Full Article by Kyle Vass | Dragline (powered by ACLU-WV)
ACLU-WV’s Dragline published a powerful deep-dive titled “Politics of Harm Reduction: HIV outbreak in W.Va.’s capital shows police and politicians can’t replace doctors and public health experts.” The article, written by Kyle Vass and edited by Lacey Johnson, reveals in striking detail how political pressure — not public health best practices — helped create what the CDC has called the “most concerning HIV outbreak in the country” in Charleston, WV.
Through firsthand accounts from public health leaders and national experts, the article traces how Charleston’s evidence-based syringe program — started by Dr. Michael Brumage at the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department — was systematically dismantled under political pressure, despite clear warnings from the CDC and other experts.
Dr. Brumage reflects on the consequences of the shutdown with heartbreaking clarity:
“People are literally dying because of this issue. This is what I have to live with day in and day out.”
Harm reduction leaders like Terry Morris, director of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, also weighed in on why punitive models like “one-for-one” syringe rules increase harm, not safety:
“If you don’t want people sharing equipment, you have to give people adequate supplies so that they never have to share.”
Public health experts made it clear at the time: restrictive models and stigma drive people away from lifesaving services, making HIV and hepatitis C transmission worse, not better.
Dr. Hansel Tookes, speaking more recently to West Virginia audiences, has echoed this message of hope:
“If it can be done in Florida, it can be done anywhere, and that includes West Virginia.”
The article paints a detailed and devastating picture of how bad public policy decisions — based on fear, stigma, and misinformation — led Charleston to an entirely preventable public health crisis.
It also reminds us that another way forward is possible.
📖 Read the full story on Dragline: “Politics of Harm Reduction”
