NEXT (Needle EXchange Technology) Harm Reduction is an American nonprofit that sends naloxone, sterile syringes, and other harm reduction supplies through the mail.[1] It is based in the state of New York but serves clients throughout the country.[1] It is the first formal mail-delivered harm reduction service in the US.[2]
History
NEXT began operations in February 2018.[1] Jamie Favaro, the organization's founder, previously worked for the Harm Reduction Coalition, the Washington Heights Corner Project (which she founded in 2005) and other harm reduction groups.[3] The program design was influenced by the work of Tracey Helton, who had been mailing naloxone to drug users illegally as an act of civil disobedience.[3][4] In its first two and a half years of operation, NEXT distributed syringes to more than 800 people.[2] It experienced a spike in demand during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, as brick-and-mortar syringe service programs shut down.[5]