Healthcare providers are hoping to dispel public fear and misinformation around a recently-announced syringe dispensing unit.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Ballarat Community Health experts told The Courier needle and syringe programs (NSPs) have been around for more than 30 years, created in response to the HIV/AIDS crisis.
It follows a planning application lodged with City of Ballarat for the installation of a syringe dispensing unit at Uniting Ballarat’s Dana Street location.
The vending machine, which is fitted with child-resistant measures, will dispense Fitpacks which contain sterile needles, syringes and a disposal container.
Ballarat Community Health harm minimisation coordinator Pauline Molloy said needle and syringe programs, like the one planned for Uniting Ballarat, are supported by every major political party in Australia.
There's no evidence to suggest it's a honeypot effect, and no evidence to suggest needle dispensers increase litter in any way.
- Ballarat Community Health's Pauline Molloy
“The evidence around their effectiveness is overwhelming, not just for health outcomes, but cost effectiveness as well. It just comes down to the dollars.”
A cost-effectiveness study by the Australian Government found needle and syringe programs had directly averted 32,050 new HIV infections and more than 96,000 hepatitis C infection between 2000 and 2009.
There has been no dedicated needle dispensing program in Ballarat’s centre since 2014, when Ballarat Community Health shifted its headquarters to Lucas.
Ballarat Community Health manager of pharmacotherapy and harm reduction Jacqueline Keevins said NSPs give drug users direct access to support.
“By providing equipment for free in a very non-judgemental environment, when people are ready to seek treatment and not wanting to be using drugs anymore, there’s a pathway to do that.
“When people look at this, they see the here and now, and they see the person using drugs and make a moral judgement about that,” she said. “But this person is on a journey, and that person they think of might be tomorrow’s person in recovery.”
The population percentage 14 years or older injecting illicit drugs or using heroin over a 12 month period hit a low of 0.3 per cent in 2016, states the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.