Letter to the editor: If Portland’s needle program working, why more hepatitis C cases?

Re: David Hench’s article “Effort to keep drug users safe altered after Portland group complains” (Sept. 12): According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Maine’s reported rate of acute hepatitis C increased by 800 percent between 2007 and 2011. The Portland Needle Exchange has been handing out free needles and drug cut […]

Re: David Hench’s article “Effort to keep drug users safe altered after Portland group complains” (Sept. 12):

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Maine’s reported rate of acute hepatitis C increased by 800 percent between 2007 and 2011. The Portland Needle Exchange has been handing out free needles and drug cut kits for more than a decade.

If this “harm reduction” program were working, wouldn’t we be seeing a reduction in hepatitis C cases? Could it be that the 200,000 needles distributed yearly by the Portland Needle Exchange might be partly responsible for the skyrocketing hepatitis C infections?

Jay York

Bayside resident

Portland

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