GREENFIELD — The Board of Health on Wednesday night finally got at least a little push-back on a proposed needle exchange project in town.
That push-back came in the form of Mayor William Martin. Though generally supportive of the idea, Martin played a devil’s advocate at the meeting, questioning details surrounding the town’s responsibility for the project, any ongoing costs associated with it, and its role beyond just providing clean needles.
Proponents say a needle exchange would provide a safe place for drug users to turn in dirty needles and receive clean ones. The proposal was introduced in part as a response to reports of rising Hepatitis C infection locally.
The goal is to reduce the spread of disease and provide another place for health workers to connect with addicts and, hopefully, get them on the road to recovery.
The proposal, often controversial, has run into little opposition in Greenfield, drawing favorable recommendations from the town’s police and fire chiefs, top officials from Baystate Franklin Medical Center, members of the recovery community and others. A survey by the regional Opioid Task Force found widespread support for the idea.
Martin asked the board how exchange clients who come in showing signs of serious physical distress associated with their addiction or other conditions would be handled.
“What if that interaction is the last? How do you get by that last interaction?” he asked. “Do you enable them to continue or support that, or do you section (35) them?” Section 35 is the state’s involuntary commitment law.
“An incomplete program is sometimes worse than no program,” Martin continued. “If you just offer an exchange without any kind of serious intervention, you’re not going to save that life.”
Board member Tammy Mosher, a nurse who works in local clinics and regularly sees infection firsthand, said the exchange would be vital in reducing new infections, and that it’s far more expensive to treat them once they’ve taken hold.
Mosher agreed with Martin that the exchange would need to serve a broader purpose than just providing clean needles, but said the interactions users may have with staff could form relationships that might coax them into treatment and recovery.
“We’re interested in public health, in decreasing the rate of Hep C and HIV, and one of the ways to do that is with a needle exchange program,” said William Doyle, the board’s chairman, noting that the lower infection rates seen in Northampton have been attributed in part to the existance of an exchange there.
Martin also asked the board to develop a more solid plan before approaching Town Council, who will have the final say in approval, with the proposal. The board put off voting on a recommendation until a future meeting.
“I commend you for taking on such a controversial topic,” Martin told the board.
“This is the first time we’ve really been on the ropes,” Doyle replied.
Doyle has previously said the board is taking a deliberately slow approach in light of the controversy stirred by their effort to raise the sale age of tobacco in town.
He said the board also wants to ensure the proper process is followed in approving a program, so as not to encounter procedural problems similar to those that shuttered a needle exchange program in Holyoke run by Tapestry Health.
Needle exchanges are uncommon in Massachusetts. Since legalization in 1993, Boston, Cambridge, Northampton and the Cape Cod region, Holyoke and Worcester have opened them. Holyoke’s was recently shuttered due to procedural issues in its original establishment.
There can be only 10 exchanges statewide. The average cost to run a program is between $85,000 and $257,000, based on the estimates from the Holyoke and Northampton programs, according to state Department of Public Health.
You can reach Tom Relihan at: trelihan@recorder.com
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