S2 EP8 Needle exchanges and harm reduction

This is the last episode of Season 2. For people addicted to heroin and other drugs, how do we keep them safe and prevent them from overdosing? We look at the idea of harm reduction and focus specifically on needle exchanges. Those are hundreds of places across the US that hand out clean equipment, the overdose reversal medicine Narcan and other help to people addicted to heroin and other drugs. But needle exchanges are still controversial in many parts of the country, including Tacoma, Washington, where Finding Fixes contributor, Amber Cortes, brings us the story of the oldest needle exchange in the United States. That exchange started during the AIDS epidemic. Now, it and needle exchanges like it are finding they have what it takes to respond to the current opioid epidemic.