Yet despite the scientific evidence, the federal government would not fund needle exchanges, officials decided. Robert Heimer, Ph.D., whose 1990 study with Edward H. Kaplan, Ph.D., found that needle exchanges reduced HIV infection by 30 percent, also decried the decision. The foolishness has gone on long enough. When politics goes ahead of public health everybody suffers.
Laws governing syringes and needle exchanges vary from state to state.
Eight states prohibit dispensing syringes without a prescription and another 10 place restrictions on the sale of syringes without a prescription. In all but a few states, laws barring drug paraphernalia make possession of needles a crime. The 110 needle exchanges operating in the United States do so under a variety of legal conditions. Six states and the District of Columbia have created exemptions to paraphernalia laws to allow needle exchanges. Other states tolerate them and in some states the needle exchanges operate illegally.