RESEARCH

The World Health Organization (WHO), National Institute of Health (NIH), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), all endorse Harm Reduction and Syringe Service Programs (SSPs) as evidence-based interventions for improving various health and quality-of-life outcomes for individuals and communities, as well as for decreasing the financial burdens on communities associated with substance use.

Rigorous studies have also demonstrated that Harm Reduction programming improves quality of life for recipients and reduces mortality associated with substance use.

FINDING

Syringe Litter does not increase in the vicinity of a Syringe Exchange.

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CITATION WITH LINK TO STUDY

Tookes, H. E., Kral, A. H., Wenger, L. D., Cardenas, G. A., Martinez, A. N., Sherman, R. L., Pereyra, M., Forrest, D. W., LaLota, M., & Metsch, L. R. (2012). A comparison of syringe disposal practices among injection drug users in a city with versus a city without needle and syringe programs. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 123(1-3), 255-259. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2011.12.001

Syringe Exchanges are not associated with an increase in crime in the vicinity.

(Numerous studies have demonstrated this finding.)

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Marx, M. A., Crape, B., Brookmeyer, R. S., Junge, B., Latkin, C., Vlahov, D., & Strathdee, S. A. (2000). Trends in crime and the introduction of a needle exchange program. American Journal of Public Health, 90(12), 1933-1936. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.90.12.1933

Galea, S., Ahern, J., Fuller, C., Freudenberg, N., & Vlahov, D. (2001). Needle exchange programs and experience of violence in an inner city neighborhood. Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999), 28(3), 282–288. https://doi.org/10.1097/00042560-200111010-00014

Myer, A. J., & Belisle, L. (2018). Highs and Lows: An Interrupted Time-Series Evaluation of the Impact of North America’s Only Supervised Injection Facility on Crime. Journal of Drug Issues, 48(1), 36-49. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022042617727513

Fitzgerald J, Burgess M, Snowball L. Trends in property and illicit drug crime around the medically supervised injecting centre in Kings Cross: an update. NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. 2010 Oct 8; accessed on November 13, 2024: apo-nid22857.pdf (https://bocsar.nsw.gov.au/documents/publications/bb/bb01-100/bb90.pdf)

Participants in a Syringe Exchange are 5x more likely to enter treatment for Substance Use Disorder than non-participants.

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Hagan, H., McGough, J. P., Thiede, H., Hopkins, S., Duchin, J., & Alexander, E. R. (2000). Reduced injection frequency and increased entry and retention in drug treatment associated with needle-exchange participation in Seattle drug injectors. Journal of substance abuse treatment, 19(3), 247–252. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0740-5472(00)00104-5

Use of SSPs is associated with a 40-60% reduction in HIV transmission and 76% reduction in HCV (Hepatitis C) transmission.

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Aspinall, E. J., Nambiar, D., Goldberg, D. J., Hickman, M., Weir, A., Van Velzen, E., Palmateer, N., Doyle, J. S., Hellard, M. E., & Hutchinson, S. J. (2014). Are needle and syringe programmes associated with a reduction in HIV transmission among people who inject drugs: a systematic review and meta-analysis. International journal of epidemiology, 43(1), 235–248. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyt243

Palmateer, N., Hamill, V., Bergenstrom, A., Bloomfield, H., Gordon, L., Stone, J., Fraser, H., Seyler, T., Duan, Y., Tran, R., Trayner, K., Biggam, C., Smith, S., Vickerman, P., Hickman, M., & Hutchinson, S. (2022). Interventions to prevent HIV and Hepatitis C among people who inject drugs: Latest evidence of effectiveness from a systematic review (2011 to 2020). The International journal on drug policy, 109, 103872. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2022.103872.