Needle Exchange Persuasive Speech
I’m writing you today in support of expanding the needle exchange program in Tennessee. The needle exchange program or syringe exchange program, as you may know, is where injection drug users may turn in their used needles for sterile syringes.This is an attempt to reduce the rate of HIV/AIDS and improve user safety. The hesitation to increase these programs are that it perpetuates drug use; however, this is not the case. If a person is an addict, they will find a way to get to the drug no matter the risks. Those risk can include continuing to use the same needle until it breaks off into their own body or simply sharing in which is how the diseases are spread. In any case, the reduction harm services that could be provided will not reduce
the drug use, instead it will connect them to a facility that has the resources to potentially help them later. If they do so choose to become clean and enter rehabilitation, they know of a welcoming community that could potentially inflect positive change. Some facilities also include wound doctors, counselling, and many pamphlets to promote safe use. These programs are also very cost effective. The average cost of treating a person with HIV/AIDs is between $385,200 and $618,900 within their lifetime. The price of a single clean syringe is generally 15 cents. The average price to run a facility of this type is generally around $160,000 a year whereas preventing one transmitted diseases would cover that cost exponentially. This could potentially save the state hundreds of thousands of dollars just for providing simple syringes and other products to those who need them. Since Tennessee has one of the highest rates of HIV in the country, it should be addressed by more aggressive means. In 2013, there more than 16,000 people living with this illness and hundreds more are still being diagnosed each year.
the drug use, instead it will connect them to a facility that has the resources to potentially help them later. If they do so choose to become clean and enter rehabilitation, they know of a welcoming community that could potentially inflect positive change. Some facilities also include wound doctors, counselling, and many pamphlets to promote safe use. These programs are also very cost effective. The average cost of treating a person with HIV/AIDs is between $385,200 and $618,900 within their lifetime. The price of a single clean syringe is generally 15 cents. The average price to run a facility of this type is generally around $160,000 a year whereas preventing one transmitted diseases would cover that cost exponentially. This could potentially save the state hundreds of thousands of dollars just for providing simple syringes and other products to those who need them. Since Tennessee has one of the highest rates of HIV in the country, it should be addressed by more aggressive means. In 2013, there more than 16,000 people living with this illness and hundreds more are still being diagnosed each year.