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. We now operate out of a white van (currently no logo) at our 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 and narcan training and began an overdose prevention and education component to our services. We provide information and referrals for medical, housing, social support and treatment programs.
Services
- Community Trainings/Education
- Fentanyl Test Strips/Education
- MAT Education/Referrals
- Naloxone Distribution/Overdose Ed.
- Safe Sex Items
- Safer Smoking Supplies
- Syringe Services
