8 Million Needles Exchanged In ‘94

More than 8 million needles were exchanged last year in programs that allow drug addicts to trade dirty syringes for sterile ones, federal officials said Thursday.

The report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention came two days after the National Research Council said such exchanges can reduce the spread of AIDS without encouraging the use of illegal drugs. About one-third of AIDS cases resulted from intravenous drug use, according to the CDC.

A CDC survey found that the number of needles exchanged increased to more than 8 million in 1994 from about 2.4 million in 1992, the last time the programs were surveyed.