Needle exchanges shouldn’t be turned into moral debate

This editorial was published in the Yakima Herald-Republic.

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It’s understandably tempting to look for simple answers to complex problems. It’s especially tempting when the problems involve unhealthy human behaviors like abusing drugs.

So we have some empathy for members of the Yakima City Council who question the value of needle exchange programs, which let people trade used syringes for new ones that are free of contamination.

Still, councilor Reedy Berg’s recent fixation on the county-run exchange program that’s been in place for more than 30 years could threaten public health and end up costing the community significant amounts of money.

While we credit Berg and the rest of the council for trying to learn more about the program and resolving to talk with Yakima Health District officials before making any decisions, the smart move here is to leave the exchange alone.

Berg and several other council members, including Rick Glenn and Leo Roy, seem to be under the naïve impression that substance addiction is a moral failing. Doctors and drug counselors, however — in whom we place far more trust on such matters than a handful of local politicians — will assure you that it’s more complicated than that.

Addiction to substances is a chronic medical condition. Users aren’t simply out for a fun evening or a relaxing afternoon — they’re driven by a physical need for certain substances.

Treating and managing that self-destructive drive calls for specialists with specific training. That’s not what needle exchanges are for.

Instead, their primary purpose is to prevent dirty or shared needles from creating secondary public health problems, such as spreading hepatitis C or HIV. Giving users safe syringes doesn’t promote drug use — it just makes it less dangerous.

And it offers users a touchpoint to connect with local treatment options.

Fortunately, as members of the city’s legal office explained to the council, the city lacks the authority to shut down the exchange program anyway, since it’s authorized by state statute. City officials could, however, regulate it — though Yakima would be the first city in Washington to attempt to do so.

In April, Lewis County became the first county to regulate needle exchanges, passing an ordinance that, among other things, bans mobile exchanges, requires operators to offer and promote treatment and blocks county funding for the exchanges. But it’s questionable whether the ordinance will do much to help Lewis County’s drug problems since nearly 70% of the county’s overdose deaths were the result of fentanyl use, which isn’t administered with needles.

As Berg himself noted during an Oct. 1 city council discussion, Yakima County’s needle exchange serves roughly 3,000 people per year. Imagine the impact on local emergency rooms, hospitals and clinics if that many people were being exposed to life-threatening diseases being passed by dirty needles. And don’t kid yourself: one way or another, those diseases would find their way into the bloodstreams of many of the rest of us.

“It’s a broader health risk than the drug use is to the people themselves,” Mayor Patricia Byers, who sits on the county health board, told the council.

That’s a key point that Berg and the rest of the council don’t seem to fully grasp.

Needle exchange programs are meant to reduce harm; they simply contain the spread of wider public health risks. As all too many local families know, treating substance abuse goes far beyond that, and it’s much more complicated than some of our city leaders appear to realize.

Until they see that more clearly, they should leave the oversight of needle exchange programs to the professionals.

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Sunday’s editorial erred in describing the Open Primaries Initiative. Each voter in the primary will select one candidate. The top four recipients will continue on to the general election in November.

TNS