This document discusses the benefits of Syringe Services Programs (SSPs) in Maryland. It notes that Maryland has a high rate of HIV diagnoses from injection drug use. The Baltimore SSP program has been operating since 1994, exchanging around 500,000 needles annually and linking users to health services and drug treatment. Studies show the Baltimore SSP has contributed to reductions in HIV diagnoses attributed to drug use and opioid overdose deaths. SSPs can help address public health issues like HIV, hepatitis C, and overdoses at a relatively low cost through preventing disease transmission and connecting drug users to services.

1. What do Syringe Services Programs (SSPs)
mean for Maryland?
“It’s not the science that’s in question, it’s the politics.”
- Dr. Peter Beilenson, former Baltimore City Health Commissioner1
Why Maryland?
Maryland has the fourth highest percentage of cumulative AIDS diagnoses attributable to injection drug use (IDU)
in the country.
2
Maryland’s history shows that simple interventions requiring modest investment can reverse this
trend.
Syringe Service Programs Work in Maryland
• Baltimore City is currently the only jurisdiction in Maryland permitted to conduct syringe exchange.
• The Baltimore City SSP Program began in 1994. It receives more than 17,000 visits annually and
exchanges nearly a half million needles each year.
• It also provides vaccinations, wound care, and reproductive health services, and connects clients to drug
treatment and supportive housing slots.
• Over the course of 12 years, the Baltimore SSP has served more than 14,000 IDUs and referred
approximately 2,300 SSP users to treatment programs.
3
• A study in Baltimore has demonstrated that SSPs that are closely linked with drug treatment programs
have high levels of retention for substance abuse treatment.
4
• With the help of SSPs, the proportion of HIV diagnoses attributable to injection drug use in
Maryland has dropped from 53.3% to an all-time low of 15.9% in 2010.
5
Trends in HIV Diagnoses by Exposure Category in MD, 1985-20105
1
Bor, Jonathan. Needle program no spur to crime: City’s exchange effort has little effect on arrests, study says. Baltimore Sun (March 30,
1999). Available at: http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1999-03-30/news/9903300196_1_clean-needles-needle-program-needle-exchange
2
40.6 percent, compared to 25.2 percent nationally. Maryland: Estimated Numbers of AIDS Diagnoses Among Adults and Adolescents by Transmission
Category, Cumulative through 2010. Available at: http://www.statehealthfacts.org/comparetable.jsp?ind=845&cat=11
3
Latkin, C.A., Davey, M.A., Hua, W. (2006). Needle exchange program utilization and entry into drug user treatment: Is there a long-term connection in
Baltimore, Maryland? Substance Use & Misuse 41(14): 1991-2001.
4
Brooner, R., et al. (1998). Drug abuse treatment success among needle exchange participants. Public Health Reports 113(Suppl 1): 129.
5
Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. (2011). Maryland HIV/AIDS Epidemiological Profile: Fourth Quarter 2011: 30. Available online at
http://ideha.dhmh.maryland.gov/OIDEOR/CHSE/Shared%20Documents/Maryland%20HIV%20AIDS%20Epidemiological%20Profile%2012-2011.pdf

2. 30%
8%
54%
7%
Maryland Population, by
Ethnicity (2011)5
Non-Hispanic Black
Hispanic
Non-Hispanic White
Other 86%
2%
12%
IDU Living With HIV/AIDS In
Maryland, by Ethnicity
(2010)4
Non-Hispanic Black
Hispanic
Non-Hispanic White
Lack of access to SSPs disproportionately affects African Americans
Although African Americans account for 30% of the state’s population, they comprise 86% of Maryland’s IDUs
living with HIV/AIDS.5 African American IDUs have been identified as a priority population for HIV prevention.
6
Syringe Service Programs are important for Hepatitis C prevention7891011
How can Syringe Service Programs help address overdose deaths?
• In Maryland, the age-adjusted death rate for overdose/intoxication deaths for 2007 to 2011 was 11.5 per
100,000, ranging from 4.3 per 100,000 in Montgomery County to 27.7 per 100,000 in Baltimore City.
12
• Heroin remains the most common substance associated with intoxication deaths in Baltimore City.
13
• The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has identified a recent shift from prescription opioids to
heroin among drug overdose deaths in Maryland.
14
• In the state of Maryland, the number of drug overdose deaths increased 6% over the past year.
14
• However, in the City of Baltimore, the drug overdose prevention program operated by Baltimore’s SSP
has contributed to a
54% reduction in opioid related overdose deaths, from 307 deaths in 2002 to 140
deaths in 2011.
12,15
16
Syringe Service Programs Save Money and Lives
Maryland’s relatively small investment in SSP funding can have huge returns. Studies have shown that every $1
invested in syringe service programs results in $3-7 in savings in HIV treatment alone.
16
6
U.S. Census Bureau. (2012). State & county quick facts: Maryland. Available online at http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/24000.html.
7
Villano, S. A., Vlahov, D., Nelson, K. E., Lyles, C. M., Cohn, S., & Thomas, D. L. (1997). Incidence and risk factors for hepatitis C among injection drug
users in Baltimore, Maryland. Journal of clinical microbiology, 35(12), 3274-3277.
8
Thomas, D. L., Vlahov, D., Solomon, L., Cohn, S., Taylor, E., Garfein, R., & Nelson, K. E. (1995). Correlates of hepatitis C virus infections among
injection drug users. Medicine, 74(4), 212.
9
The BESURE Study 2012 Update. Available online at: http://ideha.dhmh.maryland.gov/OIDEOR/CHSE/Documents/Meeting%20Handout.pdf
10
Alter, M. J. (2002). Prevention of spread of hepatitis C. Hepatology, 36(5B), s93-s98.
11
Prevalence prior to implementation was 91% and fell to 56%. Des Jarlais, D. Reducing HIV and HCV transmission among injecting drug users in New
York, Presentation May 10, 2008, International Harm Reduction Conference.
12
Maryland Department of Health & Mental Hygiene report on “Drug and Alcohol Intoxication Deaths in Maryland, 2007 to 2011.” Available at:
http://dhmh.maryland.gov/vsa/Documents/Drug-and-Alcohol-Report-v5.pdf
13
Baltimore City Health Department, Press Release, July 28, 2011. Health Department releases 2009 annual drug intoxication report.
14
Data used to determine all overdose death figures comes from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The methodology used for determining
overdose death figures was developed by the Vital Statistics Administration and is available online at:
http://dhmh.maryland.gov/vsa/Documents/Methods--drug-report.pdf.
15
Office of Epidemiology and Planning, Baltimore City Health Department. Intoxication Deaths Associated with Drugs of Abuse or Alcohol. Baltimore
City, Maryland: Baltimore City Health Department. January 2007.
16
Nguyen TQ. Increasing investment in syringe exchange is cost-saving HIV prevention: modeling hypothetical syringe coverage levels in the United
States. Nineteenth International AIDS Conference, Washington DC, abstract MOAE0204, 2012.
The Problem
• Risk of Hepatitis C transmission increases by
sharing drug paraphernalia
7
and through
increased frequency and duration of injecting.
8
• 30-50% of Maryland’s IDUs have Hepatitis C.
9
• 78% of IDUs in Baltimore became infected with
Hepatitis C after only 2 years of injecting.
8
How can SSPs help?
• The majority of hepatitis C cases are
related to injection drug use.
10
• Following large scale implementation
of syringe services, hepatitis C
prevalence among IDUs in NYC
decreased by more than 35%.
11