Worcester Board of Health works on needle exchange program

The Worcester Board of Health is refining an opioid epidemic action plan that would make the city the sixth in Massachusetts to permit a needle exchange program.

The state’s second-largest city has seen an increase in Hepatitis C among 20- to 25-year-olds due at least in part to the opioid and heroin abuse epidemic that is plaguing Massachusetts and the nation, according to a presentation given by the city’s Department of Public Health to the City Council on Nov. 17.

Decreasing Hepatitis C transmissions would be one of the benefits of a needle exchange program, according to the health department, along with reducing rates of high-risk behaviors by up to 60 percent and decreasing HIV transmission between 33 and 42 percent. For every $100 spent on a needle exchange program, the department said, $758 is saved in HIV treatment costs.

Massachusetts passed legislation in 1993 that allows up to 10 needle exchange programs in the state, with local approval. Five cities and towns currently permit such programs: Boston, Cambridge, Northampton, Provincetown, and, most recently, Holyoke, where the Board of Health approved it in 2012.

In addition to exchanging used needles for new, sterile ones, these programs offer referrals to treatment, testing for sexually transmitted diseases, and other services, according to the state Department of Public Health’s HIV/Service and Resource Guide.

“There’s a moratorium on needle exchanges across the state and each municipality can vote to lift that moratorium, which would allow local community organizations or whomever to operate the needle exchange,” said John Hill, a spokesman for the city of Worcester. “The state would contract with the outside organization. They just need the approval of the municipality, and then can apply to the state for funding.”

The Board of Health in Worcester will discuss the proposal at its next meeting on Dec. 7, although a vote is not likely at that meeting, Hill said. After the DPH presentation on Nov. 17, the City Council voted 9-1 on a non-binding resolution in support of the city’s opioid epidemic action plan, including the needle exchange program.

According to the North American Syringe Exchange Network, there are 228 needle exchange programs across the U.S. and its territories. A ban on federal funding for needle exchange programs has been in place since 1998, although it was lifted in 2009 before being re-established two years later.