Despite public health research that supports needle exchanges, state law continues to say that distributing syringes for drug use is illegal.

If you support or oppose a change in law, let your state senator and state representative know.

If you want to know more about the Commonwealth’s response to the heroin crisis and increased risk for HIV and hepatitis C, contact the Department of Health and the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs.

If you support or oppose executive action, contact Gov. Tom Wolf.

For local changes, contact your city and county government.

If you support or oppose federal funding for needle exchanges, contact your senator and representative.

For more information on local harm reduction, contact Prevention Point Pittsburgh, Prevention Point Philadelphia, Lancaster Harm Reduction Project or the Harrisburg Harm Reduction Project.

Visit the CDC online for federal research on HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C and needle exchanges.

We don't have paywalls — but your support helps us bridge crucial information gaps.

Readers tell us they can't find the information they get from our reporting anywhere else, and we're glad to provide this important service for our community. We work hard to produce accurate, timely, impactful journalism without paywalls that keeps our region informed and moving forward.

However, only about .1% of the people who read our stories contribute to our work financially. Our newsroom depends on the generosity of readers like yourself to make our high-quality local journalism possible, and the costs of the resources it takes to produce it have been rising, so each member means a lot to us.

Your donation to our nonprofit newsroom helps ensure everyone in Allegheny County can stay up-to-date about decisions and events that affect them. Please make your gift of support now.

GIVE NOW

Alexandra Kanik was a web developer and designer for PublicSource between 2011 and 2015.