Timothy Haney is a former heroin addict. He's also HIV positive. It's for that reason that he supports clean needle exchanges.
"I wouldn't have HIV today probably, without sharing a needle. So it's that simple," Haney said.
Needle exchanges allow users to trade out their old needles for clean ones at certain locations-- no questions asked. They'll have trained professionals handing them out in case the addicts decide they want help.
"What we're trying to do is create a safe zone where if they reach out our hand is there and we can help,” Corey Warren with RISE, a recovery community said. “There will absolutely be brochures and resources readily available."
But some people think the exchange would encourage drug use. Jordan posted on our WILX Facebook page: ‘That's stupid. Why not just give them loaded new syringes while you're at it?’
Warren has a simple counter argument.
"They're gonna do it anyway," Warren said.
“The people who would come to a clean needle exchange are already using anyway,” Haney said. “And now they have an opportunity to at least be safe and know that there are services out there that can at least help them get treatment."
Not only that, Warren says it'll increase everyone's safety because you won't have to worry about dirty needles in public parks or playgrounds.
"If you walk down any of these streets of downtown Lansing it wouldn't be surprising to stumble upon one laying on the sidewalk, in our parks where you have kids running around," Warren said.
Warren says the most important thing about the exchange programs is being able to bridge that gap between the addict and somebody who can help:
“I think that open communication between people who can get them help and the active user is going to save lives in itself right there," Warren said.
