I am writing to you in an attempt to influence you to vote against House Bill 180. I have become very spirited and passionate about this subject and have done extensive research, so I hope you will take my points into consideration. Before continuing, I would like to thank you in advance for your time and consideration while reading through my argument. In an upcoming legislature meeting, you are going to be voting on House Bill 180 which purposes the Syringe and Needle Exchange Act. This act is a community-based program that would provide sterile needles and syringes and a facility for safe disposal of used needles free of cost to drug users.
The main purpose of purposing this bill was to reduce the number of diseases spread by drug users using dirty needles and syringes. While this might sound like a good plan to reduce diseases it is not because, in the long run, it is only granting drug users permission to use their drugs after getting a clean needle that the government has provided them with. With many factors taken into consideration, I believe that you should vote against this bill. The needle exchange program is objectively wrong and should be prohibited due to its encouragement of drug use. For a moment I would like you to picture yourself as a pilot of an airplane traveling to a very exciting and new destination. As you take off and begin to gain altitude, slowly watching the ground fade away, you begin to get excited and eager to meet your final destination. However, all of the sudden your plane begins to shake and you lose control. As your plane is losing altitude you are given two choices. First, you can try to change courses and regain control outside of the turbulence.
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The second, you continue on course and spin down to the earth in a fiery crash. This scenario that I just placed in your mind is one that is very similar to a drug addicts life. At the beginning of an addiction, a person might seem like they are on top of the world, in control, free, and strong. However, they are really just beginning the turbulent course that leads them to devote most of their efforts and aids to find another fix. One way to encourage and aid addicts is to supply them with the resources to continue their self-annihilation, and lead them down the path that eventually ends in fiery destruction. These resources are given out through the Syringe and Needle Act. People might agree with this bill because some statistics have shown that this method works to reduce disease epidemics. These people believe that there shouldn’t be any controversy regarding these programs because there is no evidence that anyone will suddenly experiment with heroin because free needles are available. They state that these programs are for people with serious drug addictions. While some of these remarks might be true, they are still purposing an unhealthy lifestyle that has effects greater than the person who is taking advantage of free needles. House Bill 180 is not the first bill of its kind to be suggested. In fact, 14 states have already enacted this act.
Many of these states have had success in lowering the disease rate throughout drug users. However, other problems have arisen regarding the active Needle Exchange Acts. One of the major problems being a number of reports of discarded needles in public places outside of the needle exchange programs. In San Francisco, California “400,000 needles are distributed monthly, the health department estimates that about 246,000 come back through its 13 syringe access and disposal sites” states Phil Matier. This means that there are still 154,000 syringes that are still circulating and potentially being reused, which could still spread the diseases that the same exact act is trying to dwindle. Discarding used needles in public places such as parks, walkways, and public gardens without the proper safety precautions not only degrades the community-cleanliness, but it also spreads the same diseases that the government was trying to prevent. While the act might cut down on the diseases spread throughout drug users, dirty needles are still on the streets for children and other less fortunate drug users to find, use, and contract a disease. There are also many factors that go into this bill that will draw negative press from non-drug users because providing drug addicts with sterile needles in exchange for their old ones sends an overall wrong message to society as a whole.
A needle exchange sanctions bad behavior by suggesting that doing the wrong thing will be rewarded with official permission from the government to continue doing it. Children in Idaho are starting as early as elementary school learning about the negative impacts of substance abuse. As of 2014 Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E) provides a school-based substance abuse prevention program in 75 percent of the United States school districts ('Is the D.A.R.E. Program Good for America's Kids K-12?'). Many Idaho schools use the program and it has been proven to be effective. However, a needle exchange program encourages the exact opposite message, condoning immoral behavior. Our government should focus on discouraging the use of drugs and providing a more productive treatment for recovery instead. Young children are more at risk for taking more risks and must receive a clear message on drugs, which should match the no tolerance policy being condemned in the D.A.R.E. Program that many Idaho students have or will participate in.
The Syringe and Needle Exchange Act sends the wrong message to young impressionable children and other parts of society as well. Giving clean needles is no way to solve the drug problems that afflict Idaho’s society. By enacting this bill we would be ignoring the underlying issues that lead to drug dependence thus creating more drug addicts. The fatality rate of overdoses is not the only concern that arises either because by supplying drug users with sterile supplies it will also provide drug dealers prime locations to sell injectable drugs. This leads to a corrupt environment in communities. The environment within a community is a significant factor in its framework. House Bill 180 reads “There is no fiscal impact to the General Fund because the program is completely voluntary in nature. Any costs incurred would be borne by the organization conducting the exchange”. This means that the needle exchanges are a community-based program which creates an undesirable environment by attracting drug addicts as well as dealers. The idea in itself is off-putting especially to those who are in neighborhoods and have families. Typically the behavior of an addict is undesirable, especially when on a drug. In fact, according to The Bureau of Justice statistics, 36% of violent crimes were directly related to drug use. Therefore, a needle exchange program creates an unsafe environment. Bringing in drug dealers and addicts into a community makes the area more prone to crime. There are many more productive alternatives that the government could back such as finding the root cause of drug abuse, which is addiction and dependency, instead of sanctioning free handouts of clean needles.
The government should instead focus to create more opportunities for counseling, providing healthcare, and funding rehab facilities. As the program is now, the primary mission is collecting dirty needles in replacement of clean needles in an effort to reduce the transmission of HIV, AIDS, and strains of Hepatitis. This does not address or solve the problem of addiction, and therefore it will only continue to help the dependency of drugs to become more severe. Some people might argue that both the Syringe and Needle Exchange Act and rehab facilities can work together to reduce drug users. They are incorrect because the program’s implicit encouragement of intervenous drug use and the creation of problems within communities point to a disaster in the future. House Bill 180 should not be passed in Idaho’s 2019 legislature session. The Syringe and Needle Exchange Act only postpones the inevitable demise of the drug user and quickly shows that it is the wrong answer to preventing drug abuse. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this letter. I hope that it brought out some of the key flaws that come along with the bill and that you might think before voting in favor of this bill when it comes time for you to vote again. Sincerely, McKenzie Emerson
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