As a recovering addict, I am constantly trying to keep up on the news regarding the opioid epidemic, and measures being taken to help combat it. On August 10th, 2017, President Donald Trump declared the opioid epidemic a National Emergency. Indeed, the number of opioid related deaths has quadrupled since 2002. But it isn’t just overdoses that are a danger to drug users. Along with the risk of overdose comes the risks, too, of bloodborne diseases such as hepatitis and HIV/AIDS. Intravenous users face dire health consequences when they use the same needle to inject multiple times, or when they share needles.  One of the ways that states are combating these dangers is by implementing Syringe Exchange Programs.
In Washington State, there are 17 syringe exchange programs, with each program having one or more exchange sites. What exactly is a syringe exchange program? A syringe exchange program is, in short, a place where addicts can return 1:1, used syringes to be disposed of properly, for clean ones. Are these programs harmful or helpful? The longer explanation to the former question is, syringe exchange programs offer to dispose safely of used needles, educate addicts on the dangers of using dirty needles, and provide community resources and access to treatments and other social services to treat the root of the addiction. It is for these reasons that the answer to the latter question is, they are very effective programs, both in terms of sociologic respects, and in economic respects.
Socially, needle exchange programs are successfully helping addicts reduce the risk of contracting and spreading blood-borne illnesses. “HIV declined 6% per year among PWID [people who inject drugs] in cities that have exchange programs.” The opposite is happening in cities that do not have exchange programs, with levels rising 6% annually. By offering clean needles, and the disposal of used ones, needle exchange sites reduce the risk of an addict sharing a used needle, accidental sticks, or addicts contracting infections due to dirty needles or dried blood within the syringes.
Speaking from personal experience, the risk of using dirty needles is indeed a dangerous and life-threatening decision. When I was in my active addiction, the man that I was dating and I did not have access to a needle exchange site. We often time used syringes three or four times, and it was within these circumstances that he contracted a very nasty blood infection. He had to be hospitalized for 10 days, and have anti-biotics given to him every hour, on the hour via IV. Ultimately it resulted in major surgery to remove part of his arm that was infected, and left a gaping scar and reduced movement in the affected limb. He was informed by doctors that he was lucky he sought out treatment when he did, because had he not, he would have perished from the infection. The doctors confirmed that the infection was likely contracted from using the same needle multiple times. Access to a syringe exchange program could have very well avoided the situation.
