The controversy over the distribution of syringes to drug users in Pennsylvania, explained in 9 numbers

History of Ed Mahon of Spotlight PA

This story first appeared in The Investigator, a weekly newsletter from Spotlight PA featuring the best investigative and accountability stories from across Pennsylvania. Register for free here.

HARRISBURG – About a year ago, Spotlight PA and WESA began investigating a controversial aspect of Pennsylvania’s opioid revenue.

The multi-billion dollar settlements that attorneys general have reached with pharmaceutical companies say that expanding syringe services should be a priority for funding, but these programs are considered illegal in most parts of Pennsylvania under our drug paraphernalia laws.

Supporters say these programs help people find treatment and make communities safer by reducing the number of discarded syringes. Some lawmakers in Harrisburg have raised concerns that the programs condone illegal drug use or do not make communities safer.

Here are the numbers that stand out from the reporting and what they show:

1 — Republican lawmaker who voted for a bill to legalize syringe services in a committee vote in February. That lawmaker, state Rep. Jim Rigby of Cambria County, has spoken about how his service as police chief influenced his position.

“They don't prepare you to tell a mother and father that their child has died of an overdose,” he told Spotlight PA. “… If we save one, that's a start, so I'm willing to make that start.”

The bill, which passed the committee with unanimous support from Democrats, now awaits approval in the House plenary.

3 – A statewide assessment identified communities in Pennsylvania counties (Cambria, Crawford, and Luzerne) that are potentially vulnerable to rapid spread of HIV and to new or persistently high rates of hepatitis C infections among drug users.

5 times — how much more likely new users of a needle exchange program are to enter drug treatment compared to similar individuals who have never used a needle exchange program, according to a widely cited study from 2000.

8 times – how many more improperly disposed syringes researchers found during their inspections in a city without needle and syringe programs compared to a city with such programs, according to a 2012 study cited by the CDC.

38 — States that explicitly or implicitly authorize syringe services through law or regulation, according to a survey conducted last year by the Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association, a nonprofit that studies laws nationwide. Pennsylvania is not one of them.

150,000 US dollars – how much funding was cut from a settlement with a western Pennsylvania nonprofit late last year due to concerns about syringe services for opioid trials.

1992 – the year then-Mayor Ed Rendell, a Democrat, issued an executive order allowing syringe services in Philadelphia.

2008 – the year the Allegheny County Council passed a syringe exchange ordinance.

325,000 US dollars – how much money Allegheny County said it had allocated from a settlement in an opioid case by the end of last year to support “access to sterile syringes and other supplies for safer drug use.”

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