What would House Democrats hope to accomplish by lifting a ban on Federal funding for needle exchange programs?”
This July, a new bill recommending lifting the ban is scheduled to hit Congress. Has the time finally arrived for evidence-based science to prevail over moral debates around the issue of providing clean syringes for safer injecting? Since the days when Bill Clinton was president, overwhelming evidence indicates that providing injection-drug users with clean syringes has a significant impact on reducing the spread of life-threatening illnesses like AIDS and hepatitis C among intravenous-drug users and their sexual partners. Studies conducted in the United States have repeatedly shown that syringe-exchange programs are powerful tools in preventing the spread of these blood-borne illnesses. In addition, it has been well established that when people access syringe-exchange programs, they are often likely to simultaneously access critical health care, information and support. They are more likely to get into care and on treatment, and find the support they need to continue both. And yet, si
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday unveiled legislation to lift a ban on federal funding for needle exchange programs, a shift to try to reduce AIDS virus infections but one that likely will spark a fight. As part of a $160.7 billion measure to fund the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services for fiscal 2010, which starts October 1, Democrats scrapped the prohibition that has been included in the annual spending bill in previous years. “Scientific studies have documented that needle exchange programs, when implemented as part of a comprehensive prevention strategy, are an effective public health intervention for reducing AIDS/HIV infections and do not promote drug use,” said Representative David Obey, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. President Barack Obama had pledged during the presidential election campaign to lift the ban but when his budget was released earlier this year, activists criticized him for failing to
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday unveiled legislation to lift a ban on federal funding for needle exchange programs, a shift to try to reduce AIDS virus infections but one that likely will spark a fight. As part of a $160.7 billion measure to fund the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services for fiscal 2010, which starts October 1, Democrats scrapped the prohibition that has been included in the annual spending bill in previous years. “Scientific studies have documented that needle exchange programs, when implemented as part of a comprehensive prevention strategy, are an effective public health intervention for reducing AIDS/HIV infections and do not promote drug use,” said Representative David Obey, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
