Clean Needles Save Lives. In Some States, They Might Not Be Legal. – KFF Health News

Kim Boetticher hardly considers herself a criminal.

On the main floor of a former Catholic church in Bolivar, Pennsylvania, Boetticher runs a flower shop and café.

In the basement of a former church, she also operates a non-profit organization focused on helping people caught up in the drug epidemic get back on their feet.

non profitable, Favor ~ Western PA, located in a rural area of ​​the Allegheny Mountains east of Pittsburgh. His organization has largely been seen in his home county of Westmoreland. 100 or more There have been a number of drug overdose deaths each year for the past several years, the majority of which involve fentanyl.

Thousands of residents of the region have been affected by the disease of addiction in which Boetticher’s name comes from.

She helps people find housing, jobs and health care, and works with families by running support groups and explaining that substance use disorder is an illness, not a moral failing.

But she has also spoken publicly about how she made it Sterile syringes are available For people who use drugs.

“When that person comes in the door,” she said, “if they’re covered in boils from using dirty needles, or they’re sharing needles — maybe they’ve got hep C — we treat it.” So let’s see, ‘Okay, this is our first step.’

studies have shown public health benefits Associated with syringe exchange services. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says these programs Reduce HIV and Hepatitis C infection, and new users of programs are more likely to enter drug treatment and more likely to discontinue drug use than non-participants.

This harm-reduction strategy is supported by major health groups, such as American Medical AssociationThe World Health OrganizationAnd this International AIDS Society,

But providing clean syringes could put Boetticher in legal jeopardy. Under Pennsylvania law, distributing drug paraphernalia is a misdemeanor. definition of state This includes hypodermic syringes, needles and other items used to inject banned drugs. Pennsylvania is one of 12 states that does not implicitly or explicitly authorize syringe service programs through statute or regulation, according to a 2023 analysis, Some of those states, but not Pennsylvania, either do not have state drug paraphernalia laws or do not include syringes.

Those working on the front lines of the opioid epidemic like Boetticher say a reexamination of Pennsylvania’s law is long overdue.

There is also urgency to the issue: there are billions of dollars started flowing In Pennsylvania and other states, legal settlements with companies over their role in the opioid epidemic, and syringe services are among the eligible interventions that could be supported by that money.

Contains a list of opioid agreements reached between drug companies and distributors and a coalition of state attorneys general recommendations for spending Wealth. Expanding syringe services is listed as one of the main strategies.

But in Pennsylvania, where 5,158 people died from drug overdoses in 2022, the state’s drug paraphernalia law is getting in the way.

Westmoreland County officials recently became concerned about Boetticher’s work with syringe services Cancel allocation of $150,000 He had previously approved her organization in the Opioid Settlement Fund. County Commissioner Douglas Chew defended the decision, saying the county was “very risk averse.”

Boetticher said his organization planned to use the money to hire additional recovery specialists, not on syringes. Supporters of syringe services point to the revocation of funding as evidence of the need to change state law, especially given the recommendations in the settlement documents.

“It’s just a huge inconsistency,” said Zoe Soslow, who leads overdose prevention work in Pennsylvania for the public health organization. Important Strategies, “This is causing a lot of confusion.”

Although sterile syringes can be purchased from pharmacies Giving away free drugs, without a prescription, to make drug use safer is generally considered illegal in most parts of the state – or at least in a legally gray area. Pennsylvania’s two largest cities, philadelphia And pittsburghAuthorities have used local health powers to provide legal protections to people operating syringe service programs.

Yet, in Philadelphia, Mayor Cheryl Parker, who took office in January clarify She opposes using opioid settlement funds, or any city funds, to pay for the distribution of clean needles, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Parker’s position gives a signal major changes In that city’s approach to the opioid epidemic.

On the other side of the state, the opioid settlement fund has had a big impact stop point pittsburghA harm reduction organization. Allegheny County reported Spend or commit $325,000 in settlement money by the end of last year to support the organization’s work with sterile syringes and other supplies for safe drug use.

“It was absolutely unbelievable not being able to fund every single dollar of supplies going out,” said the executive director of Prevention Point. Aaron Arnold, “It takes a lot of energy. It takes away from the actual delivery of services when you have to constantly figure out, ‘Do we have enough money to buy the supplies we want to deliver?'”

In parts of Pennsylvania that lack these legal protections, people sometimes operate underground syringe programs.

The Pennsylvania law banning drug paraphernalia was never intended to apply to syringe services, according to Scott BurrisDirector of Public Health Law Research Center At Temple University. But there are no court cases in Pennsylvania to clarify the issue, he said, and the legislature’s failure to act creates a chilling effect.

Carla Sofronsky, Executive Director Pennsylvania Harm Reduction Networksaid he was not aware of anyone facing criminal charges for operating syringe services in the state, but said people doing so are at risk and taking a “huge risk” Are.

In 2016, CDC gives green light to three Pennsylvania counties – Cambria, Crawford, and Luzerne – 220 counties nationwide assessed communities vulnerable to the rapid spread of HIV and new or continued high rates of hepatitis C infection among people who inject drugs.

Luzerne County resident Kate Favata said she started using heroin in her teens and wouldn’t be alive today if she hadn’t found support and community at a syringe service program in Philadelphia.

“It made me feel like I was in a safe place. And I don’t really know if it was a come-to-God moment or a come-to-Jesus moment,” she said. “I just wanted better.”

Favata is now in long-term recovery and works for a medication-assisted treatment Program.

At clinics in Cambria and Somerset counties, Highlands Health Provides free or low-cost medical care. Despite the legal risk, the organization has operated a syringe program for several years, while also testing patients for infectious diseases, distributing overdose reversal medication, and providing recovery options.

Rosalie Danchanko, executive director of Highlands Health, said she hopes the opioid settlement money can ultimately support her organization.

“Why not spread that money out to all the organizations that are working with people affected by the opioid problem?” He asked.

in February, Law to legalize syringe services was approved by a committee in Pennsylvania and has moved forward. The administration of Democrat Governor Josh Shapiro supports the legislation. But it faces an uncertain future in the full legislature, in which Democrats hold a narrow majority in the House and Republicans control the Senate.

one of the bills Major SponsorState Representative Jim Struzzi, has not always supported syringe services. But the western Pennsylvania Republican said since his brother died of a drug overdose in 2014, he has come to better understand the nature of addiction.

In committee vote, nearly all of Struzzi’s Republican colleagues opposed the bill. state representative paul schemel He said that authorizing “means of abuse” crossed a line for him and would be “promoting an evil.”

After the vote, Struzzi said he wanted to build more bipartisan support. He said some of his skepticism about the programs was only alleviated when he visited Prevention Point Pittsburgh and saw how workers do more than just hand out syringes. These kinds of programs connect people to resources — overdose reversal medication, wound care, substance use treatment — that can save lives and lead to recovery.

“A lot of these people are desperate. They are alone. They are afraid. And these programs bring them to someone who cares,” Struzzi said. “And that, to me, is a step in the right direction.”

At her nonprofit in western Pennsylvania, Boetticher hopes lawmakers will take action.

“If it’s something that’s going to help someone, why is it illegal?” He said. “It doesn’t mean anything to me.”

This story was co-reported WESA Public Radio And spotlight pa, An independent, non-partisan and nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative and public-service journalism that has the power to create and drive positive change in Pennsylvania.

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