It's no secret why drug users come to George Patterson in a mall parking lot just outside Phoenix to get their clean needles, syringes and other supplies on Tuesday afternoons, instead of heading to the pharmacy down the street.
"It's really low-barrier the way we are doing it," Patterson says. "All you have to do is find us."
Patterson asks for no IDs, no signatures and no questions — all of which can dissuade IV drug users from seeking out clean needles or the overdose reversal drug naloxone, Patterson says. He's among the volunteers who run Central Arizona's only syringe exchange program; it's called Shot in the Dark.
[For more on this story by WILL STONE, go to https://www.npr.org/sections/h...rategies-vary-widely]
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