House bill to expand syringe service programs advances
The Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee voted on Wednesday to pass House Bill 1245, which would effectively legalize syringe service programs across Pennsylvania.
Only the cities of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are currently authorized to operate the programs.
Syringe service programs allow people who use drugs to exchange dirty needles for clean ones, as well as provide on-site recovery specialists, overdose prevention and connection to care. The programs have been shown to decrease the rate of new infections and transmission of diseases including HIV, hepatitis and endocarditis, or dangerous heart inflammation. People who visit syringe service programs are also five times more likely to enter drug treatment, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
HB 1245 was originally introduced in the previous legislative session, with then-House Rep. Sara Innamorato as prime sponsor. House Rep. Jim Struzzi, R-Indiana, is the cosponsor for the bill. It passed Wednesday with a bipartisan 15-10 vote by the Judiciary Committee and next goes to the full House, which is on hiatus until March 18.
“I’m happy the bill passed, and I appreciate that the Judiciary moved it out of committee,” said Mr. Struzzi, a harm reduction advocate who lost his brother, Michael, to a drug overdose a decade ago. “I look forward to gaining more support for this.”
If signed into law, the bill would remove syringes from the category of “drug paraphernalia” as part of the 1972 Controlled Substances Act, effectively legalizing syringe service programs across the commonwealth.
Rural populations have suffered disproportionately from the opioid epidemic. A 2023 report from the Center for Rural Pennsylvania found that although overdose deaths in rural areas decreased from 2021 to 2022, its residents face an overdose death rate higher than their urban counterparts across the state — but are given opioid-reversing medication naloxone less frequently. Supporters of the bill say it will bring needed services to wider regions.
A common misconception about syringe service programs is that they’re strictly about providing clean needles and, further, that enables drug use. In his testimony during the committee hearing, Mr. Struzzi vouched for these programs being more complex.
“I visited Prevention Point Pittsburgh, and my eyes were opened to the true benefit of what syringe services programs are,” he said. “And that is, number one, to get people into recovery. And number two, to give people hope.
“I champion this because I believe recovery is possible,” he said. “And I believe people need the hope to understand that recovery can occur and does occur.”
Alice Bell, overdose prevention project coordinator for Prevention Point Pittsburgh, a syringe exchange program in Pittsburgh, lauded the bill’s advancement.
“Prevention Point is very pleased to see [this],” Ms. Bell said. “It’s a great first step, and a long time coming. I would hope that at this point, both sides of the aisle are willing to pass something that’s a common sense approach to a huge problem.”
From a medical standpoint, she said, it’s a nobrainer: A doctor or nurse would never consider reusing a syringe in a clinical context.
“The bottom line is that every time someone uses a new sterile syringe, you know for a fact, 100%, they’re not getting or spreading an infectious disease,” she said. “People who use drugs have a right to be healthy just like everyone else.”
Others who work directly with people who use drugs agreed the legislation represents a first step.
“I was thrilled to see it pass in the Judiciary Committee,” said Carla Sofronski, executive director of the nonprofit Pennsylvania Harm Reduction Network. “But I think we have a long way to go.”
While the bill received a “yes” vote from Republican Jim Rigby, Mr. Struzzi hoped for more bipartisan support.
Among those with hesitations during Wednesday’s hearing about the bill were House Rep. Paul Schemel, R-Franklin, who said that by passing the legislation, “policymakers would be enabling an evil to achieve [a] good.”
Committee Minority Chair Rob Kauffman, RFranklin, said he “appreciated the harm reduction goal” but was “personally not there yet.” He said he had concerns about the logistics of such programs.
The fact that Mr. Kauffman was “not there yet” disheartening for Ms. Sofronski to hear.
“I deal with a population who has lost loved ones to overdoses,” Ms. Sofronski said, noting she lost both her sister and fiancé to drug overdoses. “Every two hours, someone dies from an overdose in Pennsylvania. How many people need to die for him to come around?”
Mr. Struzzi said he plans to revisit some of the bill’s language in an attempt to alleviate Republicans’ concerns addressed in the committee hearing, as well as research the success of syringe service programs in other states.
“It does take time for people to fully comprehend what addiction is and how it impacts people’s lives,” he said. “This isn’t just, ‘Here’s a needle.’ It’s a process. And I think more people will appreciate that as the bill progresses.”