4 Nov 2022

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Providing Clean Needles to Addicts

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Academic level: College

Paper type: Research Paper

Words: 1376

Pages: 5

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Literature Review 

HIV and other infectious diseases have remained a global threat to humans. With the hope of cubing the spread of the contagious diseases, city officials are working on handing out thousands of needles to drug addicts across major cities. The value that is attached to clean needles is settled scientific exploration. Panariello (2016) reiterated that s everal bodies in charge of public health have endorsed the usage of issuance of clean needles to cities. The agencies include; American Medical Association, President George H.W Bush and president Clinton Bill’s surgeon General among other medical research organizations. The bodies have endorsed the provision of injection drug users with the chance to anonymously perform an exchange of dirty needles for clean needles and proceed in carrying out the act. Such an action is resourceful; it decreases the spread of hepatitis and HIV without the creation of fresh drug users ( Panariello, 2016)

Nothing can score such an idea like the current report received from the health department in Washington, D.C. the report indicates that 2.7 percent of the population is HIV infected ( Golding, 2017) . The research carried out by the department suggested that a revocation of the decade-long ban which disallowed DC from utilizing local funds for clean needs resulted in a significant reduction of the HIV infections caused by contaminated needles. The city is currently recording a remarkable 80 percent reduction in the number of people diagnosed with HIV cases in which the indicated transmission mode was injection drug use ( Golding, 2017) . In the year 2007, the year in which the Congress lifted the 1998 ban on exchange of needles, a total of 150 cases of HIV caused by needles were recorded. Surprisingly, in 2011, only thirty instances of needle caused HIV were recorded. The report further indicated that hepatitis infection also reduced by thirty-three percent in that similar four-year duration ( Golding, 2017) . The city has continued to make remarkable progress since 2011, and thus increases the number of needles that are taken from the streets by a large margin ( Golding, 2017)

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Los Angeles adopted the needle exchange program in 1992. The rate of HIV infection amongst those that were injected with drugs was operating at 8.4 percent. In 1993, the rate of HIV infection in Miami was at its highest value of 48 percent ( Panariello, 2016) . Despite the fact that Miami had put an HIV prevention and exchange program unit, there had never been a program of needle exchange in the region. Currently, HIV infection rate is at sixteen percent. In Los Angeles stayed low and it is at 5 percent. Clean needles are therefore a significant segment that should be embraced. The clean needles not only save lives, but they also save money. 

Needle exchange programs are the other option that comes into play instead of the using the clean needles. The program looks quite economical in the short run but can be expensive in the long term. The program can quickly enable drug use and make the existing issues even more badly ( Panariello, 2016) . A section of the society does not believe in addiction science and that the taxpayers need to fund resources to assist persons that make unsafe selections or choices. Needle exchange programs lead to an increase in the infection rates; more contaminated needles are available in the community and increases drug use injection. Other cons include; increases economic burden to the taxpayers; and further increases crime around the exchange sites and leads to low access to injection drug users in the rural surroundings. Provision of clean needles significantly addresses the shortcomings ( Panariello, 2016)

A section of people that are opposed to the program indicates that the clean needle program promotes usage of the addictive drugs by offering needles to assist an individual use. Also, it is arguable that acceptance of the IV drugs usage will result in higher degrees of drug abuse ( Platt et al., 2017) . Lastly, it is possible for the locals to feel unsafe due to the influx of drug addicts in the surrounding ( Jacob, Fertleman, Tringale & Reilly, 2017) . The addicts can easily cause a tense environment that might not be suitable for survival. 

For a majority of the addicts, syringe cleanliness is often an afterthought. More exceptional care should be put into this subject matter, and that needs to be done by all the parties that are involved. Pryor and Reeder (2015) mentioned that m ost drug addicts have a common tendency of sharing needles, and that is how diseases fast spread amongst a population. That accounts for the reason why heroin addicts easily get infected without their knowledge. It is essential for the rehab professionals to educate their members on the significance of using clean needles. Arguably, Pryor and Reeder (2015) further pointed out that i n the account that syringe sharing leads to the fast spread of diseases, the consequences affect not only the addict societies but also the non-addicts. It is therefore crucial for the responsible government organs to facilitate the distribution of clean needles exchange programs. The objective is to reduce the breakouts of diseases. 

