• 💊 OTHER DRUGS 💊 Welcome Guest
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
    Notable Threads 1 Notable Threads 2
    Dangerous Combos Addiction Support
    Emergency Services Benzo Guide v.1
    Addiction Stories Scary Case Studies
    Biology, Pharmacology & Drugs 101
  • Select Your Topic Then Scroll Down
    Alcohol Bupe Benzos
    Cocaine Heroin Opioids
    RCs Stimulants Misc
    Harm Reduction All Topics Gabapentinoids
    Tired of your habit? Struggling to cope?
    Want to regain control or get sober?
    Visit our Recovery Support Forums

Harm Reduction What kind of service and help offers your local needle exchange van or center ?

M

marione

Bluelighter
Joined
Oct 22, 2009
Messages
181
Location
North Italy
I'm curious to know how harm reduction oriented activities and services
are in your city and what they do in help of drug users:

In Milan there is a van everyday at 6 pm in a certain park, they make 1 to 1 needle exchange, give 5cc sterile water vials, gum torniquet, q tip like filters, groin injection needles, disinfecting towels, naloxone and condoms.
They also give infos on drugs, rehab centers, where to sleep, eat and have a shower.
 
Last edited:
downtown LA right in skid row they have a needle exchange business that give out needles,condoms,cookers,lube etc. Also they have classes every tuesday and offer a bupe/done detox
 
There's a van a few hours a couple days a week, and a place (on the complete other side of Cleveland) open 8-5 & as far as I know they just needle exchange (if you have a small bag u usually just get a box of 100 individual wrapped) and for each person person or you ask, you get a bag containing pocket sized water & bleach bottles, cleaning instruction paper, cooker, condom, cotton ball. Only lived with family that's went and brought this home from the van. I haven't been to either personally. I need to though.
 
The local n.e. Van also offers methadone, subuxone and psichiatric meds to registered patients into mainteance or detox.
 
Lucky lucky live in Oklahoma there isn't such thing down here., its their little way of sayin junkies should die and couldn't care less about the spread of viruses and the ER makes good money off abscesses.
 
nj...walking distance i have a drop in center, lunch showers washing machines, pin exchange, i literally get a box of 100 27g 1cc 1/2" tip every time..its wonderful. Jersey city...
 
In another city I lived during 1995-1997 some automatic needle exchange machines where positionated in 5-6 different spots, used 1 to new 1 insulin syringe exchange or new 1 for few cents price.
Because of vandalism, cheating or stealing all machines were unfortunally removed in short time.
 
^syringe vending machines, sounds alittle fishy. I dont think they would have those because of the same reason they got rid of cig machines because any child could get them. But hey if theres a kid thats a junky then by all means but that seems to go against harm reduction or just being logical/practical even for drug addicts.
 
In Australia, like 25 per cent of pharmacy's offer a free needle exchange. Otherwise its $5 for 5-10. More shops offer it in the inner-city, or out in the dodgy suburbs....Hospitals also have vending machines. We call needles "fits" in Australia. And the box it comes in a "fit pack"...I wonder if that came from overseas...
So, in Alamaba you just buy them?
 
thugpassion said:
^syringe vending machines, sounds alittle fishy. I dont think they would have those because of the same reason they got rid of cig machines because any child could get them. But hey if theres a kid thats a junky then by all means but that seems to go against harm reduction or just being logical/practical even for drug addicts.
Click to expand...

I don't know if they were strictly meant for reducing harm to addicts: you can get syringes in every pharmacy here without any problem, i guess they were thought more as a way to collect used needles on a larger scale. In this respect they were not a bad idea (maybe not the best, but still...) as abandoned needles on the streets are one of the main reasons junkies are hated by the general population, but sadly i don't know how much they were useful: as marione said, they probably didn't last very long.
I'm too young to have used them extensively as when i started shooting they were almost all gone, but the only time i have tried to use the last one (which is gone now by the way) in town, a cop car passed by and searched us....and we had to throw away the dope. Never used again.

I am a little unsure about the hypothesis of kids buying syringes...i don't think the comparison with cigarettes is right.
 
Needle exchange machines were under local S.e.r.t. ( Addicted support and recovery centers ), the same units now going aroud with the n.e. van now.
 
My city, Vancouver Canada, is pretty good. Our first official needle exchange opened in 1989. We now have a bunch of needle exchanges which combined give out on average over 10,000 syringes per day. We also have North America’s first legal supervised injection site where IV drug users can go and inject indoors in a safe space under the supervision of nurses. It gets about 1000 visits per day.

Needle exchanges here give out syringes, sterile water ampoules, sterile cottons or Sterifilt filters (sadly micron filters don't seem to be available), sterile "cookers", alcohol swabs, condoms and "synthetic-latex" tourniquets. Most (especially the one that has the supervised injection site, InSite) have a front line team of nurses, counsellors, mental health workers and peer support workers. They will connect clients to community resources such as housing, addictions treatment, and other supportive services. No needle "exchange" I have visited requires a one-for-one exchange, they will give out syringes even if you aren't depositing any used ones. Nurses will offer some health care services, such as wound care and immunizations, determine if someone has an abscess and needs to see a Dr, etc, and teach people about safe injection practices and suitable vein locations.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top