Based in Berkeley, California, NEED is unique among syringe services programs because we are a volunteer-based collective. We started in September 1990 by a group of HIV+ persons, people in recovery, and health activists as an underground program operating out of a baby carriage on the corner of Hearst and San Pablo Avenues in Berkeley.

Currently, we operate from a white van at three neighborhoods sites each week, as well as outreach sites around Oakland and Berkeley. We offer free, anonymous services in a client-centered manner, and we are dedicated to the prevention of infectious diseases and to improving the physical, spiritual, and political health of drug users. We also offer overdose prevention began an overdose prevention and education component to address the rising number of overdoses among injection drug users.

Services

In a collaboration with HEPPAC, we offer free and anonymous FTIR drug checking at our Thursday site. Note that this is first come first serve and the hours of the operation are from 6-7 rather than 6-8 and this service is not offered for the entire two hours of Thursday site. The HEPPAC FTIR drug checking van is navy blue and next to our white van, slightly closer to the intersection of University and San Pablo.

Previously, the Berkeley Free Clinic was across the street from our Sunday site. In 2025, the clinic moved to 830 University Ave and still provides provides free, anonymous hepatitis testing and vaccination. Our Sunday site location remains unchanged.

Additionally, depending on what volunteer is at site, we maybe be able to provide information and referrals for medical, housing, social support and treatment programs.

Supplies

We carry many different gauges of syringes (check out the services and projects tab for specific offerings) , including syringes for individuals who inject steroids and hormones. In addition to carrying an assortment of harm reduction supplies (including the works needed for injection and safer smoking supplies), we also offer a variety of other things including safer-sex supplies, hygiene products, and clean, unworn socks. A fundamental part of NEED's mission is responding to the needs of our participants. NEED is still a volunteer-run collective, with deep and effective connections in the user, medical, public health research, and recovery communities. We constantly strive to respond to the actual needs of users, their friends, and families in the community, by improving and changing our services in response to client feedback.

NEED Now and Then — A Timeline

• September 1990: Needle Exchange in Berkeley starts
• July 4, 1991: Berkeley Police Department arrests NEED volunteers
• 1992: NEED members acquitted on needle exchange charges
• 1992: City of Berkeley begins partial funding
• 1994: NEED abandons limits on exchanges
• 1995: NEED starts second site in Southside
• 1996: Governor Pete Wilson vetoes exchange bills for third time
• 1997: NEED begins home delivery and third site
  
• 1998: NEED/HRC puts on hepatitis and wound care forums
• 1999: Really Cool NEED van purchased
• 2000: Wound Care Clinic created and begun in NEED van
• 2000: California legislature legalizes needle exchange in counties declaring an HIV/HepC public health emergency
• 2001: Initiated overdose prevention and response education project
• 2004: Funding levels fall below cost of supplies
• 2005: Funding level remains flat, demand for services and costs rise
• 2007: NEED receives a 3-year, $75,000/year grant from the State Office of AIDS for new program funding
• 2008: NEED becomes a California nonprofit public benefit corporation
• 2009: NEED becomes a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization; Great Recession prompts Governor Schwarzenegger to unilaterally cut funding to various state social programs, including State Office of AIDS, resulting in loss of our grant
• 2011: NEED joins forces with the Berkeley Free Clinic to build outreach capacity to at-risk populations in Berkeley as part of the Berkeley Builds Capacity project
• 2012: After old van won't pass smog test, NEED gets a new van donated
• 2013: New van gets stolen! New van purchased
• 2014: Elton John AIDS Foundation donates unprecedented amount to NEED to help support obtaining a new van; NEED begins distribution of Narcan prescriptions at sites
• 2015: Congress finally lifts the ban on using federal funds for syringe exchange!
• 2020: NEED receives funding for two part-time Resource Navigators. The Resource Navigators greatly expand outreach and NEED quickly sees three times the amount of people annually as it did previously. The depth of services provided also increases during this time: more glass, a wider array of points, and other offerings begin to expand
• 2024: NEED’s white Promaster is totaled; the current Ford transit van is purchased a few months later
• 2022: NEED receives funding to not only continue funding Resource Navigators, but also increase their hours
• 2025: NEED partners with HEPPAC at our Thursday site to offer FTIR Drug Checking at our Thursday site