Human Immunodeficiency Virus : An Example Of The Harm Reduction Philosophy Essay

On the other hand, people who are against of needle exchange programs claim that the needle exchange programs don’t save lives but instead it can cause drug-related deaths. Even though NEPs help reduce the transmission of HIV and other diseases, they still encourage people to use more drugs, which could lead to death. Addicts are prone to death, perhaps not from HIV, but from overdosed, collapsed veins, poisoned dope, or the violence and criminality that go along with the illicit drug trade. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), there are more than 33,000 people who died from drug overdose in 2005. As a result, drug overdose become the second

Children, starting as early as elementary school, are being educated on substance abuse. As of 2013, Drug Abuse Resistance Education, D.A.R.E., administers a school-based substance abuse, gang, and violence prevention program in 75 percent of the United States school districts. Since 1983, 70,000 police officers have taught the D.A.R.E. program to approximately 114 million elementary through high school students in the United States alone ("Is the D.A.R.E. Program Good for America's Kids K-12?"). This program is aimed at preventing drug use in elementary, middle, and high school students. A needle-exchange program implicitly encourages the exact opposite message, condoning immoral and illicit behavior. Governments should focus on discouraging drug use, providing more productive treatment for recovery, and punishing drug users instead of supplying the materials to continue their addiction. Young children have the potential to take more risks and must receive a clear message on drugs, which should coincide with the no tolerance policy they are being taught in school with implementation of the D.A.R.E. program. A needle-exchange program is more of a hopeful harm reduction campaign that sends the wrong message to young children and society as a whole. If there is to be a positive change in America regarding intravenous drug use, then the government and school programs all need to be on the same page; we

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

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,

Imagine for a moment being able to walk down the street without seeing used needles or other drug equipment. Although it will not completely eradicate the problem, safe injection sites will allow users to have a safe and clean environment that they do not have access to now; not just to inject their drugs, but also to dispose of their used syringes. When given a 3-year trial at the first facility in Canada, it was found that fatal overdoses within 500 metres of the facility were reduced by 35 percent, and a 9 percent decrease in the rest of the city (Stueck, 2011). Thus proving the effectiveness of injection facilities not only in Vancouver, but nationwide. Giving access to support can significantly increase the quality of life for intravenous drug users. By providing sterile equipment the

One controversial topic is giving out clean needles to heroin addicts through needle exchange programs. This essay will explain why needle exchange programs are beneficial to society. Needle exchange programs have become a controversial topic because one argument states that it starts more drug use and makes the community worse, and one states that it benefits the community and reduces diseases. We should morally fund needle exchange programs, even if people don't utilize them correctly, because many people can change their lives for the good.

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

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

Worldwide and in more than 80 cities in 38 US states, NEP has emerged to address the risks of injection drug use. There are currently 113 NEPs in the US, and in Hawaii, the NEP is funded by the State Health Department. The NEP offers drug treatment referral, methadone clinic and a peer education program to teach IDUs the benefits of not sharing needles. HIV rates among injecting drug users have declined 5% in 1989 to 1.1% in 1994-96. From 1993-1996, 74% of NEP clients reported no needle sharing, and 44% of those who report sharing admitted that the used needles were previously cleaned with bleach. Harm Reduction Central in Hollywood, CA, reported a low rate of shared needles of young IDUs, specifically those of ages

Paragraph 19). According to “Does HIV Needle Exchange Work” “The median annual budget for running a program was $169,000 in 1992. Mathematical models based on those data predict that needle exchanges could prevent HIV infections among clients, their sex partners, and offspring at a cost of about $9,400 per infection averted. This is far below the $195,188 lifetime cost of treating an HIV-infected person at present. A national program of NEPs would have saved up to 10,000 lives by 1995” (Does HIV Needle Exchange work. Paragraph 14). I believe that needle exchange programs are very cost effective even if the people are mad about having to pay taxes, they are helping to save lives. In order for this problem to not be as big of a problem, there needs to be a broader expansion of needle exchange programs. In today’s society heroin is expanding into a larger issue by the day. Heroin use is such a big problem mainly because it is so cheap and addictive. People are taking advantage of such a cheap drug which really is not cheap when a person's life is at risk. According to Drug Related Hospital Emergency Room Visits “in 2009 there were nearly 4.6 million drug related ED visits nationwide” when there is this many hospital visits due to such a cheap

The sharing of dirty needles lead to forever effects in many people throughout Licking County. Many drug users such as heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine addicts struggle to get clean needles. The rate of heroin drug users is increasing daily. Due to the lack of supply, they are sharing dirty needles which is spreading diseases and also leading to deaths. Licking County has a high rate of HIV and AIDS in the society. According to ______, “Licking County The deaths of drug users have increased by over 50% in the past year and those who are addicted do not have access to all of the supplies that they need” (__). The access to these things are limited by lack of resources, financial issues, and many other aspects. In order to help stop the sharing

Those individuals that contradicted the Needle Exchange program can refer to that this program can prompt the advancement of medications by giving needles to them. Some rules ought not to be yielded only to have this arrangement. The individual decision to go on the wrong way by taking medications in the public eye should realize that it is unlawful. That person that picks this way all separate way to make drugs ought to endure the results individually, without being loads on alternate citizens. This sorts of standards are improper. For example, Atlantic City judges managed in 2005 against Needle Exchanges on the premise that: "Atlantic City and its representatives are not absolved from the (criminal) code arrangements precluding the ownership, utilize, and circulation of medications and medication gear basically on the grounds that they received a needle-trade program for advantageous reasons." (Forum). As should be apparent, there are many levels headed discussion spinning the benefits of introducing Needle Exchange Program. Advantages incorporate the previously mentioned explanations behind diminishing HIV and making nature more secure. Be that as it may, the NEP can send a wrong message advising individuals to utilize needles drugs. These considerations show up at a youthful age. This is because of an absence of information about society. The needle trade projects can send a zero-resilience message to the adolescents and organization. In any case, this could be uncommon. A portion of the issues is not tended to in this program. For instance, sharing the blend of water for heroin. This little issues can have a massive effect on the general public. At last, the needle trade program lessens the quantity of impact from HIV/AIDs display. In my viewpoint, needle trade programs are to a high degree profitable to the overall population. Each application isn't flawless; however, its principal objective is to enable the

The controversial issue of whether to distribute sterile needles and Narcan or Naloxone to addicts has been an increasing issue. The increase in the use of injectable substances such as opioids has caused a rise in the number of blood borne diseases, such as HIV. Programs have tried to combat this rise by distributing clean needles to addicts through needle exchange programs. These programs trade unsanitary, used needles for fresh, sterile ones. These programs also distribute the reversal medication for opioid overdoses, Naloxone. Programs like these are trying to benefit everyone with supplies they believe will be helpful to the addicts. These supplies are continuing to hurt the addicts as well. The needles allow for profit to be made by the

“Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a blood-borne virus typically transmitted via sexual intercourse, shared intravenous drug paraphernalia, and mother-to-child transmission (MTCT), which can occur during the birth processor during breastfeeding.” There is no cure for HIV or AIDS but over time different types of medications have been developed that slows down the advancement of the disease. AIDS is a lethal disease that is caused by HIV. HIV destroys the immune system and causes the body to not be able to fight off any diseases.