DOVER — Gov. Matt Meyer on Thursday, Oct. 1, enacted a law that updates the state’s harm reduction programs, alongside his 28th executive order, which calls for the measure’s phased implementation.
Senate Bill 249, sponsored by Sen. Marie Pinkney, D-Bear, creates a statutory framework for the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health to license and regulate these services.
This includes several strategies, such as safer drug use, managed use, abstinence and working with those who use substances on their own terms, according to the National Harm Reduction Coalition.
SB 249 also builds on practices Delaware already utilizes, such as its needle exchange program, created in 2006. In 2023, legislation by Pinkney directed that initiative to take a needs-based approach, instead of acting as an exchange, drawing on recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
During debate about SB 249, Republicans in both chambers of the General Assembly, alongside some Democrats in the House of Representatives, expressed concerns about a provision requiring harm reduction services to have sterile supplies available (such as needles, syringes, cookers and tourniquets).
These providers would also offer drug-checking and -testing equipment, opioid reversal medication and sexually transmitted disease barriers. Overdose education, wound care, connections to treatment and assistance with recovery would be mandated, as well.
The measure also decriminalizes personal-use drug paraphernalia. As a result, Meyer’s executive order requires the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services to evaluate the effects of this statute annually.
Additionally, Meyer stated that the department must analyze any unintended consequences of the law, such as fatal and nonfatal overdoses, infectious disease transmission and emergency department visits. If evidence shows increases in these areas, legislative changes could occur.
“Members of the public, healthcare providers, individuals in recovery and law enforcement expressed a range of views on SB 249, with many supporters emphasizing that harm reduction meets vulnerable individuals where they are and opens a pathway to treatment,” Meyer noted.
“Law enforcement organizations and others (emphasized) the need for clear pathways to recovery and for careful attention to community safety.”
The executive order also calls for phased implementation, medically informed regulations, measurable outcomes, consultation with public health officials and continuous evaluation.
Pinkney said Thursday that she understands Meyer’s reasoning for listening to both advocates and opponents, and the resulting executive order.
“I don’t fault anyone for the way that they feel about it because I can understand why, for some people, it might be hard to swallow,” she added. “I’m just glad that Delawareans are going to have access to address mental health and behavioral health and substance abuse in ways that are evidence-based.”
During SB 249’s Senate hearing in May, Pinkney noted that, nationally, there had been a 50% reduction in HIV and hepatitis C among those who use drugs via sterile state supplies, according to the CDC.
Further, Joe Aronson, the chief of government relations for the Delaware Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, stated at the hearing that there was a 36% decrease in the state’s overdose mortality rate from 2022-24. And a Thursday release from the Meyer administration shared that accidental drug intoxication deaths decreased by more than 40% from 2023-25.
The Daily State News spoke to Mike Selick, the director of capacity building and community mobilization for the National Harm Reduction Coalition, shortly after SB 249 passed the House in June. He said many other states have implemented similar harm reduction efforts.
“If you look at New York City, where we’ve had syringe programs since about ’92, there is virtually no transmission of HIV through syringe sharing anymore. That’s why we do these programs,” he said.
“Generally, we’re trying to give people everything they need to inject safely so that they will take injecting more seriously and understand that it is an ultrahygienic process where you want to make sure no infections are getting in there.”
Joanna Champney, the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health’s director, told the State News in July that she’s aware that harm reduction “can be perceived as enabling people who use drugs.”
But, she added, “the evidence really shows the opposite, which is that harm reduction programs provide a touchpoint for people to engage with treatment providers and outreach teams. We often use the quote, ‘You can’t recover if you’re dead.’”
The Department of Health and Social Services will issue its first report about the outcomes of SB 249 within a year.
By