AUGUSTA, Maine — Hypodermic needle exchange programs in Maine, which collected more than a quarter million syringes in a recent 12-month period, are running into serious funding problems because of the overall poor economy, officials who oversee the programs say.
None of Maine’s four exchange programs receives public funding, but private grants and other donations are drying up.
“It is having an impact overall,” said James Markiewicz of the state Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Infectious Diseases, which monitors the certified Hypodermic Apparatus Exchange programs run from Augusta, Bangor, Ellsworth and Portland.
The syringes are collected from injection drug users to prevent the spread of HIV, hepatitis C and other diseases. New needles are then distributed to those who turn in used syringes.
The state Center for Disease Control and Prevention says 260,050 syringes were collected and disposed of through the four programs during the 12-month period that ended Oct. 31.
State law requires reports on the program to be filed annually with the Legislature’s committees on Judiciary and Health and Human Services. A report is due this month.
The Bangor-based eastern Maine AIDS Network reported the largest number of syringes collected — 94,505. The totals for the other regions were 92,043 in Portland, 38,629 in Ellsworth, and 34,873 in Augusta.
Portland’s certified program is run by the city. The other programs are the Down East AIDS program in Ellsworth, Eastern Maine AIDS Network in Bangor and HealthReach Harm Reduction in Augusta.
The totals for syringes distributed through the program were on par with the numbers collected with 93,053 in Bangor, 90,267 in Portland, 32,889 in Augusta, and 46,999 in Ellsworth.
State figures show that 64 percent of those enrolled in needle exchange programs are male and 36 percent female. The number of enrollees has increased at least since 2009.
Dr. Caroline Teschke, program manager for clinical services at Portland’s India Street clinic where an exchange program is run, said funding has all but disappeared for needle exchanges in the city, but she’s determined to keep it going because of the public health impact. In the past the program has cost $10,000-$12,000 per year, she said.
“This is a program that runs on an absolute shoestring,” said Teschke. “For every case of HIV or hepatitis C (prevented), it saves about $375,000. For an absolute minimal amount of money, we can have a huge public health impact.”
No federal or state money is used for needle exchange programs. Congress on Dec. 17 reinstated the federal ban on such programs, and no state money has been involved, the state Department of Health and Human Services said.
Markiewicz said the state monitors and certifies the programs to make sure they meet requirements for health and safety and data gathering.
Teschke acknowledged that needle exchange programs “are not popular because people don’t like to do nice things for people who use drugs.” But she said people should consider the cost-effectiveness of the programs.
“The health of the community depends on the health of the poor and marginalized,” she said.
The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that as of 2004, injection drug use accounted for about one-fifth of all HIV infections and most hepatitis C infections in the United States.
Injection drug users become infected and transmit the viruses to others through shared contaminated syringes and high-risk sexual behaviors, the CDC said.
all those collected wow how many did they put back on the street i think this is a losing idea
They put the same number they collect back on the street, swapping dirty needles for clean on a 1 to 1 basis. This is hardly a losing idea. When addicts use and share needles they spread diseases such as hepatitis and HIV. Given the opportunity and access, a very large number of addicts choose the safer behavior of exchanging needles and using only clean needles.
The idea is to reduce the harm. Sure addiction has other risks but the general public is affected by the spread of the diseases these programs prevent.
We can effectively eliminate HIV/AIDS with a combination of providing the right medicines and providing clean syringes. Studies have shown that access to clean needles does not increase IV drug use, it only reduces the incidence of transmissible disease.
If law enforcement can’t get the drugs off the streets, you have NO POINT.
Do not pass “Go”.
I find this ridiculous! free needles for drug addicts and poor people that need them for medical reasons have to pay for them hmmm dont sound right to me
the dope heads should get needles already loaded with the drug they use in executions. 1 sure way to trim the need for this idiotic program.
They’re not free needles. They have to bring in the amount they get back. As a former volunteer at a needle exchange, I can tell you firsthand that there are some people who are addicted to drugs and would never give up their addiction, but they are ADAMANT that they use clean needles and works, not only to keep themselves from getting horrible diseases, but also to ensure that others don’t. And actually, diabetics have used needle exchanges. I did an intake for a very young, homeless diabetic who brought his needles in to us twice a week. No questions asked. Please don’t utter your dissent unless you are very educated about the rates of drug use, the true purpose of methadone clinics (which is most certainly NOT to help people get clean), and the rates of infection and health issues that are caused by HIV and Hepatitis.
