Prison Needle Exchange Program in Canada Has Limitations, Low Participation

published on December 12, 2022 by Carolyn Crist in Medscape

Canada’s Prison Needle Exchange Program, a syringe distribution program in nine federal correctional institutions, faces major limitations and low participation rates, according to a new report.

Based on interviews with people who were formerly incarcerated, the independent report pinpoints barriers to access and outlines recommendations to ensure that the program works as intended.

“Through informal channels, we had heard about problems with and barriers to the program and we felt that developing an independent research study was the best approach to explore these critical issues and provide an opportunity to shed insights on how to improve prisoners’ access,” Emily van der Meulen, PhD, a professor of criminology at Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, told Medscape Medical News…