Despite the lifesaving potential of these kinds of programs, syringe exchanges were federally banned at the national level from 1988 to 2015. A study published in the International Journal on Drug Policy attributes the end of the ban to shifting perspectives and lessons learned during the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

The rise of HIV infection related to the growth of the opioid epidemic in the early 2010s was powerful enough to sway politicians who had been reluctant to embrace syringe exchanges. States in the years since passed their own laws to create exchange programs. Most recently, a bill authorizing community syringe exchanges passed in the Nebraska Legislature but was ultimately vetoed by Gov. Jim Pillen.

Syringe exchanges in New York include:

ACR Health Expanded Syringe Access Program
Syracuse, New York

After Hours Project
Brooklyn, New York

AIDS Center of Queens County
New York, New York

Alliance LES Harm Reduction Center
New York, New York

Bronx Móvil
New York, New York

Broome County Prevention Point
Johnson City, New York

Chenango County Prevention Point
Norwich, New York

Community Action for Social Justice
Hauppauge, New York

Evergreen Exchange
Jamestown, New York

Family Services Network of New York
Brooklyn, New York

Family Services Network of New York Harm Reduction Program
Brooklyn, New York

Harlem United SSP Bronx
Bronx, New York

Harlem United SSP Brooklyn
Brooklyn, New York

Harlem United Syringe Exchange Program
New York, New York

Harm Reduction Center
Buffalo, New York

Harm Reduction Services
Rochester, New York

New York Harm Reduction Educators
New York, New York

NEXT Distro - NY
, New York

OnPoint NYC
New York, New York

Project Exchange - Plattsburgh
Plattsburgh, New York

Southern Tier AIDS Fix Safe Syringe Exchange Program
Johnson City, New York

St Ann's Corner of Harm Reduction
Bronx, New York

Streetwork Project
New York, New York

Tompkins County Prevention Point
Ithaca, New York

Trillium Health Mobile Syringe Services
Rochester, New York

Critics often argue that needle exchanges promote drug use at the expense of taxpayer dollars, or that they feel unsafe around the people with substance use disorder that use them.

Research conducted over three decades, however, shows that syringe exchange programs provide a benefit to communities, according to the National Institutes of Health.

A 2019 study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that syringe exchange programs reduced HIV diagnoses by as much as 18%. They've also been shown to save taxpayers money. In Indiana, a state-implemented syringe exchange program is expected to save taxpayers $120 million. People who use syringe service programs are also five times more likely to begin a drug treatment program and three times as likely to quit injection drug abuse, according to the CDC.

This story features data reporting by Elena Cox, writing by Dom DiFurio, and is part of a series utilizing data automation across 46 states.