A needle-exchange bill is still alive.
The effort to bring needle-exchange programs out of Arizona’s shadows has inched forward, but only after a hard compromise that would water down the bill’s effects.
Sponsored by Rep. Tony Rivero, R-Peoria, House Bill 2389 called for the legalization of syringe-access programs, which currently operate under the radar and afoul of Arizona drug paraphernalia laws.
According to the proposed legislation, which passed unanimously out of the state House last month, programs could legally exist if the goal is to reduce the spread of disease, minimize needle pricks to law-enforcement officers and encourage people to enroll in treatment programs. Efforts like Phoenix-area Shot in the Dark would also offer needle disposal and provide education on overdose prevention, naloxone access and mentalillness treatment.
But an amendment approved last week by the Arizona Senate Committee on Government significantly alters the bill’s original intent and leaves continuously running programs on the legal fringes. The lawmaker who proposed it represents a district in Mohave County that is a hot spot for drug overdoses and has been deemed by health experts to be at elevated risk of HIV spread.
Rather than allow for the ongoing operation of syringe-access programs, Sen. Sonny Borrelli, R-Lake Havasu City, wants state health officials to first declare a public health emergency to address “a possible outbreak of an infectious disease that is being spread by the sharing of needles.”
Borrelli didn’t return multiple requests from The Arizona Republic seeking comment.
Only after a needle-driven disease outbreak would syringe-access programs be authorized in the county or municipality where the emergency is unfolding, according to the amendment.
“We need a way to reach people who are currently stuck in their addictions,” Rivero said during a March 14 hearing, adding he supported the amendment only because it continues the conversation. “We have to start building relationships with these people.”
An assistant to Rivero said he would not provide any interviews about the bill or amendments.
Despite the significant course change, discussion and debate was almost nonexistent in committee. Without the amendment, supporters feared it would have died altogether.
The amended bill passed 6-0. Shot in the Dark, an underground needle-exchange program, provides resources to drug users in the Valley and gives people dealing with addiction clean syringes and a place to dispose of used needles. The group also tries to connect them with treatment options before they disappear into the darkness.
In 2017, volunteers tallied more than 51,000 participant contacts among the nine weekly outreach efforts in the Phoenix metro area, their records show. They distributed almost 1.5 million syringes along with 14,700 doses of the overdosereversal drug naloxone — free to participants through a network of private donations.
Supporters laud such programs as cost-effective, evidence-based solutions that meet drug users on their terms and link those seeking treatment to options while stamping out high-risk, diseasespreading behavior.
Not having it operating steadily means needle-exchange groups will continue to be illegal, though there have not been any known enforcement operations or prosecutions of volunteers or participants.
It also means any public health initiative will be reactive, left to address an outbreak rather than prevent it.
That’s what happened in Indiana when, in February 2015, state health officials declared an HIV outbreak after the first 30 cases were reported in one county. The cases were tied to intravenous use of a prescription painkiller, and the number doubled by March,The Indianapolis
Star reported.
After declaring the HIV epidemic in southeastern Indiana a public health emergency, then-Indiana Gov. Mike Pence reversed his opposition to needleexchange programs and permitted a short-term program to help combat the growing crisis.