A yearly report made to the county’s Board of Supervisors on 9/17 on the countywide syringe exchange program showed a decrease from 30 percent to 12 percent between 2000-2012 in the number of HIV/AIDS infections with injection drug use as a risk factor. The program — run by the Pacific Pride Foundation at its Santa Maria office and paid for with private money — swaps used syringes for clean ones and provides clients with STD testing and referrals for drug abuse and mental-health counseling. Last year, the program provided 73,053 clean needles for 74,740 contaminated ones.
