At the height of the AIDS crisis, injection drug use was driving the majority of new HIV infections in New York City. However, state law criminalized the possession of a syringe without a prescription, which meant it was illegal to distribute clean needles to drug users. Activists did anyway -- and when they got arrested, they asserted a legal defense that would change public health policy. This moment in queer legal history highlights how ordinary people, facing an existential crisis, took on a legal system that was failing them. Moreover, it shows that, even in the direst of circumstances, there is hope for transformative change.