“Syringe exchange programs are not legal in the state of Louisiana. So for 22 years, [Women With A Vision has] operated underground. And I say “underground” only because I can’t just pull up in a car or a van and just set up and have people line up so they can get what they need.”

-Deon Haywood, Executive Director, Women With A Vision, Inc.

“If the city don’t care, somebody has to. And that somebody is us. We’re the advocates. I’m the advocate for the community – for the people the city gave up on.”

-Zina Mitchell, Harm Reductionist and Outreach Worker, Women With A Vision, Inc.

Louisiana has an estimated 45,000 people who inject drugs, a quarter of them in New Orleans. Yet the city has few services, such as syringe exchanges, shown to reduce HIV and hepatitis infections among injection drug users. The city’s one public syringe exchange receives no government funding and is open for only two hours a week.
For more information, please read “Louisiana Fuels HIV Epidemic: Criminal Laws, Police Practices Put Sex Workers, Drug Users at Risk – Human Rights Watch Report.”