COLUMBIA — Providing clean syringes to drug users and collecting the used needles would be formally allowed under a Republican-sponsored bill advanced in the Senate this week.
The bill by Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, would put into law that community organizations can give out free syringes and collect used ones. Safer syringe programs could use vending machines, the mail or mobile distribution for “hard-to-reach populations.” They could provide emergency opioid antidotes as well as training on how to use them.
The proposal would also prevent people returning or giving out the syringes from being charged under the state’s controlled substance law.
A Senate Medical Affairs panel voted 5-2 Wednesday to send the bill to the full committee. Two Republicans and three Democrats voted for it. Both “no” votes came from Republicans.
“Without supportive legislation like this bill, we are forced to operate in a legal gray area, where we, along with the people we serve, are taking risks every day,” Marc Burrows, founder of Challenges Inc., the first South Carolina syringe exchange in the state, told senators.
Burrows said he used to use intravenous drugs and contracted hepatitis C through reused needles.
Now a social worker and a drug and alcohol counselor, Burrows said his organization works to provide clean needles and other resources to people who need it in the Greenville area.
Without clear legal authorization for the syringe program, Burrows said it’s difficult for his organization to win grants and for other exchange programs to start. He added that his group has a good relationship with local law enforcement.
Several supporters told senators that needle exchanges would benefit the state, including through reducing medical costs covered by Medicaid.
Thirty years of research shows that exchange programs decrease HIV and hepatitis C transmission by up to 50%, said Stacey McKenna, a fellow with the right-leaning think tank R Street Institute based in Washington, D.C.
Participants are four to five times more likely to “enter treatment and stay in treatment,” she said. “They are three times more likely to stop using drugs.”
Opponents included GOP Sen. Richard Cash, who said the exchange program seemed to offer tacit approval for drug usage.
“Not everybody is ready for abstinence,” McKenna replied. “Right now, their life is still valuable even if they’re still continuing to do this.”
Speaking of abstinence, Cash said, offering a needle exchange is like telling children to refrain from sex until marriage and then giving them condoms just in case.
“I would consider that a mixed message, undermining the topline message,” said the Anderson County father of eight.
Other supporters testifying included former state Rep. Eric Bedingfield, who is chairman of the South Carolina Opioid Recovery Fund Board. It oversees hundreds of millions of dollars coming to the state as drug companies pay out settlements related to the opioid crisis. That funding can be used for syringe exchanges, Bedingfield said.
But the Greenville Republican stressed that he was speaking for himself, not the board.
“I lost my oldest son to this epidemic,” Bedingfield told lawmakers. “I’m here today as an individual, as a parent, speaking to you, saying I believe that safe syringe programs will have a positive impact on our community and on the epidemic.”
Other than Cash, no one testified against the bill at the meeting.
By Abraham Kenmore, News From the States
Tags: Harm Reduction Legislation Needle Exchange Opioid Epidemic