Careful research shows that this fear has no support in the scientific evidence. The American Medical Association and the American Public Health Association endorse the use of needle exchanges. The false hope that the threat of AIDS will cause people to stop using drugs and save them from the danger of a drug overdose. Many more people are dying of AIDS now than are dying of drug overdoses. The confusion which sees drug treatment as an alternative to needle exchanges.
Drug treatment is vital and necessary.
But not all people are ready for treatment. Having a needle exchange program is like having lifeguards at the beach. Then, when they are ready to stop using drugs, as many will, they will have their whole lives before them, not just a series of painful, expensive illnesses ending in death. Needle exchanges can in fact become a vehicle in helping people seek drug treatment. For hard core drug users who have few contacts outside the drug-using world, needle exchange workers are an important source of information about where to go to get drug treatment.