Scott County Indiana is facing a serious HIV outbreak. Yes, it is quite odd, but that is what’s happening right now in the Hoosier state.
To stem the outbreak, the state has instated a needle exchange program, but Indiana University Northwest assistant professor of medicine Dr. Deepak Ariga says, that the current proposal isn’t long enough to stem the situation.
“Thirty days is way too short,” he said. “But it is a good starting point for the state as well the nation to have real discussion on the benefits of needle exchanges.”
Furthermore, he goes on to say, “The Centers for Disease Control, the National Institute of Drug Abuse, WHO, most agencies — in study after study — show that needle exchange programs definitely do decrease the rate of HIV infections and also all of the studies show that needle exchange programs do not promote risky behavior or increase rates of IV drug use.”
He goes on to explain that “Some of these people may not even have access to health care to begin with. Per IV drug user per year, needle exchanges cost a couple hundred or at most $1,000 annually, but the cost to treat someone with HIV is more than a half million dollars over a lifetime. A lot of HIV patients are on public aid, so the money to pay for their care is coming from taxpayers.”
And this means that the economic argument far outweighs an moral one, he says.
Finally, Ariga argues, “No one is an island. Just because it’s in one county doesn’t mean it will stay there. With addicts, we see that they have different social networks, and may go to another county or state for drugs. If they have a car they can drive to another drug house.”
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