Brendan Kiley in The Stranger:

As Allan Clear, executive director of the Harm Reduction Coalition in New York City, puts it, “If you want to engage with drug users and build their trust, you have to provide something meaningful to them. A stem or a pipe helps build that relationship… it makes it more likely that they’ll return for advice or medical care if you have provided them with something useful in your first interaction—something you didn’t have to give them.”