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Topic: Needle Sharing

	Needle-exchange programme -- Facts, Info, and Encyclopedia article (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-21)
		They may require the exchange of a dirty (used) needle for the clean needle, and education on (Excessive use of drugs) drug abuse and (Click link for more info and facts about blood-borne disease) blood-borne diseases may be provided.
		The policy is aimed at intravenous (A substance that is used as a medicine or narcotic) drug (Someone who is physiologically dependent on a substance; abrupt deprivation of the substance produces withdrawal symptoms) addicts.
		In the US the use of federal funds for needle-exchange programmes was banned in 1988 and most states criminalise the possession of needles without a prescription, even so far as to arrest people as they leave private needle-exchange centres.
	www.absoluteastronomy.com /encyclopedia/n/ne/needle-exchange_programme.htm (227 words)

	Needle-exchange programme - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		A needle-exchange programme is a controversial social policy, based on the philosophy of harm reduction, whereby people can obtain hypodermic needles and syringes without a prescription for little or no cost.
		They may require the exchange of a dirty (used) needle for the clean needle, and education on drug abuse and blood-borne diseases may be provided.
		The provision of needle-exchange programmes is opposed by certain groups on the grounds that it represents a weakening of the "War on Drugs" and encourages drug use and associated criminality.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Needle-exchange_programme (324 words)

	Drug Policy Alliance: Drug Use as a Social Ritual. Chapter 13
		The authors argue that "sharing needles leads to a greater protection than shooting in a group with one's own fit, because sharing conveys a greater sense of identification, bondage, and responsibility." This argument is, however, not really supported by their data or by preferences.
		Sharing in tight friendship groups is generally perceived as a lower risk than sharing with strangers, by both users(51) and researchers (19), and there is some evidence to support this idea.(9) But this protection is of course limited.
		Needle sharing has frequently been related to initiation into injecting drug use.(20, 32) First injection of an illicit drug is seldom a planned event and the novice does not carry a syringe around.
	www.drugpolicy.org /library/ritualp13_library.cfm (7928 words)

	NIH Guide: RESEARCH ON NEEDLE HYGIENE AND NEEDLE EXCHANGE PROGRAMS
		The foci of this research activity are epidemiologic/ethnographic observations of needle sharing practices (indirect and direct), use/nonuse of needle exchange, and evaluation of the efficacy of the interventions.
		Thus, both qualitative and quantitative data on previous and current needle sharing and cleaning practices are desired to identify factors that facilitate and/or inhibit the adoption of recently proposed needle hygiene practices.
		Needle availability, accessibility, and laws and regulations governing access to and possession of paraphernalia in regards to both bleach distribution and needle exchange programs and the effects of these factors on needle sharing (direct and indirect), bleach distribution, disinfecting equipment.
	grants.nih.gov /GRANTS/guide/pa-files/PA-94-010.html (2931 words)

	Drug Policy Alliance
		The needle is removed from the second syringe (B), the plunger is drawn back, and a part of the solution from syringe A is injected through the hub of syringe B (see Figure 4).
		In the present article, a concept of drug sharing is described based on a study of a Dutch population in a situation of relatively low criminalization of drug use and relatively high availability of both drugs and syringes.
		Needle sharing must be seen as pan of the larger picture of drug sharing practices.
	www.drugpolicy.org /library/frontloading2.cfm (5736 words)

	Free needles appear to curb risky practice of sharing them (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-21)
		Most injection drug users who use community needle exchange programs-which aim to reduce the risk of illness spread through tainted needles-do not share their needles, according to a recent study by researchers at USC and the New York Academy of Medicine.
		Shared needle use raises the risk for spreading and contracting infections such as HIV and hepatitis B and C, but a number of drug users interviewed in a two year-long study still persisted in sharing needles with close friends, the researchers wrote in the March issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
		In other studies of the same population, needle sharing declined from 70 percent of users in 1990 to less than 25 percent of users in 2000.
	www.usc.edu /hsc/info/pr/1vol7/706/free.html (572 words)

