Letters 11-28-12: Harm Reduction Works

The concept of inclusive citizenship recognizes that all individuals have the right to self-determination, and that all beings are worthy of equal rights and freedoms. When it comes to injection drug users freedom and protection becomes constricted by political ideologies.The city of Olympia needs to find ways to fund programs that reduce risks for injection drug users. Syringe exchange programs address risk and harm reduction and overall addiction treatment, and in Olympia also provide HIV testing and counseling. While HIV is not spreading rapidly throughout Thurston County, Hepatitis C is, and one of the primary ways we can address this growing epidemic is to supply people with the full range of equipment needed- in a safe and respectful manner. It is preposterous to think that if we supply people with clean drug use equipment we are condoning the use of injection drugs. People will use these drugs whether policy makers think they should or not, thus we must do our best as a community to ensure that people are at least taking fewer risks when engaging in such behaviors. The City Council says that as a code-city, Olympia is not responsible for what has been in the past, a County initiative. But if you consider the costs to the state, to our community, you hope they will change their mind. Lifelong care costs for people with HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C average from $100,000-385,000. It is up to our community leaders to decide which cost they can afford.

Dory Nies