How to Get Needles Mega Thread

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Captain.Heroin

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This is a project to help IDU's (injecting drug users) get new needles every time. Using your own, new needle, and your own works (meaning no one else has so much as borrowed or even had the opportunity to access any of your injection supplies without your knowledge due to any circumstance which led to you looking away for a few seconds, running out of the room to quickly grab something and coming right back, or whatever have you, while someone had access to your injection equipment) is the only way to avoid the Hepatitis C virus and the HIV virus as an IDU. There are many other blood borne illnesses that can be transmitted through sharing used injection equipment as well.

Therefore, I have created this thread to help prevent these diseases from spreading. If you are already infected, I wish you the best in getting treatment.

Before I attempt to buy needles, what information do I need to know?​

Aside from your state laws, you should know these four basic things before trying to buy needles.

1) Desired brand
2) Gauge
3) Volume
4) Needle Length

Brands of needles vary depending on what pharmacy you go to, however, most pharmacies will stock common brands, such as BD, or Terumo. As for the gauge of a needle, most people will prefer a 27 to 31 gauge needle. The larger the gauge number, the finer the needle. Anything larger than a 27G is not desirable for what you all would be using needles for. The volume represents how much liquid the syringe can hold. 1cc = 1ml = 100 units. There are 0.3mL, 0.5ml, and 1ml volumes which are standard at all pharmacies. For drug use, unless you know that you don't need a large volume, you will probably want 1ml. The needle length options will vary depending on the gauge, but the common ones are 5/16" (also known as short tips), and 1/2" (also known as long tips). You will need to determine which length is more desirable for you, often IV drug users will have their heart set on one or the other. There are longer and shorter needles as well, but are less often used overall.

How do I buy needles?​

There are many ways, and so I decided to review them with you all.

1) Purchase them from the internet. The below quote is from healthwarehouse.com, and is an example of what the limitations are, based on state.

CA, NV: In California and Nevada, you assert syringes will be used for diabetic purposes or legitimate purpose

FL, VA: In Florida and Virginia, you assert that you are not a minor. A minor is anyone under the age of 18.

CT, IL, ME, NH, NY: These states require a prescription for quantities over 10 syringes. If you order over 10 syringes from these states, we must confirm your prescription.

DE, NJ, and the United States Virgin Islands: These states require a prescription to order syringes. If you order from one of these states, we must confirm your prescription.
http://www.healthwarehouse.com/diabetic-supplies/insulin-syringes/brand/bd-syringes/bd-insulin-syringe-ultra-fine-31-gauge-1cc-5-16-100-count.html#full-description

NSFW:
Another resource on state laws for the purchase of insulin and insulin syringes states whether or not states laws support pharmacists selling you needles.
http://www.isletsofhope.com/diabetes/state-law/state-prescription-laws.html




2) Purchase them from a pharmacy in person. There are two ways of doing this, with a prescription, and without a prescription. Some states mandate that you have a prescription if you are buying more than 10 needles, other states will not allow you to buy needles whatsoever without a prescription, and yet others leave it up to the pharmacist's discretion, which can make it difficult to buy them, even if your state doesn't explicitly require a prescription, the pharmacist may require it.

The important thing to remember is that perseverance is always going to help you, and that some pharmacists will sell them to you (unless you are unfortunate enough to live in New Jersey, Delaware, or the U.S. Virgin Islands). For instance, in another state I don't live in, I have gone to a CVS which has sold to me if I asked the pharmacy technician, but if I asked the pharmacist, they refused to sell them to me. In the state I live in, CVS pharmacists always require a prescription. In yet another state I have visited, the CVS pharmacist didn't ask any questions and sold me exactly what I wanted. This is just an example of how one chain pharmacy has had many different instances where they have, or have not sold me needles.

3) Needle Exchanges

Locations Thread
Locations in North America
Exchange Discussion

How much do needles cost?​

This varies wildly depending on where you live, and where your needles are being purchased from. You can go to an online pharmacy that exists outside of the United States for a cheaper price than going to the pharmacy. Whereas, other websites will charge more than what you could pay at some pharmacies.

Pharmacy prices vary depending on where you live. In New York City (thank God I don't live here) they are commonly sold for $5.00 per ten pack (maybe slightly under that depending on what brand you are buying). In another city's pharmacy, they are roughly half that price.

Online, I typically see the prices range depending on how many 100 count boxes you are buying at a time. And, depending on the website, whether or not you have to pay a S&H fee. The best vendors will have free S&H, either for all purchases, or for all purchases over a certain total dollar value.




Legal Information by State

California


 
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does anyone know how you can obtain 3ml or even larger needles w/o a prescription
 
does anyone know how you can obtain 3ml or even larger needles w/o a prescription

3ml is a volume and isn't correlated to a needle.

