While syringe exchange has been internationally promoted as an effective means of reducing HIV risk among injection drug users, it remains one of the most controversial HIV prevention measures available [McCoy et al. 1997, Singer 1994, Broadhead et al. 1999]. Syringe exchange is the provision of sterile syringes and risk reduction services in exchange for used syringes turned in by injection drug users. The Hispanic Health Council (HHC) became involved in work on syringe exchange during the early 1990s, and played a role as an advocacy organization in getting Connecticut state approval for the Hartford Syringe Exchange Program, in organizing the Hartford Syringe Exchange, and in evaluating the program (Singer 2001). This paper uses the debate over syringe exchange in Springfield, Massachusetts, as a case study of the dynamics of community opposition to syringe exchange programs and the role anthropologists have played in shaping and contributing to that debate. If one of our goals as researchers is the direct translation of research into policy recommendations and initiatives, then it is incumbent on us to participate in those forums in which policy is being debated and to contribute our data and insights to public understandings of the costs and benefits of HIV prevention programs such as syringe exchange. We further argue that anthropologists are especially well-equipped to understand community opposition through our long-term immersion in communities using ethnographic methods and culturally informed analysis.
The Impact of Legalizing Syringe Exchange Programs on Arrests Among Injection Drug Users in California