By Lily Bourne
Almost 100,000 Americans died from drug overdose in 2023 alone. Deaths involving synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl, have dramatically risen since 2019 as the drug is often mixed into other drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and pills. Overdose prevention methods continuously fall short of fighting this growing trend as politicians and activists alike blindly regurgitate outdated anthems, claiming that if people “just say no to drugs,” the substance abuse crisis will simply disappear.
The truth is, Americans like drugs. 50% of all Americans over the age of 12 have used illicit drugs at least once in their life, with 47% of Americans trying drugs before they graduate high school. While the majority of drug usage can be attributed to recreational marijuana usage, 3.6% of Americans report using opioids and 2% of Americans report using cocaine. Opioids, cocaine, psychostimulants, and methadone are responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans each year. Overdose deaths outnumber suicide and motor vehicle accidents combined, and they triple homicides. Unfortunately, these numbers keep climbing.
However, there is hope. Harm reduction is an approach to helping drug users reduce their risk of overdose and disease that has been routinely proven to provide significant health benefits to individuals and communities. These methods are less than glamorous, making public approval harder to come by, but they focus on reaching people “where they are” for the best chance at safety.
Providing clean syringes to heroin users may not sound like the “right” way to encourage drug safety, but studies from both Seattle and Europe show that people with access to syringe service programs (SSPs) were drastically more likely to reduce their drug injections. SSPs provide testing, counseling, and sterile injection supplies to people who inject drugs, with the idea that providing safe equipment rather than forcing recovery gives a helping hand to those struggling with addiction. In addition, SSPs reduce the spread of HIV, hepatitis, and other diseases that spread through shared needles. According to the CDC, SSP users are five times more likely to enter drug treatment and three times more likely to stop using drugs altogether than those without access to the program.
Public opinion on SSPs remains highly skeptical, as many critics believe that providing clean injection equipment only encourages further drug use and wastes taxpayer money. However, SSPs actually provide even further benefit to taxpayers by taking strain off the healthcare system, which has been providing for a steadily increasing number of opioid related hospitalizations. According to the CDC, “the estimated lifetime cost of treating one person living with HIV is more than $450,000. Hospitalizations in the U.S. for substance-use-related infections cost over $700 million each year.” In a study of a Florida hospital, researchers found that drug-injection related hospitalizations cost $11.4 million in one year. In contrast, the estimated cost of an SSP ranges from $0.4 to $1.9 million, including startup and annual costs. SSPs reduce taxpayer costs as they provide alternatives that have been proven to reduce drug use and prevent hospitalizations.
Yes, providing needles to drug addicts looks bad on the surface. But if America truly wants to make progress against the opioid crisis, people need to get used to the less glamorous side of drug addiction. Recovery is not easy and addiction comes in many forms. Harm reduction provides an accessible avenue for struggling drug users who may or may not want to recover, but at least want to be safe.