	NursingWorld \| Reading Room: Position Statement: Needle Exchange and HIV (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-21)
		It is also found that there is a reduction in the incidence of needle sharing, a decrease in the transmission of other bloodborne infections such as Hepatitis B and a reduction in the incidence of HIV transmission (AMFAR, 1992).
		Since needle exchange programs attract many difficult to reach individuals, it is important that there also be access to primary health care services for sexually transmitted disease (STD), HIV screening and drug treatment resources.
		Needle exchange programs with comprehensive substance abuse services, rehabilitation and referral components are an effective approach for prevention of transmission of HIV disease.
	nursingworld.org /readroom/position/blood/blnedl.htm (747 words)

	The Facts About Needle Exchange (DRCNet Activist Guide 6/95)
		Needle exchange programs (NEPs) are a simple, cost-effective way to reduce needle sharing, curtail the transmission of HIV/AIDS, increase the safe disposal of used needles, provide information to injecting drug users (IDUs), and help users obtain drug treatment, detox, and primary health care.
		As the use of needle exchanges increases, the use of shared needles decreases.
		In addition to providing needles, programs distribute alcohol swabs to clean the skin before injection, medicative ointments for infections, sterile water, vials of bleach to disinfect used needles when new ones are not available, health pamphlets, condoms, and sharpsafe containers where users can safely dispose of dirty needles.
	www.drcnet.org /guide6-95/exchange.html (1143 words)

	Harm Reduction: "Cold Turkey or Convenience?" Last year [2004], according to the NHS for Greater Glasgow, ...
		Harm Reduction: "Cold Turkey or Convenience?" Last year [2004], according to the NHS for Greater Glasgow, over 1.1million clean needles were distributed to injecting drug users in an attempt to discourage needle sharing with the concomitant risk of the spread of infections.
		Last year [2004], according to the NHS for Greater Glasgow, over 1.1million clean needles were distributed to injecting drug users in an attempt to discourage needle sharing with the concomitant risk of the spread of infections.
		Many of the remaining 400,000 needles have been dumped in public places and although there is little risk of the spread of disease from these discarded items, there is a cost for collecting them and public concern.
	www.dpna.org /resources/current/01-04-5.htm (1083 words)

	Rise in needle sharing among Pakistani injection drug users
		Needle sharing among Pakistani injection drug users increased more than three-fold after the start of the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan in 2001, according to researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
		The researchers examined drug use and needle patterns of 224 drug users receiving services, such as food, bathing facilities, needle exchange, drug abuse counseling and wound care, from a non-governmental organization in Lahore, Pakistan before and after the beginning of the military campaign in Afghanistan.
		Increases in injection drug use and needle sharing could pave the way for the spread of HIV and other blood borne infections, warned the authors.
	www.eurekalert.org /pub_releases/2003-07/jhub-rin070903.php (556 words)

	AEGiS-SC: Addicts changing needle-sharing habits
		Many heroin addicts who used to share needles and syringes have changed their habits and no longer pass the dangerous equipment around, AIDS researchers reported yesterday.
		Among the addicts who said they shared needles and syringes with just a single partner, only 15 percent said they engaged in that practice last year, whereas 37 percent had reported needle-sharing in 1986.
		But among addicts who said they shared needles with multiple partners, the decrease was much less significant - 18 percent of them reported sharing in 1986, compared with 13 percent last year.
	www.aegis.com /news/sc/1989/SC890311.html (668 words)

	Main Page
		Needle sharing is defined as either borrowing or lending a used needle (Wood, 2001).
		Among injection drug users, shared needles are the leading cause of HIV infection.
		Although they promote safer consumption practices by preventing the sharing of needles, they do nothing to prevent public use and consumption.
	www.geog.ubc.ca /courses/geog331/student_project/nep.htm (360 words)

