but got the idea, while working at John Hopkins in 1990, from the then health commissioner, Maxie Collier (Beilenson, 62). The program was hard subject to bring up and many politicians would not pass a bill for it. Beilenson’s bill that he brought to the General Assembly in 1993 was to establish a needle exchange program and to have the drug paraphernalia law exempted (Beilenson, 65). Unfortunately the General Assembly denied the bill, because many of the people felt that it would “simply be making it easier for addicts to pursue their illegal habit”

Using injection sites that not only provide the individual with the instruments but also the knowledge of same practices would be very beneficial investment for Canada, thus the previously stated example of how Canada has already enabled and succeeded with this method within Vancouver British Columbia. If Canada were to take on more of these harm reduction initiatives then there could be more individuals benefiting from the process and as a result street crime with drugs would also be dramatically decreased. However in reality Canada has already been practicing harm reduction strategies for centuries, they have just been practiced without the label of harm reduction. “In 1987, as concerns rose in the community about the spread of HIV through injection drug use, bleach programs were started at Alexandra Park in Toronto; these developed into syringe exchange programs in 1988 and were taken over by the City of Toronto in 1989” (Cavalieri, W. & Riley, D. 2012, Harm Reduction in Canada: The Many Faces of Regression. 3). With every initiative designed to help society there will always be those who disagree with the approach. Even though there is overwhelming evidence that harm reduction techniques such as injection sites work, funding is a big issue mainly on account of these methods advertise and

This chapter goes into detail about the community and life around the people. This chapter explains how the community as a whole is a caring and open environment. The book gives an example of the people sharing the cotton pads that have little amounts of heroin but enough to cure the heroin withdrawn. They are a community.

Vancouver is a city with multiple “claims to fame”. Known to be one of the worlds most livable, expensive, and beautiful cities, it is also well known for its large population of drug users, and the detrimental effects intravenous drugs have had on the Downtown East Side community. One of the major concerns connected to intravenous drug use is the large proportion of users who report a history of needle sharing, greatly increasing their chances of contracting HIV, Hepatitis B or C, and other injection related infections (Strike, Myers & Millson, 2004). With an estimated 15000 intravenous drug users (IDUs) currently residing in Vancouver, and up to an estimated 125000 nationally, the Canadian government has taken a proactive “Harm Reduction” stance allowing the implementation of controversial Needle Exchange Programs (NEPs) throughout most of the country (Weekes & Cumberland). Canada’s first NEP opened in Toronto in 1987, with Vancouver following suit in 1989. While it was still considered an offence to possess drugs under the Canadian Criminal Code, section S.462.2 stated that it was “not an offence […] to distribute needles to prevent the spread of HIV infection” (Weekes & Cumberland). The goal of these early NEPs was to supply IDUs with injection equipment to eliminate the necessity for needle sharing between users, operating on a strict “one for one” model. For each used needle returned, it would be replaced with a new, sterile

All major cities should have some sort of needle exchange program. Needle exchange programs exchange dirty needles and syringes for clean ones and provide additional services. The exchange programs reduce disease, drug related deaths, and help people get clean. If you find needle exchange programs helpful, write an email or letter to your local government or state government to try and get one started in your

Results of safe injection site studies have shown that an expansion may have a greater impact. This may reduce the chance of dangerous encounters between users of these safe injection sites and the public. Children not even out of elementary school, were getting involved in the drug scene. These runaways were a concern to the residents, who witnessed overdoses in the past decade. Over 2,000 lives were lost due to the Downtowns East side’s “drug-fuelled spiral” (MacQueen et al., 2003). Persisting the safe injection site can help in lowering risk behaviors by the drug users of SIS’s and community concerns that are related to public injection of drugs (McKnight et al,. 2007). Overall, SIS’s may have the ability to change the drug users and transform them into potential productive members of society.

America has been fighting a long war with drugs and the many diseases that are spread due to drug habits and dirty needles. Many people believe that the cure to solving this widespread epidemic is The Clean Needle Exchange program; this is a program that offers clean needles to drug abusers and also counseling to reduce the need for drugs. Though there are definitely benefits to the program it does not come without pitfalls, the programs have received a great deal of controversy because some people view it as drug promoting and supporting. The program is also funded by taxpayers which has sparked a lot of criticism and created the ban on needle exchange

Caring for one another in society requires empathetic attitudes and patience. Society is as only as strong as the weakest among us. Some within society have lost their way and require a collective helping hand to keep them going. The purpose of this essay is to discuss the importance of needle exchange programs within our communities and promote these types of programs' abilities to assist others in the recovery process.

