Public health advocates are urging Iowa lawmakers to approve needle exchange programs for drug addicts. University of Iowa medical student Sarah Ziegenhorn, a leader in the Iowa Harm Reduction Coalition, testified before a legislative committee examining the opioid epidemic.
A study by the Iowa Harm Reduction Coalition concludes that over the last four years, nearly 60-percent of Iowans seeking treatment for opioid abuse use needles to inject heroin. And addicts share needles, so the number of hepatitis C cases is spiking, too. Iowa’s Republican governor plans to host meetings on the opioid crisis next week. Ziegenhorn says 16 states with Republican governors or Republican-led legislatures have recently enacted needle exchange programs.
The Department of Public Health reports that 22-hundred Iowans are being diagnosed with hepatitis C each year. That’s an increase of more than 200-percent over the last 16 years. Tens of thousands more are likely infected with hepatitis C, but not diagnosed.
