The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified 13 rural Missouri counties at risk of outbreaks of H.I.V. and Hepatitis C because of drug use.
The CDC lists Iron, Bates, Cedar, Hickory, Ozark, Wright, Ripley, Crawford, Madison, St. Francois, Reynolds, Washington, and Wayne counties as vulnerable. State Senator Holly Thompson Rehder is sponsoring a bill that would allow organizations registered with the state to run a syringe access program to legally provide such drug supplies.
Rehder says the programs help to reduce addiction, and the spread of those diseases and would save the state money. During a House committee hearing on her bill, State Representative Jonathan Patterson, who is a surgeon in Kansas City, responded to that information.
The next stop for the bill is another House committee.
