It is also a way to help addicts obtain access to treatment programs. Furthermore, many needle exchanges also offer condoms, and bleach for disinfecting old syringes. It is estimated that an individual IDU injects about 1,000 times a year. Even in a moderate-size city, this adds up to millions of injections, requiring millions of syringes every year. 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.