	Guardian Unlimited \| The Guardian \| Inmate takes legal action over lack of needle exchange
		A previous study suggested that 6.7% of inmates injected drugs and that there was a high level of needle sharing by prisoners who used drugs intravenously.
		Shelley's solicitor, Sean Humber, said that the failure of the prison service to consider needle exchanges, "exposes prisoners and prison officers alike to unnecessary risks and is a breach of their human rights".
		In one prison, Littlehey, near Huntingdon, 32 prisoners were sharing one needle, fashioned from a biro and a needle that had been secreted by a diabetic prisoner, he said.
	www.guardian.co.uk /uk_news/story/0,3604,1458011,00.html (925 words)

	Free Needles Appear to Curb Risky Practice of Sharing Them
		Stopping drug use is best, but for those who won’t or can’t, using a clean needle and not sharing with others is key to HIV prevention.
		Most injection drug users who use community needle exchange programs do not share their needles, according to a recent study by researchers at USC and the New York Academy of Medicine.
		Prevalence of disease, such as hepatitis C, among needle exchange program users also was high – increasing the risk of infection.
	www.usc.edu /uscnews/stories/6699.html (536 words)

	American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse: Needle Sharing: a Longitudinal Study of Female Injection Drug Users
		In 1994, the number of AIDS cases transmitted by injection drug use in women was surpassed by the number of cases transmitted by heterosexual contact; yet, the majority of those cases resulted from sexual contact with a partner who was an IDU (1).
		For example, in one study (3), females were more likely than males to report sharing needles, sharing needles with someone they later found out was HIV positive, injecting more frequently, having more sexual partners, and having sexual partners who were IDUs.
		According to this model, needle-sharing behavior is hypothesized to be influenced by a number of factors stemming from the individual's personality, family, and peer relations, as well as ecological and cultural factors.
	www.findarticles.com /p/articles/mi_m0978/is_2_26/ai_63034995 (1101 words)

	DrugSense Information on Needle Exchanges
		This has resulted in needle sharing by intravenous drug users (IDUs) becoming the second most common route by which AIDS is spread.
		Many who work in the needle exchange field are concerned, however, that federal funding, if accompanied by typical unrealistic restrictions on how, when, and to whom rigs may be provided,coulda actually work against effective volunteer programs.
		Experts in drug policy agree that opposition to needle exchange is one of the most destructive aspects of present government drug policy and one of those most amenable to improvement by harm reduction principles.
	www.drugsense.org /nep.htm (546 words)

	IV Drug Use
		Sharing unclean needles allows a direct exchange of blood from one person's body into the bloodstream of another.
		When a person puts a needle into the vein, s/he will pull back the plunger to make sure that they are in a vein, and if they are, blood will enter the syringe.
		If you do share needles, keep in mind that bleach cleaning is not risk free, but is an important tool for risk reduction.
	www.acadianacares.com /drugs.htm (798 words)

	Does Needle Exchange Work? (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-21)
		Needle exchange programs (NEPs) distribute clean needles and safely dispose of used ones for IDUs, and also generally offer a variety of related services, including referrals to drug treatment and HIV counseling and testing.
		After the new laws went into effect, the sharing of needles among IDUs decreased substantially, and there was a shift from street needle and syringe purchasing to pharmacy purchasing.
		Efforts to increase the availability of sterile needles must be a part of a broader strategy to prevent HIV among IDUs, including expanded access to drug treatment and drug-use prevention efforts.
	www.caps.ucsf.edu /NEPrev.html (1643 words)

	Needle sharing spreads hepatitis B - billingsgazette.com
		CHEYENNE, Wyo. - The sharing of injection drug syringes and needles, then rinsing them in the same cups of water, was a major cause of a hepatitis B outbreak in Casper last year, state health officials said.
		Officials shared details about the outbreak for the first time during a statewide conference on HIV and hepatitis prevention Monday.
		Of the 113, 21 contracted hepatitis B. People who shared their rinse water were 22 times more likely to become infected than those who didn't, Van Houten said.
	www.billingsgazette.com /index.php?id=1&display=phpdata/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2004/03/31/build/wyoming/55-needles-hepatitis.inc (373 words)

