Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1986. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The New York Times - November 10, 1986
The commissioner, Dr. Stephen C. Joseph, said on the WNBC-TV program "News Forum" that the city proposal would take about two months to develop.
Approval by the State Health Department would then be required before the experimental distribution of needles could begin.
The State Health Commissioner, Dr. David Axelrod, said last Friday that he would be willing to consider a small demonstration project, and Mayor Koch said he would support such a demonstration.
There are an estimated 200,000 intravenous drug users in the city. About 8,000 cases of AIDS, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, have been diagnosed here, most of them among drug users and homosexual men; more than half the cases have been fatal. If the program were approved, Dr. Joseph said, the first needles would go to heroin addicts awaiting entry into methadone treatment.
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