ohshea
Bluelighter
i LOVE the one on fifth street the ladies there are so nice and pleasant, the doctor there will also help you find a vein and they have a class called hit it with your best shot. i dont feel awkward going in there. but sucks thry dont have short tips those are all i use i just go there for ties.
So today I visited my second LA area needle exchange, on Sycamore right off of Santa Monica in Hollywood. It's about a block away from Hollywood's skid row (big surprise) and it was basically someone with a table outside an RV. They were very nice and gave me 10 new needles in exchange for the ones I picked up last week.
Last week I went to the one downtown on 5th st, on the outskirts of the Toy District (and adjacent to, of course, skid row). This NE was really awesome, it was an actual "store" and a pretty nice place, at that. They didn't even blink an eye that I had nothing to exchange, they were happy to give me as many needles as I wanted to try out.
Both exchanges also provided alcohol pads, cotton, sterile water packs, cooking cups, rubber bands to tie off - everything! Just add drugs.
I highly recommend the place to anyone in the area who wants to get gear but is wary about trying their luck at a drug store (the people at the exchange told me that, while it's legal in LA for a drug store to sell syringes, it's at their discretion and they can refuse if they like.
Only downside is while they had lots of different size needles, neither exchange had short tips.