Needle exchanges began in Tacoma in the 1980s and have been controversial ever since. If you don't know, they're supposed to reduce the spread of AIDS and other diseases by giving away free needles. Now those same people are giving away free meth pipes in Seattle.

Needle usage in Seattle has exploded with the increasing popularity of heroin. Street-cleaning crews say they found 230 percent more needles in Feb. 2015 than the previous year.

The people in charge of handing out clean needles have done surveys and found out needles are less popular than pipes, but a good pipe is hard to find. They decided to try handing out free pipes to reduce the number of people using needles.

It's technically illegal... but the police are waiting and watching.

The ban on meth pipes is to discourage the use of drugs. But if you're trying to ENCOURAGE the use of a safer form of drug usage, maybe it's OK?

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