By Charlie Mintz, KALW Crosscurrents
There is a plan circulating in San Francisco to make using crack cocaine safer: give away free crack pipes. It might sound farfetched, but it is supported by science.
Many cities offer health services that target people who use drugs. For example, there are methadone clinics and substance abuse recovery programs. One of the programs that came with the most controversy is needle exchange, which came to San Francisco back in 1992.
Needle exchanges typically involve city health departments teaming up with nonprofits. They give away clean syringes to people who inject drugs. Used syringes can spread infectious diseases like HIV or hepatitis C. New syringes eliminate that risk, so needle exchanges have drawn the support of organizations including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Medical Association.
Read the complete story at KALW Crosscurrents.
