"We've Got Issues..."

Issue:

An estimated 39.5 million people were living with HIV/AIDS worldwide in 2006. In the United States, 25 percent of both women and men noted injection drug use (IDU) as the mode of transmission.  Since the late 1980s, syringe exchange programs (SEPs) have given IDUs who continue to inject a way to safely get rid of their used needles and acquire sterile ones at no cost. Currently, 30 is the cap for one-for-one exchange.

Should the Federal Cap on Syringe Exchange Exist?

Liberal View:

   The federal cap on syringe exchange should not exist. Potentially, the cap limits success of the program as well as propagates the spread of HIV and other blood born diseases. A study was conducted from 1990-2001 in Connecticut found that legislation that limited an IDU’s access to clean syringes did not decrease the risk of HIV transmission.

During that time period, SEPs were allowed to gradually increase -first from five to 10, then from 10 to 30- the number of syringes exchanged. Monitored through syringe tracking, testing of SEP syringes and IDU interviewing, the following five parameters: syringe return rate, syringes per visit to the SEP, syringe reuse rate, syringe human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevalence and syringe sharing were analyzed.

If this study were replicated and similar results found, the number of new HIV cases in this demographic would decrease.

-Sable K. Nelson


Conservative View:

   In 2003, the United States government invested more than $19 billion on the war on drugs in an effort to clean American streets of its infection. Yet, contrary to the intent of this massive expenditure, some states, even the federal government, have allowed for Needle Exchange Programs (NEPs) to exist in direct conflict with existing law.

   This is not to say nor to relegate the transmission of HIV to a trivial existence, but to suggest that the nature of NEPs is socially and politically irresponsible. It is not a cap on needle exchange that will, as suggested, propagate the spread of HIV. It is rather, the 1.1 million intravenous drug users in the United States that multiplies this risk.

   It should never be the goal of the government to implement fundamentally conflicting policies. It should, in reverence to the colossal  societal issues of drug abuse and HIV, find alternative solutions to dealing with each, not promoting or excusing one to mitigate the other.

-Nyron Crawford


*These opinions are not the those of The Hilltop. Project Voice is a student organization dedicated to increasing political awareness on the Howard University campus. For more information on Project Voice, and to give us YOUR opinion, e-mail us at ProjectVoiceHU@gmail.com.