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Jim McVeigh wants regional centres of excellence - linking doctors, pharmacists and needle exchange programmes with experts on steroids to help people reduce and stop their usage safely.

In Seattle, for instance, researchers found that injection drug users who started going to a needle exchange were five times more likely to enter drug treatment than those who never went.

Even in Indiana’s Scott County, local leaders voted three years ago to shutter its needle exchange.

The demise of the needle exchange bill reflected rising skepticism among Republicans and some Democrats about the harm reduction approach to illicit drug use.

Prevencasa is a harm reduction centre in the city which provides a needle exchange and medical services to addicts.