Published: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 09:17:30 EST
Although the words hepatitis or liver do not appear in the organization’s name, the Drug Policy Alliance has emerged as one of the leading hepatitis C virus prevention and treatment advocates in the United States.
Syringe sharing is the leading cause of hepatitis C in the U.S. today, and most medical experts agree that access to clean syringes is the best deterrent against spreading debilitating liver diseases such as hepatitis C.
To this end the Drug Policy Alliance has made substantial headway in promoting liver health though litigation and legislative efforts.
This summer the Alliance, in conjunction with the ACLU, prepared and filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on behalf of medical and public health experts (Morgan v. Wright). They argued that the policy of the New York State Department of Corrections, which delayed or denied hepatitis C treatment to inmates with a history of drug use, flouted both the law and accepted medical practice. The Attorney General of New York, tasked with defending the Corrections Department policy, recently decided to drop the state’s appeal and is no longer trying to defend the policy.
Meanwhile, at the Drug Policy Alliance’s state capitol offices in California and New Jersey, the organization has both crafted and supported legislation designed to combat hepatitis C.
In Sacramento this legislative session, the Drug Policy Alliance actively supported a bill recently signed into law by the governor to require prisons, where a large number of hepatitis C cases originate, to give information and voluntary screening to prisoners upon intake.
In Trenton, two syringe access bills have passed the New Jersey Assembly this year, and will likely be considered further this fall.
The Alliance has also worked with and been integral in forming other groups that directly deal with hepatitis C issues. Alberto Mendoza, director of the Alliance’s Southern California office, has been the co-chairman of the Los Angeles County Hepatitis C Task Force since last year, and helped make HIV-hepatitis co-infection a central issue for the Southern California HIV Advocacy Coalition, which he co-chaired in 2004.
Reena Szczepanski, who heads the Drug Policy Alliance’s New Mexico office, formerly worked for the New Mexico Department of Health, where she founded the nonprofit Hepatitis C Alliance last year. This is the first organized advocacy group for those infected with the disease, and the Alliance New Mexico is now actively working with the group to craft legislation related to hepatitis C prevention and care.
With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimating that 80% of injection drug users across the country are infected, there is a clear need for improved syringe access and hepatitis C treatment on a national scale. The Alliance will continue to advocate for prevention and treatment using its range of strategies, from litigation to coalition-building, to meet this need.
Read More…
