Needle-exchange schemes

More information is needed about the efficacy of needle-exchange schemes—and for this to happen, more schemes need to be set up. If they prove a failure, we may see extreme legal sanctions on IV drug abusers possessing illegal equipment. 

Guidelines for a needle-exchange scheme set up in the Portsmouth area in 1987, plus notes for users, are given in Tables 8.2 and 8.3. 

The CDT helped establish a practical needle-exchange scheme, utilising chemists shops, and had to consider how to operate a policy of harm reduction in co-ordination with a service aimed at abstention. Even before the ACMD (1988) report on drugs and AIDS was produced, the team reached the conclusion that preventing the spread of HIV must come before any drug-specific goals. This has raised the issue of the attractiveness of the abstinence-oriented service to many users. 

Table 8.2 Proposals for needles-and syringe-exchange scheme...

All clients in the needle/syringe exchange scheme will have the following information recorded details of contacts, syringes issued and returned, any treatment given and illness episodes. 

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