Price City Council member Layne Miller expressed his hopes on Tuesday morning for the approval of a needle exchange program in Carbon County. “It started with the legislature passing a bill,” Miller said. The bill, House Bill 308 – the Disease Prevention and Substance Abuse Reduction Act passed the legislature in March 2016 and was signed by Gov. Gary Herbert.
H.B 308 provides the outlines for how communities in Utah should develop their needle exchange programs. The bill’s main priorities include:
1) authorizing the operation of syringe exchange programs in the state;
2) specifies the requirements a syringe exchange program must meet and
3) requires the department to report to the legislature every two years on the activities and outcomes of syringe programs operating in the state.
“Addicts face a tough future,” Miller continued, noting how his real life experiences helped shaped his beliefs. He worked for the Four Corners Community Behavioral Health before going into government. “Working with kids really showed how parental actions had an impact on kids’ behaviors.” He also emphasized how addicts need support from the community, friends and family and that he hopes that businesses in the community hire recovering addicts.
Societal benefits
“Society as a whole benefits,” Rep. Christine Watkins said. There have been several instances of needles possibly harming the public, including being found in parks during clean ups and an officer being stuck by a needle that was a pocket of a male who had overdosed. Watkins said she hopes that people don’t use this as an example to use drugs. The problem has continued into 2017 as the number of overdoses remained steady.
“Needle usage continues to rise,” Utah Rep. Steve Eliason said. Eliason, R-Sandy, was the main sponsor of H.B 308 and hopes that people take the time to study the issue and learn how the program positively affects communities before jumping to conclusions about it. “Overdoses and fatalities continue to rise,” Eliason continued noting there were 300 overdoses in the state last year. Utah ranked number seven on a list of 10 states with the highest overdose rates in 2014. Before introducing the bill, Eliason thought the idea wouldn’t be good, but after studying how other states and countries approach the issue, his mind changed. Positive aspects of the program besides public safety include being able to talk to addicts to try get them to turn their lives around and look for help.
The program also requires addicts to hear options available for treatment and also for testing and also naloxone availability in their area. Naloxone is used to help people who are overdosing. HIV and Hepatitis C are the main diseases associated with needle usage and 40 to 50 percent who have either, are on Medicaid according to Eliason, so the program could also save the government money. However, the program is still in its beginning stages as regulations took a while to set up.
According to Miller, program possibly has support among other council members and could be brought up on March 22 or April 12.