Is this what our society has come to? In this video segment, Dr. Marc Siegel, medical correspondent for Fox News, tells us about the state of Nevada’s bold new plan for its intravenous drug users: providing vending machines that dispense fresh syringes and tourniquets!
The state’s controversial program, implemented in the face of a growing epidemic of heroin and opioid abuse across the country, is the first of its kind in the U.S. Addicts are given a card that they can use to access the colorfully wrapped gift boxes inside the machines, which each contain 10 syringes, a tourniquet, condoms and information about HIV.
Each addict is limited to two uses of the machines per week. “Providing clean needles and supplies is a proven method for limiting disease transmission in a community,” says Dr. Joe Iser, the Chief Health Officer of Southern Nevada. But Iser had less to say about whether the machines would reduce opioid dependency in his state.
In 2014, a similar program for crack addicts in Vancouver, Canada provided crack pipes for anyone who had as little as a quarter. Those machines were fully usable by the public at large. In theory, a more controlled method of access limits the Nevada machines’ use to a pre-selected set of users, but questions remain about the devices’ effectiveness. Watch as Dr. Siegel gives his expert opinion on this timely issue.