NC Harm Reduction Coalition's blog

A lot of misinformation and stigma surrounds the use of methadone as treatment for opiate addiction, but the problems are even more apparent when the patient in the treatment program is pregnant. Methadone, the most common treatment for opiate addiction in the United States, is a synthetic opioid that can ease withdrawal symptoms for dependent persons without creating a “high.” Typically, patients at methadone clinics will visit at least once a day to receive a prescribed dose of methadone, often in liquid form. Over time, patients may be allowed to take doses home and many are eventually weaned off the treatment. The goal of methadone treatment for pregnant women is to help them avoid the negative consequences of illicit drug use, including overdose and withdrawal, both of which can jeopardize the pregnancy. Without having to worry about illicit drug use, a woman is in a better position to engage in prenatal care.

In January 2012 I toured Colombia as part of a Witness for Peace delegation of Americans from all over the U.S. Our purpose was to witness the effects of U.S. policy in Colombia, particularly concerning the War on Drugs. I expected to see some draconian anti-drug programs, but I wasn't at all prepared to hear and see about what is really going on in Colombia and why the U.S. is so involved.

The following is a true account of a North Carolina woman who is a survivor of human trafficking:

[My mother] made it clear from day one that I’d screwed up her life by being born. At five years old I walked into the bedroom…to show her a paint-by-number that I painted for my grandmother. She was with another man and [when she saw me] she went ballistic. She decided that I was a whore… and that I needed to be taught a lesson about what a whore is. She offered [her boyfriend] the opportunity to penetrate me and told him it was a punishment and to make it hurt. He was more than happy to accommodate. They decided [raping me] was a nice fringe benefit to their relationship and he continued for years with full knowledge of my mother.

Following is an interview with April, a Durham sex worker. This is her story.
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When I was growing up Mom nodded off all the time [on opiate pills] and in the morning I’d find her lying on the floor or wherever she’d passed out high the night before… My father was drunk all the time, my mother high on pills, so my brother and I raised ourselves. I learned to cook for myself when I was three and got myself up to get ready for school at age five. [My brother and I] were abused mentally a lot, and my Dad abused us physically too. We terrorized the neighborhood. We played with knives and ripped the shingles off houses.

Drug use, particularly the illicit use of prescription drugs, is on the rise all over the country – the U.S. military notwithstanding. A 2008 Department of Defense Health Behavior Survey revealed that prescription drug abuse doubled among U.S. military personnel from 2002 to 2005 and almost tripled between 2005 and 2008 .

Chris, a former injection drug user and a member of the military based out of Fort Bragg, Fayetteville, NC from 2005-2010, both witnessed and participated in drug use, including heroin and cocaine, prescription pills and alcohol. He started using in 2008, due in part to the stressful, rigid military lifestyle.

There is a disturbing trend happening across the country,and we can now add one more casualty to the list of Things-That-Shouldn’t-Be-Illegal-But-Are: condoms. Though condoms themselves are not illegal,in many cities they can be used as the basis for police harassment and arrest or as evidence of prostitution in court. In New York City, Washington DC and San Francisco, police are using the number of condoms women are carrying to justify profiling them as prostitutes, and even to bolster an arrest on charges of sexual solicitation.

Five years ago, dismembered pieces of a human body were found floating in the French Broad River in Asheville, North Carolina. Forensics identified the victim as Kelly Lane Smith, a local prostitute, and though all evidence pointed to a local man infamous for the brutalization and rape of sex workers in the area, he was never charged, never convicted, and he left Asheville a free man.

Why couldn’t an obvious suspect be convicted? Because Kelly was a prostitute.

Jeff Riorden has enjoyed quite a few interesting career paths, including police officer, paramedic, and a health practitioner in the U.S. Navy before deciding to study at the Duke School of Nursing in Durham, North Carolina. All these careers have one thing in common – concern for public health and safety – which is why Jeff is also a supporter of harm reduction programs that reduce the spread of disease in our communities.

Along with many of his fellow nursing students, Jeff has come out to volunteer with the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition on our outreach trips through drug user and sex worker neighborhoods in Durham where we provide education and testing for HIV and hepatitis C. On these trips, he’s spoken about his experience as a former police officer and how law enforcement could benefit from a better understanding of harm reduction programs. Programs such as syringe exchange are shown to reduce the incidence of needle-sticks to officers by 66%.

“From the brothels to the strip clubs, from the jack shacks to the streets, criminalizing, stigmatizing has been society’s way…there’s power in a sex workers union!”

So began the first Sex Worker Summit in the South with a rousing song composed and sung by Stella Zine (watch her performance on NCHRC’s vimeo webpage), a former strip club dancer from Georgia. The song captured the spirit and message of the summit, held December 2nd in Asheville, North Carolina, which aimed to address issues of criminalization and marginalization among sex workers and to bring interested parties together to look for common solutions. The one day summit featured a diverse array of speakers, including current and retired sex workers, advocates, religious leaders, nurses, harm reduction organizations, academics, social workers, law enforcement personnel and other service providers.

The Needle Exchange Program of Asheville (NEPA) is North Carolina’s longest running syringe exchange program. Founded by Michael Harney and Marty Prairie in 1995, NEPA currently provides between 1500-2000 clean syringes a month to drug users and people without health insurance in Western North Carolina. The story of how the program started can serve as a resource to others who wish to implement syringe exchange programs (SEPs) in other parts of the state.