2025 Delaware Code
Title 29 - State Government
Chapter 79. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES
Subchapter IX. Sterile Needle and Syringe Service Program for the Prevention of AIDS and Other Diseases
§ 7992. Operation of the program.
The program shall:
(1) Operate for the purposes of:
a. Preventing the transmission of HIV, the Hepatitis B virus, and other blood borne diseases; and
b. Providing injection drug users with referrals to appropriate treatment and other health and social services programs.
(2) Provide needles and syringes on an as-needed basis, whereby a participant receives sterile needles and syringes based on need and usage.
(3) Be designed to prevent noninjection drug users from participating in the program.
(4) Be designed and maintained to provide maximum security of program sites and equipment, including security measures that shall be required to allow for:
identification of program needles; a full accounting of the number of needles distributed; the number in storage; safe disposal of returned needles, and any other measures that may be required to control the use and dispersal of sterile needles and syringes, provided however that a participant may return used needles and syringes at any program site if more than 1 site is available.(5) Include appropriate levels of staff expertise in working with injecting drug users and adequate staff training in providing community referrals, counseling, and preventive education.
(6) Include services to:
a. Educate the participants about the dangers of contracting HIV or hepatitis viruses through needle-sharing practices and unsafe sexual behaviors;
b. Provide HIV testing and other communicable disease testing as appropriate when available;
c. Provide a linkage for referrals to drug counseling and treatment services, and follow-up to those referrals to assure that participants are retained in care and receive available treatment.
(7) Establish procedures for identifying participants consistent with the confidentiality provisions of this subchapter.
(8) Establish a method of identification and authorization for program staff members who have access to hypodermic needles, syringes, or program records.
(9) Program structure and delivery methods will be designed in response to the local community in which the program operates.
(10) [Repealed.]
