ABSTRACT
The notion of bonding had been used as a partial excuse by the federal government since the late 1980s for not supporting needle exchange or distribution programs. It seems that people at the centers for disease control believed (or said they believed) that even if people gave junkies clean needles they would still share. By 1996, services were being provided four evenings a week for two hours at ten stationary locations in areas of the city with sizable needle using populations. These are all multi-ethnic, low-income neighborhoods. Charges of racial genocide and assertions that whites were imposing foreign and unwanted solutions on black communities have been prominent in a number of cities where needle exchange has been attempted. Prevention Point’s early anarchistic, unfunded phase stretched from 1989 to 1991. Between 1991 and 1994, the organization sought and obtained funding from the city of San Francisco and at the same time was able to maintain a sense of autonomy and self-rule.
