The Civil Grand Jury Report: The First Big Step

The steps leading up to today are many - but perhaps one of the biggest leaps was the 2007-2008 Civil Grand Jury report recommending syringe exchange as a viable (& necessary) prevention option for Stanislaus County. As many of us already know, the vote before the BOS went against public health and social service recommendations 4-0. As it turned out, the Supervisors sided with the weak arguments and unsupported testimonies of law enforcement, ignoring the common sense, experienced, and realistic arguments of those in the know. So we move forward .... one step at a time ..........

• To read the complete 2007-2008 report from the Stanislaus County Civil Grand Jury, click here. Some attachments are missing but can be obtained from the Grand Jury office at (209) 558-7766
• To read the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors' response, click here.

To read some of the write-ups in the Modesto Bee during this period, click below:

• July 2, 2008 by Adam Ashton
• July 11, 2008 Letter to the Editor (Against syringe exchange)
• July 19, 2008 Letter to the Editor
• September 17, 2008 by Tim Moran
• Click here and scroll down to page 4 for a Letter to the Editor of the Bee from former Civil Grand juror Elizabeth Vencill after the BOS decision (this is no longer in the Bee archive for some reason - I found this link on the HCV advocate website.)

A few interesting tidbits from the Civil Grand Jury Report:

• The direct lifetime cost of one HIV/AIDS patient - $144,000 - $600,000; one Hepatitis C patient - $100,00 (if a liver transplant is needed add an additional $300,000)
• These figures do not include some of the social implications of lost wages, disability benefits, unemployment, lost tax revenue and social security benefits. Not to mention all of the other implications ...
• Hepatitis C is the second most frequently transmitted communicable disease in Stanislaus County - called the "Giant in the Closet" by Stanislaus County Health Services Agency
• At least 70% and up to 90% of injection drug users in US have Hep C.
• New cases of Hep C in Stanislaus County were projected at 11.9 per week in 2008.
• 33.4 % of HIV/AIDS cases in Stanislaus County are directly related to injection drug use.
• Syringe exchange programs reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C to law enforcement, health care providers, family members, newborn infants, sexual partners, and uninfected injection drug users.