Dive Brief:
- A change in federal policy this month lifts the government's ban on federal funding for needle exchange programs, Kaiser Health News reports.
- Any money, however, would come with limitations: It could be used for program expenses but not for actual syringes, and would only be allowed in areas where state, city and federal officials determine hepatitis and HIV cases to be on the rise.
- The change comes as the federal government steps up efforts to combat the epidemic of opioid addiction and as more states consider needle exchanges as one way to help manage the public health impacts.
Dive Insight:
Supporters say the change reflects increased recognition and acceptance that needle exchange programs are good public policy because of their ability to help curtail the spread of disease. "
“This is a huge victory,” Daniel Raymond, policy director for Harm Reduction Coalition, told Kaiser Health News. “It is in some way the last chapter of an era where syringe exchange was considered too volatile and too partisan," he said.
On the flip side, however, critics argue by allowing needle exchange programs to compete for the same existing drug program funding, there will be less for those programs aimed at treating addiction, which could be money better spent, suggests Calvina Fay, executive director of Drug Free America Foundation.
There are currently about 200 needle exchanges in the U.S.