TIAHRT ANGERS AIDS ACTIVISTS
Spending Bill Contains Ban On Needle Exchange Programs.

WASHINGTON -- Republican Rep. Todd Tiahrt of Kansas has again provoked the
ire of home-rule advocates and AIDS activists in the nation's capital by
successfully leading a fight to ban federal support of needle-exchange
programs to help drug addicts.

The debate came during consideration this week of a $4.7 billion spending
bill for the District of Columbia, which the House passed but which
President Clinton has threatened to veto if the final version includes the
ban on needle exchanges.

Tiahrt and other conservative Republicans, however, have tried to put the
brakes on several city programs that highlight the political divisions on
social policy.

"By handing out needles we encourage drug use," Tiahrt said. "It does not
help the children of Washington, D.C., to take taxpayer money to fund these
programs."

Under the program, now operating in more than 110 cities, intravenous drug
users can get clean needles in exchange for old ones. Supporters argue that
it takes contaminated needles off the streets, which helps to reduce the
transmission of AIDS and other diseases.

Its backers include D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey and former Surgeon
General C. Everett Koop. Noting that he has worked on the AIDS epidemic
since it became a public health problem, Koop told the Republican House
leadership in a letter this week that needle-exchange programs "can be an
effective means of preventing the spread of the disease without increasing
the use of illicit drugs."

AIDS is the leading cause of death of Washington residents between ages 30
and 44. The city also has the highest rate of new HIV infections in the nation.

"It is both arrogant and misguided," Rep. Albert Wynn, a Maryland Democrat,
said of Tiahrt's measure. "We would never attempt to impose the will of
Congress on the citizens of Kansas."

But Tiahrt said Congress "should not use taxpayer dollars to enable heroin
addicts to continue their self-destructive behavior." He has cited an Office
of National Drug Control Policy report that stated that the public health
risks of needle exchanges exceed the benefits and that the "science is
uncertain."

The issue drew attention because Congress is responsible for the city's
annual budget. After it banned the use of city spending on needle exchanges
last year, a private, nonprofit group took over the program. Home rule
supporters said the issue was an example of how Congress intrudes on the
city's right to govern itself.

"This shows how democracy really is a life-and-death issue," said Wayne
Turner, an AIDS activist. "This is self-determination, and people die when
Congress interferes with our own process."

The debate over the city budget raised another home-rule issue. The House
agreed to allow the city to release the results of a voter initiative last
fall on the use of marijuana for medical purposes. The votes remain
uncounted -- ) although exit polls show that the measure probably passed --
because Congress last year outlawed the use of federal money on a ballot
initiative that would have legalized marijuana.

The Washington spending bill passed by the House this week continued the ban
on the legalization of medical marijuana. But the final bill has to be
worked out in conference with the Senate, whose version includes neither the
ban on marijuana nor needle exchanges.

Art Spitzer, legal director for the local American Civil Liberties Union
office, called it an "outrage" that the medical marijuana vote was held last
fall and that the results still weren't known.

"The district's ability to make its own local policies is still a plaything
on Capitol Hill," he said.