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 Ohio include:

CarePoint
Dayton, Ohio

Clermont County Public Health SSP
Batavia, Ohio

Fairfield Harm Reduction Program
Fairfield, Ohio

Harm Reduction Clinic
Batavia, Ohio

Lorain County Harm Reduction Clinic
Lorain, Ohio

Marion Public Health - Safe Syringe Program
Marion, Ohio

MetroHealth Expanded Mobile Unit SSP
Cleveland, Ohio

Middletown Harm Reduction Program
Middletown, Ohio

Northwest Ohio Syringe Services
Toledo, Ohio

Prevention Point
Georgetown, Ohio

Safe Point Ohio
Columbus, Ohio

SafePoint Program
Zanesville, Ohio

SafeTrade Harm Reduction Fairborn
Fairborn, Ohio

SafeTrade Harm Reduction Xenia
Xenia, Ohio

SafeTrade Mobile Harm Reduction
Fairborn, Ohio

SafeWorks
Findlay, Ohio, Ohio

SWAP
Canton, Ohio

Syringe Exchange Program - The Centers
Cleveland, Ohio

The Exchange Project
Cincinnati, Ohio

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.