Overview
Based in Berkeley, California, NEED is unique among needle exchange programs because we are a volunteer-based collective. We started in September 1990 by a group of HIV+ persons, people in recovery, and health activists as an underground program operating out of a baby carriage on the corner of Hearst and San Pablo Avenues in Berkeley. Currently, we operate from a black van with our logo and title written on the side at three neighborhoods sites each week. We offer free, anonymous services in a client-centered manner, and we are dedicated to the prevention of infectious diseases and to improving the physical, spiritual, and political health of drug users. We also offer overdose prevention began an overdose prevention and education component to address the rising number of overdoses among injection drug users. Across the street from our Sunday site, the Berkeley Free Clinic provides free, anonymous hepatitis testing and vaccination. We provide information and referrals for medical, housing, social support and treatment programs.
Services
- Community Trainings/Education
- Fentanyl Test Strips/Education
- Hepatitis testing/Education
- MAT Education/Referrals
- Naloxone Distribution/Overdose Ed.
- Safe Sex Items
- Syringe Services
- Wound Care Services
