Hey, Look! The Democrats Do Something Good for a Change!
Via Dan Savage, the feds end the ban on needle exchanges:
For years, needle exchange programs in three dozen states have provided clean needles to intravenous drug users as a way to reduce the transmission of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C. But the programs have relied solely on state and local funding because of a longtime ban at the federal level. For years, some regarded needle exchange as an incentive for drug addicts to continue to use.
Bill McColl of the Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group AIDS Action says some are afraid federal backing conflicts with the zero-tolerance policy for drug use.
But he says he sees the vote to lift the ban as a vote for science.
“There are eight federal reports that show that syringe exchange will decrease HIV and Hepatitis,” McColl says. “It doesn’t increase substance abuse. You know, this is a real opportunity to do some serious outreach to a population that is often overlooked.”
So hooray for Congress, you guys did the right thing this time and I’m proud of you.
Unsurprisingly, the man who never campaigned on the public option also apparently never campaigned on ending the needle exchange ban either. Which is to say, he did:
President Obama’s budget released Thursday takes a step backward from a controversial political position he had taken during the presidential campaign.
Obama, during the primary campaign, pledged his support of needle exchange programs to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS. When he took over the White House, the administration website affirmed: “The President also supports lifting the federal ban on needle exchange, which could dramatically reduce rates of infection among drug users.”
Yet Obama’s budget includes language that bans spending federal money on needle-exchange programs.
