This article presents descriptive data on needle sharing and shooting gallery utilization by members of a small sample of intravenous drug users (IVDUs) from the San Francisco bay area. We found that most of this sample of IVDU's experimented for many months before obtaining their own "works," and that nearly 80% shared injection equipment, mostly with spouses or close friends. Moreover, the vast majority had frequented shooting galleries, although these tended to be smaller and less formal than those reported in New York. Their reasons for sharing syringes and using shooting galleries were primarily practical, including, ironically, the need to avoid carrying illicit injection equipment for fear of arrest. The implications of these findings for both criminal justice and public health policy are discussed, including suggestions for how law enforcement might help reduce the spread of AIDS.
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