Needle exchange programs and experience of violence in an inner city neighborhood

Objective: To assess the association between proximity to a needle exchange program (NEP) and experience of violence in an inner city neighborhood. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of residents of Harlem, New York City pro vided data for this study. We used geocoding to obtain the distance between respondents and the nearest NEP. Respondents reported violence they were a ware of or had personally experienced in their neighborhood. Multiple logis tic regression analyses assessed the relation between violence and distance from the nearest NEP. Results: Among 220 respondents, 50.1% were African American, 39.0% were Lat ino, 44.7% were male, and the mean age was 44.5 years. In separate age-, ra ce-, sex-, and income-adjusted logistic regression models, there was no sig nificant association between (1) reporting a fight and distance from the ne arest NEP (odds ratio [OR] = 1.05, p = .89); (2) robbery in the neighborhoo d in the previous 6 months and distance from the nearest NEP (OR = 1. 13, p = .71); (3) ever having experienced violence and distance from the nearest NEP (OR = 0.72, p = .52); or (4) ever having been robbed by drug users and distance from the nearest NEP (OR = 1.05, p = .91). Conclusions: There was no consistent association between living close to NE PS and violence reported by residents of Harlem in this study. This study s uggests that NEPs do not adversely affect rates of violence in their vicini ty.