Why Do We Need Needle Exchange?

Why Do We Need Needle Exchange?

More than a million people in the United States inject drugs, at a cost to society (in health care, lost productivity, accidents, and crime) of more than $50 billion a year. Obviously, people who inject drugs imperil their health. But if they become infected with HIV or Hepatitis C they also imperil their needle sharing partners, sexual partners and offspring as well.

Why is Sharing Needles an HIV Risk?

One-third of all AIDS cases are linked to injection drug use. For women, 64 percent of all AIDS cases are due to injection drug use or sex with partners who inject drugs. Injection drug use is the source of infection for more than half of all children born with HIV.

Around the world and in more than sixty locations in the United States, needle exchange programs have sprung up to address drug injection risks. These programs:

• distribute clean needles
• safely dispose of used needles
• offer referrals to drug treatment
• offer HIV counseling and testing