§ 23-11-18 - Legislative findings. - Rhode Island Statutes

SECTION 23-11-18

   § 23-11-18  Legislative findings. –The general assembly recognizes and declares that:

   (1) The special legislative commission to study thefeasibility of implementing a needle exchange program has met in accordancewith 1992 joint resolution 192, and strongly recommends passage of a lawenabling the department of health to implement a pilot needle exchange programfor the prevention of HIV transmission among intravenous drug users;

   (2) Seventy-one percent (71%) of all AIDS cases among womenare linked to injection drug use; fifty-eight percent (58%) of children withAIDS were infected through their mother who injected drugs or had sex with anIDU. In Rhode Island, the number of injection drug users has been estimated ashigh as eight thousand (8,000); and intravenous drug use accounts forforty-five percent (45%) of reported cases of HIV infection since 1989;

   (3) The yearly cost of a syringe exchange program is oftenless than the costs to treat a single person with AIDS. The lifetime medicalcosts for treating someone with AIDS is approximately eighty-five thousanddollars ($85,000);

   (4) Needle exchange programs have been shown to reduce HIVtransmission by as much as thirty-three percent (33%), and have beensuccessfully implemented in over twenty (20) locations in the United States,including Boulder, Colorado; New Haven, Connecticut; Honolulu, Hawaii;Portland, Oregon; Seattle and Tacoma, Washington; San Francisco, California;Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; andIndianapolis, Indiana;

   (5) That legislation is necessary to enable the department ofhealth to pursue additional funding from the federal government and privatefoundations for a needle exchange program; and the general assembly of thestate does recognize and declare that a well designed and well monitored pilotneedle exchange program should play a vital and necessary role in our largerpublic health effort to reduce the transmission of HIV; and

   (6) This act should not be misconstrued to mean that thestate endorses or encourages the illegal use and/or abuse of illicit or harmfulsubstances in any form or method of transmission whatsoever. Rather, theexpress purpose of this act is to assist in the reduction of the transmissionof life-threatening diseases, such as AIDS and HIV, through the use ofcontaminated needles and syringes. Moreover, it shall be the ongoing policy ofthe state to use its considerable resources to educate its citizens about thedangers of all forms of substance abuse in any manner of transmission and tofoster programs of prevention so as to reduce the incidence of substance abuse,drug addiction, AIDS/HIV, and like problems.