Poll: Ohioans divided on needle exchange

VW independent/submitted information

CINCINNATI — Half of Ohio adults (50 percent) said they favor and about 4 in 10 Ohio adults (42 percent) said they oppose needle exchange programs, according to the most recent Ohio Health Issues Poll (OHIP).

The survey is sponsored by Interact for Health, an independent, health-focused foundation that serves 20 counties in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.

According to the Institute of Medicine, needle or syringe exchange programs are an effective way to reduce the risk of an outbreak of infectious diseases^[1]. A needle exchange program allows people who inject drugs to exchange used syringes for new, sterile syringes. Research has shown that such programs can help reduce the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C and do not increase the frequency or initiation of drug use.

The survey also found that four in 10 Ohio adults reported being somewhat or very familiar with needle exchange programs being implemented in cities across Ohio.

Ohio adults who are familiar with needle exchange programs are more likely to favor them. Six in 10 Ohio adults who are very or somewhat familiar with needle exchange programs favor them (61 percent). This compares with 4 in 10 adults (43 percent) who are not very or not at all familiar with needle exchange programs. Younger adults and those who identify as Democrats are also more likely to favor these programs.

Higher earning adults had more familiarity with needle exchange programs. Adults earning more than 138% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines (FPG) or $16,642 for a single person (46 percent) were more than twice as likely as those earning 138% FPG or less (21 percent) to be somewhat or very familiar with needle exchange programs.

“These programs are not new,” says Hamilton County Health Commissioner Tim Ingram. “In fact, they’re operational in multiple locations throughout Ohio.  Equipment exchange is an important component of a comprehensive bloodborne infectious disease prevention program.”

In addition to equipment exchange, Hamilton County’s program includes education about overdose prevention, communicable disease and injection safety, testing for communicable disease and for pregnancy, vaccination, and referral to treatment programs.  It also includes access to naloxone, the overdose-reversing drug.

“Data from the OHIP survey is invaluable to understanding how information about programs has spread through Ohio,” says O’dell Moreno Owens, M.D., M.P.H., President/CEO, Interact for Health. “It’s telling that adults who are more familiar with needle exchange programs are more likely to favor them.  This suggests that increased public education could enhance understanding of the benefits of these programs in our communities.”

More information about Ohioans’ knowledge and opinions of needle exchange programs, and other topics, is available at www.interactforhealth.org/ohio-health-issues-poll.

About the Ohio Health Issues Poll

The 2017 Ohio Health Issues Poll (OHIP) is funded by Interact for Health. OHIP was conducted June 18 to July 30, 2017, by the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Cincinnati. A random sample of 836 adults from throughout Ohio was interviewed by telephone. This included 430 landline telephone interviews and 406 cell phone interviews. In 95 of 100 cases, statewide estimates will be accurate to ± 3.4%. There are other sources of variation inherent in public opinion studies, such as non-response, question wording, or context effects that can introduce error or bias. For more information about the Ohio Health Issues Poll, visit www.interactforhealth.org/ohio-health-issues-poll.