Call me any time. In its earlier life, the old delivery van may have carried business documents, catalog orders, and replacement parts. Now painted silver, the truck has been retrofitted for a new role. The interior is stocked with pamphlets, alcohol pads, miniature cotton balls, cookers, bottled water, boxes of syringes, and a hamper of condoms. 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.