Clean-needle programs not only save lives, they save millions of dollars. The new protease inhibitors that are now prolonging the lives of a number of AIDS sufferers are not changing the situation with regard to cost. In the last five years, six major studies funded by the federal government have concluded that clean-needle programs reduce HIV transmission and do not increase the use of injected drugs. Many public health experts, including the former Surgeon General, Dr. Joycelyn Elders, have spoken out in favor of clean-needle programs. Opponents of needle exchange programs say they do not believe the research.
Researchers can make mistakes, but the evidence in the case of clean-needle programs is massive.
In the face of a spreading and deadly epidemic, we need to act on the information available. Some who oppose clean-needle programs say that they are concerned that when we give out sterile needles we are relaying out a double message. But we have many policies that inform people who inject drugs that their behavior is antisocial and self-destructive everything from public service announcements to prison sentences. And even without clean-needle programs, we send double messages about drug use. When a person who injects drugs has an overdose or suffers a severe reaction to a substance used to cut the drug, we rush that person to a hospital and give him or her the best medical care we can.