Delaware lawmakers clashed over a measure that modifies the state's approach to overdose prevention and drug use.
State Sen.Marie Pinkney (D-Bear) said SB 249 creates a framework for Delaware’s Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health to contract with service providers in the state.
Pinkney said the framework allows programs to provide evidence-based services,which,“recognize the difference between large scale criminal conduct and individuals struggling with addiction.”
The bill decriminalizes possession of drug paraphernalia, and shifts needle exchange programs away from a “one-for-one" approach.
The bill asks service providers the state works with to provide sterile supplies to people. It defines supplies as: objects used for injecting, ingesting, inhaling, or otherwise introducing substances into the human body.
The bill says these include “needles, syringes, cookers, cotton, tourniquets, clean water, mouthpieces, filters, and straws.” It defines syringe as a device to “inject, infuse, or withdraw a substance through a fixed or attached needle.”
Pinkney added the bill “does not legalize drug trafficking, prevent law enforcement from investigating drug crimes, or stop prosecutors from pursuing individuals involved in drug distribution.” She said law enforcement can still detain someone for paraphernalia that contains an illegal substance.
Delaware’s current harm reduction strategies include support for needle exchange programs, fentanyl test strips, and naloxone distribution.
She added the point of investment and expanding these strategies is “to keep people alive long enough to reach recovery.”
During debate on the bill, it received extensive pushback from Republican lawmakers.
Senate Minority Whip Brian Pettyjohn (R-Georgetown) asked about the definitions and framework the legislation creates for service providers.
“If these providers are going to have to provide filters, tourniquets, straws...does that mean our providers who are going to have to provider users with– excuse the term– crack pipes?” he asked.
Pinkney said crack pipes are not mentioned in the definitions of the bill. And providers who contract with the state would need to offer supplies listed in the bill language.
“What would the technical definition of a crackpipe be?” Pettyohn asked.“...I don’t think my question is really being answered. I’m trying to get an idea of what that paraphernalia is.”
Pinkney said supplies and paraphernalia are not the same.
“Part of the bill criminalizes paraphernalia– which would be the ‘crackpipe’ that you’re referencing. We’re talking about sterile supplies.”
She called Joe Aronson, chief of government relations for the Delaware Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, to address Pettyjohn’s questions.
Pettyjohn took issue with language in the bill that says a program “must” provide supplies. To him, it implies that programs are obligated to offer the sterile supplies defined in the bill, which he sees as a community safety issue.
Aronson said the point of programs offering sterile supplies is to prevent spread of disease, and programs need to offer enough supplies so that people don’t reuse or share.
Aronson added that some states, like Minnesota, have repealed their definitions of criminalized paraphernalia. And Alaska never had definitions.
Senator Eric Buckson (R-Dover South) questioned the wording in the bill that says programs should actively encourage secondary distribution of its supplies.
Aronson said secondary supply distribution is “a key feature” of harm reduction. In practice, it means that a person who is receiving services might “be using with people who...are not willing at that point to engage” with a program themselves.
“So that secondary distribution is really a chance for us to get people to engage, little by little,” Aronson said.
Buckson said that the approach misses a real-world understanding of how drug use proliferates, and tools like fentanyl test strips don’t, “speak to that college student who's trying (cocaine) for the first time.”
He said the strips are used, “on the streets with folks that are actually chasing the fentanyl...How do I know that? They tell you that.”
Delaware’s overdose mortality rate decreased from 2023 to 2024 by 36 percent. Aronson said this can be attributed to the harm reduction efforts Delaware’s put into place already.
Pinkney said she has discussed the bill with law enforcement. She does not seethe bill as an “either-or” between public safety and public health.
It passed in the Senate along party lines, and heads to the House.
