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4/15/2005 12:10:00 AM

Report affirms success of needle exchange programs in combating spread of AIDS

Many opponents of needle exchange programs view such efforts as "being soft" on illegal drug users and believe that punitive measures are a more appropriate response. A Rice University sociologist argues these programs don't encourage or increase illegal drug use -- they are a proven method of reducing the spread of AIDS.

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Despite overwhelming evidence that needle exchange programs curb the spread of HIV infections, Congress and Democratic and Republican administrations alike have continued to ban funding for such programs in their "war on drugs." In recent testimony before the Texas Senate regarding Bill FB 127, Rice sociologist William Martin argued that opponents of needle exchange programs can no longer reasonably portray those efforts as condoning illegal drug use in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

"Without exception, studies by key governmental and professional bodies both in the U.S. and abroad have persuasively documented that access to sterile needles does not encourage people to start injecting drugs nor increase their drug use, as many opponents of such programs claim," Martin says.

Most important, notes Martin, these reports endorse needle exchange programs as an effective measure for reducing the incidence of blood-borne diseases and increasing access to treatment for drug users.

In a report available on Rice University's James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy web site, Martin, a senior fellow at the Institute and a member of Rice's sociology department, points to his findings and studies by others that consistently show clean needle exchanges as a successful approach to reducing HIV infections.

In addition to the human costs, Martin's report cites the enormous economic price paid by society as a result of the spread of HIV infections. According to a 2005 assessment by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the current lifetime treatment for a person with HIV costs $155,000 annually, a high percentage of which is paid through Medicaid or other taxpayer-funded programs.

"Based on that figure, lifetime treatment just for those who have been infected in the past five years in this country will cost an estimated $31 billion," Martin says.

Martin's report describes the successes of programs operating around the world, particularly in Australia where five years ago, there were 14 times fewer new AIDS cases for every 100,000 Australians than among the same number of people in the U.S.

"Even more dramatically," Martin says, "in Southern Australia, where 55 needle exchange programs serve about 1.2 million drug users, no new HIV infections were reported for three consecutive years."

According to Martin, the Australian National Council of AIDS and Hepatitis Related Diseases reviewed the savings versus costs of their needle exchange program over a ten-year period and found that an investment of more than $130 million (Australian) in the program – the equivalent of 71.8 million U.S. dollars – would save between $2.4 and $7.7 billion Australian or 1.3 and 4.1 billion U.S. dollars.

Martin estimates that approximately 120 needle exchange programs exist in the U.S. today, many with few resources or no legal protection. Still, the Congressional ban prohibiting funding for needle exchanges continues, despite the success of such operations as the 15-year-old New Haven Program in Conn., which saw a 33 percent drop in HIV transmission in its first two years, or the four-member volunteer operation in Dallas, whose rate of AIDS is 57 percent lower than in Houston, which has no needle exchange program.

"As limited as the Dallas needle exchange program is, it surely is making a difference," Martin says.

Martin's report, titled "Needle Exchange Programs: Sending The Right Message," is one of a series of articles being published by the Baker Institute on topics presented during an international conference on drug policy, organized and chaired by Martin in 2002.

In addition to his work on reducing the negative consequences of both drug abuse and drug policy, Martin has conducted extensive research on the impact of religious fundamentalism on U.S. politics, most recently on Christian fundamentalism and American foreign policy. He is the author of "A Prophet with Honor: The Billy Graham Story" and "With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America."

Martin, who holds the Harry and Hazel Chavanne Professorship of Religion and Public Policy at Rice, has been a member of the sociology faculty since 1968. A graduate of Abilene Christian University where he received a bachelor's and master's degree, Martin also holds a bachelor of divinity degree from Harvard Divinity School and a Ph.D. from Harvard University.

To learn more about this research, contact Martin at wcm@rice.edu or B.J. Almond in the Office of News and Media Relations at balmond@rice.edu .

Research @Rice, 2005