Harm reduction can be defined as an approach that aims to reduce the consequences of high risk behaviours such as injection drug use on the individual and on society as a whole. Harm reduction programs provide injection drug users with access to a clean injection environment, sterile injections, drug-preparation equipment and safe disposal of contaminated material at the time of injection. Staff members in harm reduction facilities provide health teaching, anonymous HIV testing, information on addiction treatment, condoms and assist in connecting clients to social and health services (Semaan et al., 2011; Ball, 2007). Although, the benefits of harm reduction are evident through reduction of accidental drug overdose and prevention of

GLIDE’s Harm Reduction program performs syringe exchange and distributes naloxone kits to make sure that opiate users on the streets on San Francisco do not use contaminated needles or harm themselves. Naloxone stops the effects of opiates in the brain and effectively reverses overdoses, so volunteer-assembled and -distributed naloxone kits could save the lives of heroin and opiate addicts. In syringe exchange, volunteers give users clean needles in exchange for their dirty ones to make sure they do not inject themselves with old or possibly contaminated needles from the street; volunteers also collect and dispose of littered syringes. This organization is essential to San Francisco because, from a practical standpoint, heroin and opiate addicts

In this document Treatment Improvement Protocols (TIPS) is a developed program by the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment also known as CSAT. This program plan is the treatment of substance use disorders based on the specific needs of women. I was not aware of this program so I had learned quite a few from this document. TIPS main mission is to build resilience and supporting recovery for people that are risk of having mental or substance use disorders. They give out information and guidance for women. TIPS focus on clinical practices and researches that are concentrated on substance abuse treatment for women. I learned that there are differences between treating men and women. That you have to do treatment based on women’s needs and lifestyles.

Several studies have shown that injection drug users lower their risk of transmitting infectious diseases when there is a needle exchange program available. There has not been a valid study of whether or not the amounts of time needles are returned to the exchange programs are harmful to communities. The Journal of Public Health, conducted surveys, evidence from needle exchange sites, jails, and institutions that needle exchange programs are effective in reducing illnesses such as HIV and AIDS (Burt & Theide, 2016). Furthermore, Reepalu, Blome, Bjork, Widell, & Bjorkman (2012), researched the same individuals for 20 years, with no breaks. Their studies concluded that injection drug use, not only heightens the risk for HIV and AID’s, there is also an increase in Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C. However, there studies showed that there is not an increase rate of cancer diagnoses due to injection drug use. In a study conducted by Bonar and Rosenberg (2014), they wanted to see if self-initiated harm strategies, such as: proper needle sterilization techniques, proper disposal of needles, and cleaning of the pre injected skin, could help improve the health of those that use drugs intravenously. Their study was conducted over an eight-month period, results showed that their

Moreover, NEPs will provide sterile needle and syringes to avoid exchanges of used injections between drug users. Since NEPs are implemented, the number of HIV cases and other diseases are declined. In Saskatchewan, distributing needles reduces the total costs for health care because needle exchange programs reduce the transmission of HIV by one-third and accommodate a return of four thousand dollars investment in health care costs. (Thompson) Needle exchange program provide safety not only in drug addicts but also provide safety in the community. Many of needle exchange programs perform a one-for-one basis to decrease the exposure of contaminated needles in streets and playgrounds so that children and other people are away from needle sticks accident. (Franciscus)

There are many ways in which people who are addicted to intravenous drugs are perceived by our society. People sometimes believe the addicted person is to blame for their circumstance and substance dependence and some feel serious drug addicts are a “lost cause” due to a lack of values or flawed character. “Persons who struggle with addictions often are depicted as criminals or prostitutes, weak, lazy and morally corrupt” (Bartlett, R., Brown, L., Shattell, M., Wright, T., Lewallen, L. (2013). These stereotypes paint people with addiction negatively; a percentage of people who live with serious addiction are capable of recovery with the right attitude, support and healthcare. Street level healthcare services such as; safe injection sites, provide accessable resources at street level for people to make the choice to live healthier lifestyles. Govement funding and support is needed to make these projects possible to improve the health of Canadians. Safe injection sites are proven to be positive contributions to communities, save lives, reduce harm and open doors towards recovery for people from the grip of addiction.