The introduction of a programme which aims to reduce harm for people taking drugs intravenously is "good news", a provider says.
The Te Waipounamu South Island Needle Exchange Programme was officially launched in Invercargill last week.
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey attended the event.
The government-funded programme is being delivered by the Te Waipounamu Collective, a partnership between Ngā Kete Mātauranga Pounamu Trust, Invercargill, He Waka Tapu, Christchurch, Poutini Waiora, the West Coast and Te Piki Oranga, Nelson.
Ngā Kete Mātauranga Pounamu Trust chief executive Tracey Wright-Tawha said the collective aimed to improve access to needles through services including exchange outlets, online ordering, mobile outreach options and vending machines.
"What we’re here to do, is to make sure that people who inject drugs have access to clean equipment and it reduces the potential for sharing needles or harm that can be caused by doing that through hepatitis C and other types of infection.
"This is good news [and] is island-wide coverage from four really deeply committed providers who have got real skin in the game when it comes to health and well-being."
New Zealand led the world setting up needle exchanges about 40 years ago and "has an international reputation for harm reduction approaches that reduce the likelihood of blood borne exchanges", Mrs Wright-Tawha said.
The programme had an information component to it.
"If people have reached a point in their life where they want to move on and perhaps move away from intravenous drug use, then we can support them with on-referral into other agencies that do recovery work for counselling and that type of thing."
The programme also had a role to play in addressing the stigma which was associated with drug use.
"We all need to really reduce stigma and understand what brings people into these places to begin with ...
"It could have been someone who’s had a bad accident and has become addicted to pain relief as a part of their recovery, where they’ve gone on to find that the only way they can manage and function is by doing, intravenous drug use."
The programme started in October last year and about 130 people were using the service in Invercargill.
Mr Doocey said the evidence was clear that needle exchange programmes did not increase drug use.
"Instead, they reduce harm, prevent the transmission of blood-borne infections, improve health outcomes, and support engagement with health services."
The programme is part of the government’s plan to prevent and reduce substance-related harm and strengthen the services to combat the harm caused by addiction.
