Can You Buy Syringes Over the Counter in Ohio
Local wellness boards and pharmacies asked to help
Licking Canton says "no"
Licking Canton Health Department
1000ost people know that the Centers for Disease Control recommends that health regime provide access to sterile syringes for people who inject drugs. Less well-known is the fact that the Ohio Section of Health recommends syringe programs, too. The country wellness department issued a Wellness Alarm in Oct on rising HIV cases related to Iv drug use. In that Health Alarm, ODH included its strongest language nevertheless on the value of syringe programs in preventing HIV and other diseases:
Read ODH alarm
ODH said affirmatively and direct that syringe programs work: "Protective factors to reduce transmission (of HIV) in PWIDs, include reasonable access to sterile syringes (through local syringe service programs [SSPs] or pharmacies)." PWID is brusk for People who inject drugs.
Many public health boards in Ohio have followed this advice and done a bang-up job putting the CDC and ODH recommendations into practice. Today, xix of Ohio'south 88 counties have syringe programs (sometimes called "needle exchanges"). (See locations hither.) The Logan Canton Board of Health has approved a program that has not withal started. Other counties are planning programs that could start afterward this twelvemonth.
A first: Licking County votes "no" on preventing HIV, hepatitis
Licking County Lath of Health
Public health efforts to preclude HIV and Hepatitis C took a blow last month when the Licking County Board of Health became the first in Ohio to outlaw syringe programs.
In an unannounced 8-0 vote at its February 19 meeting, the Licking County health board imposed comprehensive ban on syringe programs. The board blocked all private organizations (fifty-fifty health intendance providers) from providing sterile needles, every bit well as its own wellness department. (The county health department had included syringe access in its strategic plan of things to accomplish.)
The board'southward expansive prohibition banned mobile programs (such every bit those run from a van) and those operating at at fixed sites (such every bit a clinic).
The local newspaper, the Newark Abet, blasted the Board of Health'southward secret vote as "cowardly." (The Advocate citizen's board supports a syringe program, too.) While some politicians oppose syringe programs, the Ohio Health Poll shows almost Ohioans favor the programs.
Most Ohio residents support syringe programs
Source: 2022 Ohio Health Poll, Interact for Health, Cincinnati
Reducing HIV in Licking Canton
Impairment Reduction Ohio and Equitas Health of Columbus had told the board Licking County health lath it was interesting in starting a syringe program. However, no proposal had been made. Instead, the Board of Health, a citizens board appointed by local Township trustees and mayors, acted on its ain initiative to block the wellness initiative.
Damage Reduction Ohio will join medical professionals, customs leaders and people with lived feel adjacent month to request the Board of Health reverse its decision and follow science over stigma. The meeting will exist Tuesday, May 19 at 6:30 p.m. at the Licking County Health Department, 675 Jones Road in Newark, Ohio.
Licking Canton is a 175,000-resident canton, just east of Columbus. Newark is its largest metropolis and the likely location for a syringe plan.
Source: https://www.harmreductionohio.org/ohio-department-of-health-recommends-provide-access-to-sterile-syringes/
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