IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/26111.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Are Syringe Exchange Programs Helpful or Harmful? New Evidence in the Wake of the Opioid Epidemic

Author

Listed:
  • Analisa Packham

Abstract

In light of the recent opioid crisis, many public health entities have called for an expansion in syringe exchange programs (SEPs), which provide access to sterile syringes and facilitate safe needle disposal for injection drug users. This paper investigates the effects of recent SEP openings on HIV diagnoses and drug-related overdoses in the wake of the opioid crisis. I find that SEP openings decrease HIV diagnoses by up to 18.2 percent. However, I present new evidence that SEPs increase rates of opioid-related mortality and hospitalizations, suggesting that needle exchanges alone may be less effective than other interventions at stimulating recovery.

Suggested Citation

  • Analisa Packham, 2019. "Are Syringe Exchange Programs Helpful or Harmful? New Evidence in the Wake of the Opioid Epidemic," NBER Working Papers 26111, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26111
    Note: EH
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w26111.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Molly Schnell & Janet Currie, 2018. "Addressing the Opioid Epidemic: Is There a Role for Physician Education?," American Journal of Health Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(3), pages 383-410, Summer.
    2. Kosali Simon & Aparna Soni & John Cawley, 2017. "The Impact of Health Insurance on Preventive Care and Health Behaviors: Evidence from the First Two Years of the ACA Medicaid Expansions," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(2), pages 390-417, March.
    3. Bondurant, Samuel R. & Lindo, Jason M. & Swensen, Isaac D., 2018. "Substance abuse treatment centers and local crime," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 124-133.
    4. Gary Solon & Steven J. Haider & Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2015. "What Are We Weighting For?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 50(2), pages 301-316.
    5. Thomas C. Buchmueller & Colleen Carey, 2018. "The Effect of Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs on Opioid Utilization in Medicare," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 10(1), pages 77-112, February.
    6. Jeff DeSimone, 2005. "Needle exchange programs and drug injection behavior," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(3), pages 559-577.
    7. Swensen, Isaac D., 2015. "Substance-abuse treatment and mortality," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 13-30.
    8. Doleac, Jennifer & Mukherjee, Anita, 2018. "The Moral Hazard of Lifesaving Innovations: Naloxone Access, Opioid Abuse, and Crime," IZA Discussion Papers 11489, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Anca M. Grecu & Dhaval M. Dave & Henry Saffer, 2019. "Mandatory Access Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs and Prescription Drug Abuse," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(1), pages 181-209, January.
    10. Justin Wolfers, 2006. "Did Unilateral Divorce Laws Raise Divorce Rates? A Reconciliation and New Results," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(5), pages 1802-1820, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Alexander Ahammer & Martin Halla, 2022. "The intergenerational persistence of opioid dependence: Evidence from administrative data," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(11), pages 2425-2444, November.
    2. Alexander Ahammer & Martin Halla, 2020. "The Intergenerational Transmission of Opioid Dependence: Evidence from Administrative Data," Economics working papers 2020-10, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    3. Sim, Yongbo, 2023. "The effect of opioids on crime: Evidence from the introduction of OxyContin," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    4. Lindsey Rose Bullinger & Vivian Wang & Kenneth A. Feder, 2022. "Effects of Opioid Treatment Programs on Child Well-Being," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 703(1), pages 79-105, September.
    5. Liang, Jian & Alexeev, Sergey, 2023. "Harm reduction or amplification? The adverse impact of a supervised injection room on housing prices," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    6. Cornelius A. Rietveld & Pankaj C. Patel, 0. "Prescription opioids and new business establishments," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-25.
    7. Johanna Catherine Maclean & Justine Mallatt & Christopher J. Ruhm & Kosali Simon, 2022. "The Opioid Crisis, Health, Healthcare, and Crime: A Review of Quasi-Experimental Economic Studies," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 703(1), pages 15-49, September.
