Due to legal restrictions placed on obtaining clean syringes, transmission of blood-borne diseases is high among injection drug users. Drug users share and reuse needles because they have difficulty obtaining the sterile syringes needed to consume one for each use or per person. In the past, many believed that the best solution was to deny drug users any access to drug paraphernalia. Some still believe this is the best option despite the evidence revealing how harmful this policy is. It is believed to be beneficial to the drug addict and society to deny easy access to drug paraphernalia. As a result, the United States has limited access to clean syringes in many areas by passing laws that make it illegal to sell, distribute, and possess syringes (without a prescription). However, a 2002 publication by the Center for Law and the Public's Health points out that "evaluative research and field experience show that adequate access to syringes produces positive health effects without creating negative social ones" (Burris, Strathdee and Vernick 2). Laws preventing access to sterile syringes have not been helpful in discouraging drug use, nor have they slowed crime or prevented new users. What they accomplished however; it was triggering an explosion of blood-borne diseases across the country. Because we now know that providing access to sterile syringes has been shown to limit the transmission of viral and bacterial infections among users who currently cannot or will not stop their illicit behavior, we should take action to remove barriers to access. Even as more people realize that clean needles are part of the solution and not the problem, antiquated laws prevent the sale and distribution of these life-saving tools. Shar......middle of paper......ringe Source, Disposal, and Pharmacy Sales in Harlem, New York." Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association 42.0 (2002): S77-82. Print.Rasnake, Maj. Mark S., Maj. Nicholas G. Conger, Col C. Kenneth McAllister, King K. Holmes, and Edmund C. Tramont "History of U.S. Military Contributions to the Study of Sexually Transmitted Diseases 170" (2005): 61-. 65. Armed Forces Infectious Diseases Society, April 2005. Web. 17 October 2011. “Syringe Exchange Programs.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, December 2005. Web. .Szalavitz, Maia. “Why Obama Doesn't Fund needle exchange programs".. 2011. .