Harm Reduction Strategies: Portuguese Needle-Exchange Program
In my opinion, supervised consumption and injection sites can lead to a change in regulatory perceptions about drugs. Such places can be regarded as a drug den and pose an immediate threat to the health and life of the nearest neighbors. The clients of it not only have an antisocial appearance, but also characterized in inappropriate behavior. Coming to the supervised consumption and injection system, they can harm people living in the immediate vicinity of it.
I believe that the needle distribution sites and recovery programs is one of the main elements of the package of measures to prevent new cases of HIV infection. It significantly reduces the level of HIV infection among injecting drug users (Borges et al., 2020). Moreover, such centers redirect drug addicts to various institutions, motivating them to seek help. Along with needles, booklets with detoxification, rehabilitation and sexual and reproductive health programs are given to addicts.
MAT’s -Substitution therapy refers to methods of long-term medical care using pharmacological agents. In my opinion, this is a fairly effective method in connection with improving the quality of health and life of patients by eliminating and preventing the development of withdrawal syndrome (Shimozono et al., 2019). Using this way, users of opioid injectable and non-injectable drugs also successfully suppress the desire to take other narcotic substances and introduce changes in behavior.
The implementation of continuous preventive measures with Naloxone is an effective means of reducing mortality from opioid overdoses. In addition, information is provided at the points to active users of injectable drugs to determine signs of overdoses (Cid et al., 2021). They are also supplied with booklets on how to give first aid and emergency medical care. In the complex, these measures really work, preventing brain injury due to depressed breathing, and death in patients.
References
Borges, M., Gouveia, M., Fiorentino, F., Jesus, G., Cary, M., Guerreiro, J., … Carneiro, A. (2020). Costs and consequences of the Portuguese needle-exchange program in community pharmacies. Canadian Pharmacists Journal, 153(3), 170-178.
Cid, A., Daskalakis, G., Grindrod, K., & Beazely, M. (2021). What is known about community pharmacy-based take-home Naloxone programs and program interventions: A scoping review. pharmacy, 9(30), 1-32.
Shimozono, Y., Fortier, L., Brown, D., & Kennedy, J. (2019). Adipose-based therapies for knee pain: Fat or fiction. The Journal of Knee Surgery, 32(1), 55-64.