    8. Cornelius A. Rietveld & Pankaj C. Patel, 2021. "Prescription opioids and new business establishments," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 1175-1199, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Packham, Analisa, 2022. "Syringe exchange programs and harm reduction: New evidence in the wake of the opioid epidemic," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    2. Johanna Catherine Maclean & Justine Mallatt & Christopher J. Ruhm & Kosali Simon, 2022. "The Opioid Crisis, Health, Healthcare, and Crime: A Review of Quasi-Experimental Economic Studies," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 703(1), pages 15-49, September.
    3. Ruhm, Christopher J., 2019. "Drivers of the fatal drug epidemic," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 25-42.
    4. Alberto Ortega, 2023. "Medicaid Expansion and mental health treatment: Evidence from the Affordable Care Act," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(4), pages 755-806, April.
    5. Gal Wettstein, 2019. "Health insurance and opioid deaths: Evidence from the Affordable Care Act young adult provision," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(5), pages 666-677, May.
    6. David Cho & Daniel I. García & Joshua Montes & Alison E. Weingarden, 2021. "Labor Market Effects of the Oxycodone-Heroin Epidemic," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2021-025, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    7. David Beheshti, 2019. "Adverse health effects of abuse‐deterrent opioids: Evidence from the reformulation of OxyContin," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(12), pages 1449-1461, December.
    8. Christopher J. Ruhm, 2018. "Deaths of Despair or Drug Problems?," NBER Working Papers 24188, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Amy Finkelstein & Matthew Gentzkow & Dean Li & Heidi L. Williams, 2022. "What Drives Risky Prescription Opioid Use? Evidence from Migration," NBER Working Papers 30471, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Simone Balestra & Helge Liebert & Nicole Maestas & Tisamarie B. Sherry, 2021. "Behavioral Responses to Supply-Side Drug Policy During the Opioid Epidemic," NBER Working Papers 29596, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Cornelius A. Rietveld & Pankaj C. Patel, 2021. "Prescription opioids and new business establishments," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 1175-1199, October.
    12. Garin, Julio & Pohl, R. Vincent & Smith, Rhet A., 2018. "The Effect of Medical Cannabis Dispensaries on Opioid and Heroin Overdose Mortality," MPRA Paper 89613, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Johanna Catherine Maclean & Michael F. Pesko & Steven C. Hill, 2017. "The Effect of Insurance Expansions on Smoking Cessation Medication Prescriptions: Evidence from ACA Medicaid Expansions," NBER Working Papers 23450, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Abby Alpert & David Powell & Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, 2018. "Supply-Side Drug Policy in the Presence of Substitutes: Evidence from the Introduction of Abuse-Deterrent Opioids," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 1-35, November.
    15. Popovici, Ioana & Maclean, J. Catherine & French, Michael, 2017. "The Effects of Health Insurance Parity Laws for Substance Use Disorder Treatment on Traffic Fatalities: Evidence of Unintended Benefits," IZA Discussion Papers 10746, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Johanna Catherine Maclean & Ioana Popovici & Elisheva Stern, 2015. "Health Insurance Expansions and Provider Behavior: Evidence from Substance Use Disorder Providers," DETU Working Papers 1510, Department of Economics, Temple University.
    17. Johanna Catherine Maclean & Brendan Saloner, 2019. "The Effect of Public Insurance Expansions on Substance Use Disorder Treatment: Evidence from the Affordable Care Act," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(2), pages 366-393, March.
    18. Pohl, R. Vincent, 2018. "Time Trends Matter: The Case of Medical Cannabis Laws and Opioid Overdose Mortality," MPRA Paper 88219, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Ioana Popovici & Johanna Catherine Maclean & Michael T. French, 2017. "Health Insurance and Traffic Fatalities: The Effects of Substance Use Disorder Parity Laws," NBER Working Papers 23388, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Janet Currie & Hannes Schwandt, 2021. "The Opioid Epidemic Was Not Caused by Economic Distress but by Factors That Could Be More Rapidly Addressed," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 695(1), pages 276-291, May.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26111. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.