Most IDUs who continue to inject are currently unable to obtain a sufficient number of sterile syringes to effectively reduce their risks of acquiring and transmitting blood-borne viral infections. Needle exchange is, first and foremost, a method of disease prevention. The sharing of infected needles is one of the main causes of new HIV cases in the United States. Drug users share dirty needles primarily because there are not enough clean ones to go around or users can not afford to buy them if they are available. Additionally, drug paraphernalia laws make the possession of needles a crime.
Needle exchanges make clean needles more accessible, removing the reason to share.
By decreasing the sharing of needles, needle exchanges shrink the channels of transmission for HIV, helping to prevent its spread. Women who become infected with HIV through sharing needles or having sex with an infected IDU can also transmit the virus to their babies before or during birth or through breast feeding. These laws establish criminal penalties for the manufacture, sale, distribution, possession, or advertisement of any item used to produce and consume illegal drugs, including syringes. Forty-seven states, the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands have drug paraphernalia laws. Syringe prescription laws.