"A new $400,600 state anti-opioid campaign aimed at kids depicts a teen trapped inside a pill and a lifeless hand beside a toppled prescription bottle."

AZ Central

"Sonoran Prevention Works and Shot in the Dark, invite family and friends to honor 70 community members, who lost someone to an overdose, put their names on a Christmas Tree in downtown Phoenix. "

AZ Central

“‘I don't believe Noah wanted to die,’ his mother, Ingrid Gold, said. ‘He struggled his whole life with anxiety and depression and turned to drugs to kill his pain. In the end, they killed him.’”

AZ Central

"Public health advocates are urging Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to legalize needle exchange programs. A letter delivered to the governor’s office this week says it’s a deeply needed response to the state’s drug overdose crisis."

KJZZ

"Now, Boardman said, such programs need the backup of the law to further help others. More funding and partnerships could emerge if the needle exchange program becomes law, she said."

Cronkite News

"Studies have shown that [syringe access programs] don’t increase drug use. We are not going out selling drugs, we are not going out giving out drugs and we’re not promoting drugs. We are giving clean medical supplies to people. When people choose to engage with these programs, they tend to have higher rates of getting into recovery and engaging with the service provider. It doesn’t increase the number of syringe users, it simply facilitates the help of people currently injecting and may increase their rates of recovery and access to service providers."

Medium - Joe Jacquez

"'[SITD] is an indispensable resource for our community,” Leach said. “We know that they give more naloxone than any other institution in the state, so they’re a key player to addressing the opioid crisis.”

Jewish News

"Volunteers say needle exchanges aren't about getting people sober. It's about harm reduction. It's about reducing the risk of transmitting diseases. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discovered cases of hepatitis C increased 133 percent from 2004-2014."

AZ Family

"With unanimous, bipartisan support — and surprisingly little floor debate — a bill that would legalize needle-exchange programs passed out of the Arizona House of Representatives on Thursday. "

AZ Central

"According to the proposed legislation, programs could legally exist if the goal is to reduce the spread of disease, minimize needle pricks to law-enforcement officers and encourage people to enroll in treatment programs. Programs would also offer needle disposal and provide education on overdose prevention, naloxone access and mental-illness treatment."

AZ Central

Needle exchanges are often controversial, and some opponents, like Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, feel that the approach sends the wrong message. In an interview with KJZZ, Montgomery likened syringe-access programs to "a free-case-of-beer-a-month program for alcoholics." But, as Coles points out, "Withholding [clean syringes] doesn’t prevent them from using drugs. It just puts them at risk of contracting hepatitis and HIV, in addition to other preventable illnesses."

Phoenix New Times

"It's really low-barrier the way we are doing it," Patterson says. "All you have to do is find us."

NPR

"Shot in the Dark isn’t about trying to push people in recovery. It’s about trying to keep people safe while they’re doing what they’re doing.”

The Fix

[Jacob] said for him, Shot in the Dark is potentially life-saving. "If you don't have access to [clean syringes], you're not going to stop doing drugs, you're just going to deal with it and use dirty messed up gear," Weiss said.

AZ Family

“Just because you are using drugs doesn’t mean your healthcare doesn’t matter and doesn’t mean there’s nothing that can be done,” she said, glancing at the GPS guiding us to our first stop.

KJZZ