If you are talking about a 3cc syringe with a needle, attached or otherwise (luer lock), I know that with luer locks this is easy and possible.

There are many resources I am going to add to this thread. Feel free to post URL's, etcetera, but this thread isn't so much for asking questions. This is the working grounds for a future thread in Other Drugs that I'll copy over into Other Drugs when I am done working on it.
 
Something I also wanted to bring up is creating a guide to obtaining micron filters. I don't know whether it would be integrated with this thread or belong in a thread by itself, but I think a solid list of sources for these and other IV related products would be good. There are a few links in the micron filtration mega-thread, but sometimes they're out of stock on certain products so it would be good to have multiple options available.

Also, do you still sell micron filters/bacteriostatic water/etc to people a la carte?
 
I am glad to read the helpful and informative sharing of yours and it is absolutely awesome that you have discovered the new way to prevent disease and added in the thread.

Thanks!

I think it's irrelevant whether people are going to get clean or going to remain an addict, the priority of everyone should be to reduce blood borne diseases.

I hope everyone who reads this finds a way to acquire clean insulin syringes or other injection products without having to resort to sharing supplies. And I would also hope that if all else fails, people shoot me a private message. ;)
 
not an iv drug user but I have friends who do or did, in my city, the best city in wisconsin, there is a needle man who drives a truck around. Youre supposed to bring him dirty needles and he gives you clean ones but he also just hands them out for free if you dont have any dirty ones.
 
Just a thought but in my state walgreens, cvs and rite aid won't sell you needles without a prescription but the privately owned pharmacies are more than happy to do so. Actually one lady at a certain rite aid will but most won't. Also I noticed this while in another state as well. Maybe you can add in that some privately owned pharmacies do sell needles without a prescription but most chain pharmacies do not.
Great thread by the way!
 
Just a thought but in my state walgreens, cvs and rite aid won't sell you needles without a prescription but the privately owned pharmacies are more than happy to do so. Actually one lady at a certain rite aid will but most won't. Also I noticed this while in another state as well. Maybe you can add in that some privately owned pharmacies do sell needles without a prescription but most chain pharmacies do not.
Great thread by the way!

It largely depends on the area.

I have found some pharmacists who are TRUE dicks/ass holes. Some of them will try to attempt to mess up your ability to get them from other pharmacists. It's really messed up, some of these pharmacists are truly evil human beings and they couldn't care less about your health or well being.

They don't deserve their jobs because I have met an equal number of real, down to earth human beings who do their job as a pharmacist with precision and without prejudice. These are the people who should have jobs as pharmacists.

Thank you so much though! I appreciate it. I have seen too many needs for this information and not enough people willing to help out by writing this up. Then again I am sure some Bluelighters have tried to do just this, but whether or not this has been attempted, there will be a link in the OD Directory as well as in other places on this forum.

I am hoping that we can get this linked in multiple places in the forum so that people can reduce their suffering in life.

NO ONE should ever have to re-use a needle because they ran out of new ones, and the pharmacist won't sell it to them, or their local/state laws are preventing them from being able to buy them without traveling out of the locale. This isn't fair to the people who are otherwise going to be re-using or sharing needles, and it isn't fair to anyone else who they may consequentially transmit diseases to.

Therefore I am hoping that we can get as many people to be able to get clean needles as possible.

Even if a needle has been cleaned out by bleach, you can still get Hep C. If it hasn't been cleaned out properly with bleach, it may not kill the HIV virus.

In my state the health board released a pamphlet on how to re-use a needle by cleaning it out with bleach, so as to prevent the amount of people who were getting infected with HIV.
 
good work man,
i thought i was a no it all junkie, but you showed me a lot of shit i didnt know. thank you.
 
If we link sources to anything guys, it can ONLY be harm reduction supplies.

These have to be legitimate companies, who are NOT going to be in the business, now or ever, of selling any substances, legal or otherwise.

If this isn't how it works then someone can correct me but this is the only "sourcing" allowed, is for harm reduction products.
 
If we link sources to anything guys, it can ONLY be harm reduction supplies.

These have to be legitimate companies, who are NOT going to be in the business, now or ever, of selling any substances, legal or otherwise.

If this isn't how it works then someone can correct me but this is the only "sourcing" allowed, is for harm reduction products.

Thanks tnb only sells pins ALL sizes .5 cc slin pins all the way up to 1 1/2" 18 gauge 5 cc pins.....buy the 100 pack..... VERY VERY discrete shipping.....
 
I believe I have wrapped this up nicely. I don't think there's anything else I could add, other than specific state laws, which I can add in later as needed.

I'm going to copy this first post into Other Drugs.
 
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