As it faces a still-rising tide of opioid overdoses and deaths, the Department of Public Health has requested additional funding from the federal government to increase the number of locations where addicts can obtain clean needles.
During testimony on the department’s proposed fiscal 2018 budget, Commissioner Monica Bharel said Massachusetts now has 14 needle exchanges and put in a request for more funding in connection with the recently passed 21st Century Cures Act.
Needle exchanges and clean needle distribution offer people with substance use disorder a means of continuing to feed their addiction without subjecting themselves to the additional risk of deadly infectious diseases that can be spread by dirty needles.
“These are really about engagement and bringing people into treatment, people who might not otherwise seek services or come in for treatment for their addiction or health,” Bharel said at the Ways and Means hearing in Roxbury. “Not only do they get the needles, but they also get an education on naloxone, they’re offered treatment every time they come in, and they build relationships of trust.”
Former Gov. Mitt Romney in 2006 vetoed a bill that proponents said would slow the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C by making clean needles available, without a prescription, to illegal drug users. Lawmakers overrode the veto, with supporters saying it would save lives by reducing the use of dirty needles.