Preventing harm, saving lives
March 5, 2024
The Needle and Syringe Program (NSP) is a successful public health initiative that reduces the transmission of blood-borne viruses in the community.
NSP outlets are funded by government and are delivered by Anglicare in Hobart, Glenorchy and Burnie.
“The Needle and Syringe Program in Tasmania is a public health initiative that aims to prevent and reduce the transmission of blood-borne viruses and other injecting related harms, by providing free, sterile injecting equipment along with other harm reduction products and services to people who inject drugs,” explains Statewide Coordinator of the Needle and Syringe Program in the Department of Health, Myf Briggs.
“The 2022–2023 National Drug Strategy Household Survey revealed that almost 50% of people in Australia, over the age of 14, have illicitly used a drug at some point in their lifetime. Therefore, harm reduction focuses on reducing the harms associated with substance use without judgement, coercion, discrimination, or requiring people to stop using drugs as a precondition of support. We view drug use as a public health and human welfare issue,” Myf said.
Saving lives
In recent years Anglicare-run NSPs have participated in government-funded trials that have confirmed the life-saving importance of the overdose reversal drug naloxone and strips that test drugs for fentanyl – a highly potent additive that can cause overdose or even death.
Naloxone comes in an easy-to-use nasal spray that is administered after an opioid overdose. Its effects last for 30 – 90 minutes, giving people time to seek urgent medical help. It has been available for free from Tasmania’s primary NSP outlets since July 2020, following a successful trial. The Department of Health has received 104 reports of naloxone being administered to reverse an opioid overdose during this time.
Naloxone kits are also now available at some community pharmacies free of charge, in recognition that most fatal opioid overdoses in Australia are caused by prescription opioids.
Fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid that was originally developed as an anesthetic and is now often used to assist chronic pain management, such as cancer or terminal illness. It is up to 80 to 100 times stronger than morphine and is now being found in the illicit drug supply in the US and Canada as an additive to heroin and other drugs that sit outside the opioid family, such as cocaine, MDMA and methamphetamines. Anglicare provides NSP clients with free testing strips that can detect the presence of fentanyl in any batch of pills, powder or injectables.
Wrap-around support
“Our team members are trained professionals with a strong understanding of their local communities,” says Anglicare NSP worker Jo Murphy. “Our support is friendly and without judgement. People drop into our NSPs to collect sterile injecting equipment, but often they stop for a chat as well, which gives us the opportunity to ask if they’d like health-related advice.
Anglicare has a range of programs that support people who use drugs and alcohol. We can also refer people to other services related to housing, parenting and mental health.”
More information and further reading
The Tasmanian Government’s Needle and Syringe Program
Anglicare supports the Work with Purpose campaign that encourages Tasmanians to choose a career in social services. Hobart-based NSP worker Jamila is featured in the campaign – read her story here.
