WHEELING — The Wheeling-Ohio County Health Department’s needle exchange program is up and running again after being paused for about a year.

Administrator Howard Gamble said on Monday that the program restarted in the beginning of January. It had been open since 2015, but was put on pause at the end of 2021. The West Virginia Legislature had passed a law requiring tight regulations on needle exchange programs, and the WOCHD chose to focus on the COVID-10 pandemic instead of the extra paperwork needed to keep the needle exchange operational.

The law requires health departments to get registered and apply for a special license to operate needle exchange clinics. Gamble said the entire process took about three months to complete.

Now the health department has three licensed sites: the health department office itself, a satellite location at Northwood Health Systems and the health department’s Project HOPE mobile health bus soon will offer needle exchange, too.

News that the program is running again is spreading slowly. Gamble said it will likely take a while for people to get to know the program again and trust it. People can turn in as many needles as they want and receive up to 20 clean needles to use instead.

“It’s there if people need to participate,” he said.

The sites can also offer HIV testing along with mental health services. Narcan can also be given out.

“I’m glad we’re doing it again. It’s a benefit to the public health of the community,” Gamble said. “It’s a great program. We hope to expand it.”

The health department, 1500 Chapline St., Wheeling, needle exchange is available from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday on a walk-in basis.

The Northwood, 111 19th St., Wheeling, needle exchange is available from 1-4 p.m. Fridays also on a walk-in basis.

Exchanges are done anonymously; people are given a special ID card to show that contains letters and numbers and not their name. It cannot be traced back to them, Gamble added.

Goals of the program include safely disposing of used needles; giving drug users clean needles to use so they do not share with others and reuse dirty needles; and to prevent the possible spread of HIV and other diseases.