	Nat' Academies Press, Preventing HIV Transmission: The Role of Sterile Needles and Bleach (1995)
		Although two drug injectors might each possess their own needle and syringe (and therefore deny that they are needle sharing), a potential for cross-contamination of needles and syringes is possible if each dips and draws solution from the same cooker in the same, or possibly later, injection episodes.
		If contaminated needles are submerged in cotton, there is at least a theoretical possibility of contamination with viable virus that might lead to transmission.
		With regard to sharing rinse water, it is the injection of this contaminated water that poses the greatest threat for HIV transmission, especially in the case of cocaine injection, because cocaine is water
	www.nap.edu /books/0309052963/html/26.html (810 words)

	Needle Exchange Programme
		Most of the scientific evidence clearly demonstrates that needle and syringe programmes worldwide are effective in reducing prevalence and/or incidence of HIV infection in injecting drug users.
		Each needle and syringe distributed by New Zealand’s NSEP costs approximately $0.90, making the programme about as efficient in terms of unit cost as the Australian state of Victoria, but less efficient than the average of all Australian state programmes (NZ$0.74).
		That the (perceived) problems of pharmacy staff attitudes towards needle exchange clients be addressed in a systematic way by the Ministry of Health, NENZ and the Pharmacy Guild; research into pharmacy exchange users’ perceptions of service would be a useful first step.
	www.needle.co.nz /fastpage/fpengine.php?templateid=24 (1214 words)

	American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse: Depressive Symptoms, Drug Network, and Their Synergistic Effect on ...
		Table 2 presents unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios of depressive symptoms for needle sharing after cleaning with bleach and needle sharing without cleaning in the last 6 months based on the proportional odds model.
		The association of depressive symptoms with needle sharing after cleaning with bleach and needle sharing without cleaning was adjusted by demographic characteristics, life events, drug use patterns, and social support and drug networks.
		However, for those with a larger drug network, having higher depressive symptoms increased the odds of needle sharing after cleaning with bleach and needle sharing without cleaning by 2.59 times compared to those with lower depressive symptoms; this statistical association was highly significant.
	www.findarticles.com /p/articles/mi_m0978/is_1_25/ai_54097339/pg_2 (730 words)

	The Dogwood Center, Princeton, NJ, USA
		Injectors explained this was because of the needle possession laws and their penalties.
		A New York City study found that attendance at a syringe exchange was associated with a continued downward trend in sharing syringes.
		A Wyndham, Connecticut, study found that after the city’s needle exchange program was closed, pharmacies also cut back on their sale of syringes.
	www.dogwoodcenter.org /profiling/20share.html (833 words)

	NEEDLE-SHARING BEHAVIOUR AMONG INJECTING DRUG USERS IN REGINA: AN INDICATOR OF RISK AND A GUIDE FOR PREVENTION (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-21)
		Objectives: To examine factors associated with the sharing of injection equipment among injecting drug users (IDUs) in Regina, Saskatchewan, and to compare the frequency of this behaviour with other IDU populations in Canada.
		Multivariate analyses of factors associated with sharing will be presented separately by type of equipment shared (needles/syringes or other injection equipment).
		Sharing behaviour is an indicator of risk for HIV and other blood-borne pathogens, and a better understanding of factors associated with sharing is needed to guide HIV prevention programs for IDUs in Canada.
	www.cahr-acrv.ca /english/resources/abstracts/abs/abs348P.htm (339 words)

	‘Needle sharing by drug abusers down by 60 pc'
		The Harm Reduction Project has helped reduce the sharing of needles among the Intravenous Drug Users (IDUs) by 60 per cent, said Dr. Ram Prasad Shrestha, President of the National Centre for AIDS and STD Control (NCASC).
		Data shows that IDUs are prone to HIV infection, with 68 percent of IDUs in the valley found to be HIV-infected, whereas the percentage outside the valley is 40.
		Speaking at a programme organised by Youth Power Nepal (YPN) in the capital today, Shrestha revealed that the NCASC is in the process of bringing out a scientific study data on the HIV prevalence rate in the country.
	www.kantipuronline.com /kolnews.php?&nid=5386 (358 words)

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