com) In San Diego, as reported by Maria Arcega-Dunn (2013 Nov20) a young girl playing on the sand in Ocean Beach was pricked in her finger by a used hypodermic needle while building sand castles. It's noted in article that at same beach a few months earlier the same thing happened to a five year old boy. As if this is not enough to promote some sort of change, there is a partner issue of health disorders that not only haunt the people who accidently come into contact with these needles, but the actual IV drug user that contract diseases such as Hepatitis, HIV and a host of other ailments from sharing and used needles.
In April 2014 it was estimated that 36% of HIV diagnosed cases contracted the disease from sharing needles (U.S center for Disease control). The Illinois Public Health Department reports that IV drug users have an 80percent chance on contracting Hepatitis C from needle sharing. These diseases require very expensive and aggressive treatments. Some treatments call for medication that can be as much as $1000 per pill. Hospitals do not typically make a habit of turning away sick people and most street IV drug users don't not have health insurance therefore cannot pay . When you consider the fact that someone must pay for their treatment one can understand the large financial strain on the Healthcare system. This burden is past down to the tax payers (you and I). With these situations in play the needle exchange program (NEP) was born.
A needle exchange program is based on a harm reduction model of service. It is set up to have intravenous (IV) drug users exchange their used syringes for new ones. The goal is to stop or slow down the spread of diseases such as Hepatitis C and HIV as well as stop used needles from being discarded in places where kids play. Unlike the law enforcement model which simply wants to punish users with arrest and stiff jail terms, harm reduction wants to meet the addict where they are while not condoning their drug use gives them a safe way to use and dispose of their used syringes.