In conclusion, it is censoriously noted that cities need to provide clean needles to the addicts. It can be argued that clean needles can in a way lead to more drug use by reducing the cost of doing the drugs. A majority can recognize that no matter how one gets exceedingly high on the drugs, they do not want to die of HIV or other infectious diseases like hepatitis C. It is conventionally known that needles are cheap while treating HIV/AIDS is never cheap. It is indeed an enduring scenario and so expensive. By the virtue that we do not want to let the addicts die, it is better they are provided with clean needles ( Tringale & Reilly, 2017). It is therefore essential for the government bodies to cooperate and offer clean to the various identified persons to help curb the spread of diseases. 

Introduction 

The question of the provision of clean needles to addicts has often remained a subject of intense debate. That happens as several medical agencies provide recommendations on the best way forward to curb the looming rates of HIV and hepatitis C spread amongst the drug addicts. Pieces of research indicate that clean needles have definite tendencies of reducing the spread of HIV and other infectious diseases. On the contrary, some critics argue that provision of the clean needles has a backdrop effect of the abusers taking it to their advantage ( Clarke et al ., 2016) . Some use clean needles as an avenue of catalyzing the usage of drugs. Some addicts overdose the drugs, and that has a ripple effect both to them and the society at large. Sharing dirty needles remains an efficient avenue of transmitting the virus and it can further be noted that one out of ten global infections can be squarely linked to IV drug usage. Further statistics indicate that; out of the sixteen million injecting users of drugs globally, three million of the total stay with HIV. It is the reason that several public health workers are vehemently advocating for clean needles to be present anytime that an injection is being carried out ( Clarke et al ., 2016) . That should happen even if it implies taking the needles into the dens of drugs when the addicts cohabit or are shooting up. It remains a controversial idea, and most public health workers mention that delivering the harm reduction services to the people that require them are instrumental in controlling a lot of the world’s deadliest diseases in the future. Some opponents continue to argue that such a program encourages usage of drugs in the community and motivates the addiction cycle for current users. The effects of using dirty needles or sharing needles are harmful, and its impact is felt in a more significant section of the society. With adequate public health education and a soberer societal view of drug addiction as an issue of health concern, the federal and local government bodies should be more receptive to the provision of clean needles. It is fundamental that effective universal health and treatment is a right ( Clarke et al ., 2016) . We need to effectively the diseases and any avenue of the spread of the infectious diseases. The cities should therefore work and ensure the provision of clean needles to the addicts. 

References 

Clarke, K., Harris, D., Zweifler, J. A., Lasher, M., Mortimer, R. B., & Hughes, S. (2016). The significance of harm reduction as a social and health care intervention for injecting drug users: an exploratory study of a needle exchange program in Fresno, California.  Social work in public health 31 (5), 398-407. 

Panariello, N. (2016). On the Wrong Side of the Tracks? Ethical Considerations of the Needle Black Market.  Elements 12 (1). 

Platt, L., Sweeney, S., Ward, Z., Guinness, L., Hickman, M., Hope, V., & Taylor, A. (2017). Assessing the impact and cost-effectiveness of needle and syringe provision and opioid substitution therapy on hepatitis C transmission among people who inject drugs in the UK: an analysis of pooled data sets and economic modelling. 

Tringale, R., & Reilly, J. M. (2017). Really good stuff Choose your own adventure in podiatry. 

Golding, N. J. (2017). The Needle and the Damage Done: Indiana's Response to the 2015 HIV Epidemic and the Need to Change State and Federal Policies Regarding Needle Exchanges and Intravenous Drug Users.  Ind. Health L. Rev. 14 , 173. 

Jacob, H., Fertleman, C., Tringale, R., & Reilly, J. M. (2017). Really good stuff undergraduate syllabus really good stuff. 

Pryor, J. B., & Reeder, G. D. (Eds.). (2015).  The social psychology of HIV infection  (Vol. 24). Psychology Press. 

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