Needle exchange

Following the closure of a pharmacy selling syringes to people who use drugs, a group of advocates go to the health municipality with the idea for a needle and syringe exchange. This would be a place where clean needles and syringes are exchanged for discarded ones – meaning drug paraphernalia is kept off the street, and harm reduced to the person taking the drugs. The idea was originally shelved, but as health authorities start to hear about AIDS and its link to drug use, the first needle and syringe exchange programme is born.