Syringe debate renewed in D.C.

Focus is on needle exchange programs

By Kasper Zeuthen
Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON Fearing that the ban on federal funds for needle exchange
programs might be lifted, opponents Wednesday warned Congress and the Clinton
administration that a majority of the public is against reversing the
current policy.

Needle exchange programs are "a dopey idea," said Gary Bauer, president of
the Family Research Council, a conservative interest organization, as he held
up a handful of syringes. "Congress and the Clinton Administration would make
a radical mistake to flirt with the idea of needle exchange programs as sound
and effective policy."

But supporters of such programs held their own news conference in Washington
on Wednesday, saying that removing HIVcontaminated syringes from circulation
and replacing them with sterile ones had proven the most effective form of
AIDS prevention among drug users.

"Here is a life saver this is what will save lives," said Mohamad Akhter,
Executive Director of the American Public Health Association, as he also held
up a syringe.

Federal funding of programs providing drug users a clean needle when they
turn in a used one has been banned by Congress since 1988.

But Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala, who has the power to
lift the ban, recently said that needle exchange programs slow the spread of
HIV which some saw as an indication she may reverse the existing policy.
Moreover, a growing chorus of voices has recently urged her to take that
action.

Eleven states still ban such programs. Thus, even if the federal ban on
funding was lifted, legislation at the state level would still be needed to
clear the way for needle exchange programs.

Countering Bauer at the dueling Washington new conferences were members of
the National Coalition to Save Lives Now a grassroots coalition of syringe
exchange providers, AIDS service organizations, churches and community
organizations.