Bill to limit supplies distributed by syringe service programs passes Senate, heads to governor

A bill to further limit the resources syringe service programs are able to distribute to people who use drugs is on its way to the governor’s desk after passing the Senate on Monday.

House Bill 4667 would make it illegal for any syringe service program seeking licensure or looking to maintain its license to distribute safe smoking supplies to people who use drugs. The bill previously passed the House 88-12. On Monday, it passed the Senate unanimously.

Following a pattern set by the House last week, lawmakers in the Senate did not discuss the bill before approving it.

The bill, unless vetoed by Gov. Jim Justice, will add language in state code to the licensure requirements for syringe service programs, which were adopted through legislation passed in 2021 to ban the existence of needs-based services. In order to be licensed under the state Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification, which is a lengthy and burdensome process but the only legal way to distribute syringes in West Virginia, a program must not distribute smoking devices.

In the proposed code, smoking devices are listed as including but not being limited to: “hand pipes, bubblers, bongs, dab rigs, hookahs, crack pipes or disposable smoking devices.”

Research has shown that access to safe smoking equipment is especially critical in places where access to clean syringes is limited. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as a number of infectious disease and harm reduction experts, smoking drugs is a safer alternative to injecting drugs, leading to lower rates of overdoses, HIV, hepatitis and other diseases that can be contracted from sharing syringes or using old, broken syringes.