It is a token box of sorts, where contaminated needles and barrels are counted, dropped, and exchanged for sterile syringes and supplies. Participants accessing services from the van remain anonymous. On the first visit, a visitor receives a personal code and identification card. According to Illinois law, residents may not possess syringes unless they have a documented medical condition that requires their use, or they are a member of a research study. The Chicago Recovery Alliance is continually involved in research projects.
All syringes are color-coded to assess distribution and return patterns.
Yale University and Loyola University are currently using needle exchanges to examine and track the diffusion of benefits that exchanges provide. The Chicago Recovery Alliance was founded by harm reduction activist George Williams, a community health outreach worker, in 1991. The group is committed to providing supplies and information to facilitate safer injection, safer sex, and overall risk reduction. It is working to minimize individual and group harm related to transmission of disease, overdose, infection, and injury, and their results are impressive. One visitor to the van is ready to initiate treatment.