Dig Deeper Texas

Needle program for drug users expected to die in Texas House | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Texas is the only state in the country that does not allow a needle-exchange program for drug users. The legislation would allow health departments to start needle programs.

“I have not been persuaded that the public health benefits outweigh the concerns of many members, myself included, of providing needles for those that are using illegal drugs,” said

Rep. Dianne White Delisi, a Temple Republican who chairs the House Public Health Committee. Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, the House sponsor of the bill, said she believes it would have passed the House committee if put to a vote.

“It’s a sad day in the state of Texas that we do not have the opportunity in this Legislature to save lives,” McClendon said.

A clean-needle program could cut HIV infections by 30 percent and reduce hepatitis C, said McClendon. Delisi’s committee had a hearing Monday. McClendon said no one testified against the bill.

Let’s see, they held public hearings and no one testified against the bill, not even the Eagle Forum. Of course, the fact that every other state in the union has a needle exchange program only proves that other states cater to the criminal element and lack moral fiber. Hey, we kill people in Texas who commit crimes, not give them clean needles.

Never mind the fact that the bill has passed the senate.

Star-Telegram.com | 05/17/2007 | Needle program for drug users expected to die in Texas House

 

The Senate last month voted 22-7 for the measure.Sen. Bob Deuell, a Greenville Republican and a family physician, said he introduced the Senate bill to save lives and money. He said he once believed providing sterile needles and syringes encourages drug addicts but said he changed his mind after viewing medical studies showing exchange programs do not increase use.

Medical studies are only numbers–why bother with numbers when you have moral superiority on your side?

So do you think Deslisi will win the Texas Medical Association’s Best Legislator Award again?

TMA’s Position on the Syringe Exchange Program

 

On behalf of nearly 42,000 physician members of the Texas Medical Association, we strongly encourage the Senate Health and Human Services Committee to support SB 308. There is substantial evidence sterile syringe exchange programs are extremely effective in preventing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and other blood-borne infectious diseases among injection drug users and their families.

She’s a Republican, can’t she even be persuaded by economics?

Public Citizen | Publications - Testimony Regarding Texas SB 308, Syringe Exchange Programs (HRG Publication #1805)

between 199 and 438 HIV infections could be prevented in just Bexar, Dallas, El Paso, Harris, Tarrant and Travis counties by 2020 (see attached figure). It is estimated that it costs $385,200 to treat each HIV infection over a lifetime, so as much as $169 million in medical treatment costs can be averted, to say nothing of the human suffering each HIV infection represents. Since annual needle exchange program budgets in the U.S. are typically well below $1 million, even in large cities, these programs are likely to save far more than they would cost.

So what is Delisi’s problem?

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Filed under: Bob Deuell, Dianne White Delisi, Ruth Jones McClendon, Texas Medical Association, needle exchange