https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/365 /delaware.shtml

Delaware may bill itself as the First State, but now that outgoing New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey has okayed the creation of needle exchange programs (NEPs) next store in the Garden State, Delaware is the last state to allow neither non-prescription needle sales nor NEPs as harm reduction measures for the prevention of HIV/AIDS. But that could change next year, as Delaware lawmakers vow to push once again for passage of an NEP bill.

Delaware State Sen. Margaret Rose Henry told the Associated Press she will reintroduce NEP legislation when the legislature reconvenes in January. The bill would authorize an NEP in Wilmington. "We can't continue to have people die from AIDS when there is a way to stop the spread of it," said Henry.

The state's Democratic-controlled Senate passed the bill, but it died in the Republican-controlled House after House Majority Leader Wayne Smith refused to allow it to move forward. While Smith told the AP the bill "deserved merit" (whatever that means), he added that he did not want to rush it through. "I would have to be convinced that the evidence is overwhelming that this is a tremendous benefit," said Smith.

Smith might want to check with the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, which issued the following finding last year: "An impressive body of evidence exists that suggests powerful benefits from needle exchange programs... Can the opposition to needle exchange programs be justified on scientific grounds? Our answer is a simple and emphatic no. Studies show reductions of risk behavior of up to 80%, with estimates of up to a 30% reduction in HIV among injection drug users" (http://www.cdc.gov/idu/facts/aed_idu_syr.pdf).

Delaware state medical director Dr. Herman Ellis told the AP 43% of the state's HIV infections are injection drug use-related. NEPs would save both lives and money, he said. "If the number of HIV-positive people drops, the cost-benefit means you have less people on that long-term treatment." Now, it is once again up to Majority Leader Smith.

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