Nevada Providing Clean Needle Vending Machines for Drug Addicts
Nevada has decided to take a crucial step in addressing the health epidemic caused by drug abuse. The state will offer clean needles to intravenous drug users free of charge.
After decades of failed policy driven by the multibillion-dollar federal drug war that criminalizes drug use and addiction, some states are slowly coming around on their own with new health-based approaches.
In May, Nevada will become the first U.S. state to offer clean needle exchanges through no-charge, automated vending machines, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported this week. Clean needles and gear will first be made available in machines at three locations in Las Vegas.
Participants in the program, which is run by the Southern Nevada Health District, the Nevada AIDS Research and Education Society, and Trac-B Exchange, will be issued cards that they can then scan in the machines. Included in the kits are 10 syringes, a tourniquet, a disposal container for used syringes, alcohol swabs and adhesive bandages,” Huffington Post reported.
“This is like our heart and soul. Seeing this happen is actually like a dream come true,” Michele Jorge, HIV lab director at the Community Counseling Center, told the Review Journal.
The program’s primary goal is to reduce the transmission of communicable diseases such as hepatitis C and HIV, both risks for those who use dirty needles for intravenous drug use. Health officials have noted an increase in recent years in hepatitis C cases among young people in the U.S.
Harm reduction clinics have been offering some clean needle exchanges—common in other countries—for several years. And last year, Congress finally ended a ban on federal funding for needle exchange programs, NBC reported.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned that heroin use continues to increase across the U.S. Its most recent report, based on studies from 2002-2013, noted that the greatest increases in use occurred in demographic groups with historically low rates of heroin use, including women, the privately insured, and people with higher incomes.
Heroin-related overdose deaths also increased during the same period, nearly quadrupling to 8,200 deaths in 2013.
Steve
Steve is an affordable multifamily housing professional that is also the co-founder of Whiskey Congress. Steve has written for national publications such as The National Marijuana News and other outlets as a guest blogger on topics covering sports, politics, and cannabis. Steve loves whiskey, cigars, and uses powerlifting as an outlet to deal with the fact that no one listens to his brilliant ideas.
