Shreveport, LA Public Health Rules: Syringe Disposal (2026)

Article VI of Chapter 50, adopted by Ord. No. 81, 2018 on November 13, 2018, authorizes nonprofit community-based organizations and the local health department to run needle and syringe exchange programs aimed at reducing transmission of HIV, AIDS, viral hepatitis and other blood-borne diseases, and at cutting needle-stick injuries to law enforcement and emergency personnel. Section 50-220 requires participants to be offered an identification card confirming their lawful enrollment, and it authorizes programs to offer disposal of used needles and hypodermic syringes, distribution of clean needles and syringes in quantities sufficient to prevent sharing or reuse, educational materials on overdose prevention and disease transmission, and access to FDA-approved naloxone kits for treating overdoses.

All supplies and materials must be distributed to participants at no cost. Section 50-221 is the legal backstop that makes the program workable: it decriminalizes distributing or possessing drug paraphernalia for employees or volunteers of an authorized organization and for participants enrolled in a program under Sec. 50-220, removing the drug-paraphernalia exposure that would otherwise attach to handling used needles and syringes. S. 40:1024(C), which authorizes local needle exchange programs statewide, and the city ordinance implements that authorization specifically for organizations and participants operating within Shreveport.