Any kind of positive intervention to deal with any part of the desolating social and public health issues that make drug abuse such a curse for individual addicts, their families, and the community at large, always seem to bang head on into the reflexive mean spirited and selfish moral superiority of far too many. If this string is any indication, there hasn’t been such a convocation of selfish penurious policy and moral superiority advocates and exclusionary rhetoric since the fall of Richmond Va., in the spring of 1865 or the Berlin Olympics of 1936.
Hey squirrel brain, if you feel so effn strong about this issue, then why don’t you give up your internet service and use the money to go buy needles.
The judgement you use against others is the judgement that will be used against you. I’ve a feeling you are a loveless / unloved / unlovable person.
Having run a needle exchange program through a local non-profit, I have seen first hand how effective these programs are. We exchanged tens of thousands of needles each year and saw the IV drug using community make the healthier choices of exchanging clean needles and not sharing them. Out of all of the programs offered to reduce the spread of HIV and hepatitis, needle exchange is the most effective and lowest cost in terms of producing meaningful reductions in disease incidence. Maine has had a needle exchange statute since around 2001 but only licensed exchanges since 2004. In the last 8 years, nearly a million needles have been exchanged. This has prevented numerous cases of HIV and hepatitis infection, saving taxpayers and Maine residents millions of dollars in medical care.
The cost of a clean syringe is roughly 3 cents. The cost of an HIV infection is tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. Generally speaking, the medical care for the infected individuals comes from MaineCare, federal programs and targeted disease prevention and treatment funding. The financial return on investment for syringe exchanges could approach a thousand dollars in savings for every dollar spent. You cannot find a better return on investment than that, anywhere.
With private funding sources strained by the economy, we should move to permit state disease prevention funding to be used for syringe exchange. The public health impact is immense. In addition, when addicts use needle exchange, they are offered counseling, HIV and hepatitis testing, and exposed to treatment options. The result is that many effective referrals are made to treatment resources.
On the current track, dollars spent on HIV prevention are being cut across the country. We are in danger of seeing an increase in new infections for the first time in over a decade. The social and financial costs are high and truly unnecessary. We can eradicate HIV within a decade if we key our eyes on the goal, testing sexually active people and providing medication for those infected. We could also see an increase in HIV infections if we are not vigilant. This story is a bad development to be sure.
You worked for a non profit for a paycheck?? and if you keep the needle exchange you keep your paycheck???
Churches are non profit. They pay their ministers. What’s your point?
BFD. This would be at the top of my list of things to cut. You want to help a junkie, then help them yourself.
Hey, can you read, or are you so closed minded and ignorant that you can’t understand that this is not funded by public funds? It is funded by private sources. I’ve a feeling you love to kick someone who’s down, kinda makes you feel good, no?
I can read and I’m not ignorant, but in this case I saw what I wanted to see. I was wrong. But, in regard to kicking somebody when they’re down making me feel good, not at all.
You should know that but for the grace of god, you, or a loved one, could be among those you express such heartless contempt for. Deeply afflicted, troubled, living lives of degenerating nightmare anguish, they are still Americans. Its obvious that doesn’t mean anything to you or your ilk. American standards require a lot more than you seem to have in you.
So the anti-science conservative public health plan is cut funding to hospitals AND encourage the vectors for the spread of AIDS and hepatitis ?
No wonder the wing nuts want to close Dorothea Dix …
Dorothea Dix will not close.. Now for the rest of your comment.. Pampering drug addicts and providing them with needles to shoot up with is a bit weird.. I was up on the flat roof of a business one day and found hundreds of used needles. Great exchange program.. or could it of been just one bad apple drug user…
Talk about a double standard; providing the scourge of our society (hardcore druggies) with free needles to shoot up with, and then offering them counseling and rehab services to stop them from shooting up. I have to wonder whose pockets are getting lined on this deal?
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