Private Donors To Fund needle-Exchange Clinic

Hit with a congressional ban on funds for its needle-exchange program, an
AIDS clinic in the nation's capital has set up a private group to
distribute clean needles to drug addicts.

Congress, as part of the $520 billion spending package signed into law
Wednesday, banned use of local and federal funding for any needle-exchange
program in the District of Columbia.

The Whitman-Walker Clinic, which gets $7 million a year in federal and
local government dollars, has operated a clean-needle exchange for three
years. It has now created a private, nonprofit group to run the program.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski