“I was brought to a room at one point as a county employee, with major county and city staff, and basically told to shut up,” Amy Upham, who worked as opioid response coordinator for Buncombe County Department of Health and Human Services (BCDHHS) from 2019-21, told an audience at Pack Memorial Library last week.
“I have never seen a nurse in a medical facility lack the appropriate sharps container in which to dispose of a used needle or syringe. Why aren’t there more locations in which to dispose of them outside of medical facilities? “
The Buncombe County Health and Human Services Department will offer syringe services at its 40 Coxe Ave. clinic beginning in July or August, joining the Needle Exchange Program of Asheville and the Steady Collective in providing supplies and education to reduce the harms associated with injection drug use.
Two local agencies, the Needle Exchange Program of Asheville and The Steady Collective, provide clean needles and other supplies to help reduce the negative health effects of habitual drug use in Western North Carolina. Now Buncombe County is considering starting a program of its own to combat an increase in diseases transmitted by reusing and sharing needles.
“Support your local needle-exchange program any way you are able, and tell your state senators and representatives to get real about a scientifically proven method to reduce the spread of blood-borne pathogens by writing a better bill!”
