TY - JOUR
T1 - Physician prescribing of sterile injection equipment to prevent HIV infection
T2 - Time for action
AU - Burris, S.
AU - Lurie, P.
AU - Abrahamson, D.
AU - Rich, J. D.
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2000/8/1
Y1 - 2000/8/1
N2 - Injection drug users, their sex partners, and their children are at high risk for acquiring HIV infection and other bloodborne diseases. The risk for disease transmission in the United States is partly the result of restricted access to sterile injection equipment. Physicians and pharmacists can play an important role in providing syringe access by prescribing and dispensing syringes to patients who use injection drugs and cannot or will not enter drug treatment. Prescribing and dispensing injection equipment are ethical, clinically appropriate, and fully consistent with current public health guidelines on disease prevention. An analysis of the laws of the 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico finds that physicians in nearly all these jurisdictions may legally prescribe sterile injection equipment to prevent disease transmission among drug-using patients and that pharmacists in most states have a clear or reasonable legal basis for filling the prescriptions. Given these medical and legal findings, physicians may wish to take a larger role in improving access to sterile injection equipment by prescribing this equipment for their patients where this practice is legal, and by joining efforts to change the law where it poses a barrier.
AB - Injection drug users, their sex partners, and their children are at high risk for acquiring HIV infection and other bloodborne diseases. The risk for disease transmission in the United States is partly the result of restricted access to sterile injection equipment. Physicians and pharmacists can play an important role in providing syringe access by prescribing and dispensing syringes to patients who use injection drugs and cannot or will not enter drug treatment. Prescribing and dispensing injection equipment are ethical, clinically appropriate, and fully consistent with current public health guidelines on disease prevention. An analysis of the laws of the 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico finds that physicians in nearly all these jurisdictions may legally prescribe sterile injection equipment to prevent disease transmission among drug-using patients and that pharmacists in most states have a clear or reasonable legal basis for filling the prescriptions. Given these medical and legal findings, physicians may wish to take a larger role in improving access to sterile injection equipment by prescribing this equipment for their patients where this practice is legal, and by joining efforts to change the law where it poses a barrier.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0034254188&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0034254188&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.7326/0003-4819-133-3-200008010-00015
DO - 10.7326/0003-4819-133-3-200008010-00015
M3 - Review article
C2 - 10906838
AN - SCOPUS:0034254188
VL - 133
SP - 218
EP - 226
JO - Annals of Internal Medicine
JF - Annals of Internal Medicine
SN - 0003-4819
IS - 3
ER -