CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia’s former abortion provider is pleading with capital-area residents to keep “an open mind and an open heart” about a proposal to add a syringe service program to its offerings in the opioid-ravaged state.
“This work is too important and too vital to be guided by fear or disdain or past grudges,” Iris Sidikman, the harm reduction coordinator at the Women’s Health Center of West Virginia, said at a public hearing Thursday on Charleston’s west side.
Syringe service programs operate by allowing people to exchange dirty syringes used to inject drugs for clean, sterile ones. They are CDC-recommended and scientifically proven methods to curb the spread of diseases like HIV and hepatitis C among intravenous drug users and typically offer a range of services, including referrals to counseling and substance use disorder treatment.
The Women’s Health Center of West Virginia says the move is part of an effort to expand services for marginalized communities now that a near-total ban on abortion is in effect in the state. The health center is located on Charleston’s west side, an area that has historically seen the city’s highest percentage of emergency overdose calls.
The Charleston City Council is expected to take the program up for a vote next month.
In 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared Charleston the scene of the country’s “most concerning HIV outbreak” due to IV drug use.
That came after the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department shut down its syringe service program in 2018.
Such programs exist in dozens of states, but they are not without their critics, including those in West Virginia, who say they don’t do enough to prevent or stop drug use and create additional problems, like syringe litter.
In 2021, West Virginia Republican Gov. Jim Justice signed a law requiring syringe providers to be licensed with the state and recipients to show proof of residency and bring back each needle after use.
The Charleston City Council followed with an ordinance requiring that programs collect at least 90% of the syringes they distribute and making it a misdemeanor criminal offense to run an exchange program violating the restrictions, adding fines of $500 to $1,000 per offense.
The ordinance also requires that a public meeting be held in any area where an organization is proposing to add syringe services.
During Thursday’s meeting, west side resident Bobbi Holland said syringe service programs “only enables drug users and normalize their behavior.”
“What they are doing is illegal,” Holland said. “They should be treated as criminals, not victims. I feel this will decrease our property values.”
Sidikman emphasized points on syringe service programs taken directly from the CDC’s website: the programs reduce rates of HIV, hepatitis C and fatal overdoses, as well as rates of syringe litter. People who use syringe service programs are five times more likely to pursue treatment, according to the CDC.
City of Charleston Quick Response Team Coordinator Danni Dineen, a recovering heroin user, said a syringe service program “personally saved my life.”
“I want to see the folks that I serve here in Charleston have that same opportunity. I want them to have a safe place to go without judgment,” Dineen said. “I want them to have access to sterile supplies, so they don’t contract hepatitis C like I did.”
As of 2022, one organization in Charleston - West Virginia Health Right - currently operates a syringe service program. Others, including one run by the nonprofit Solutions Oriented Addiction Response, shut down after increased restrictions were implemented by the city and state.
In addition to the syringe services, the Women’s Health Center harm reduction program would include naloxone and overdose response training, HIV and hepatitis C testing and treatment and referrals to primary care, behavioral health and substance use disorder treatment.
The clinic already has a syringe disposal box on its property and plans to implement a monthly trash pickup to search for any discarded syringes in the neighborhood.
The clinic must get approval from the Charleston City Council and then the Kanawha County Commission to begin operating the program. Organizers say if city council gives the program the green light during its meeting on Aug. 7, they’ll move on to approaching the county commission.
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