February 15, 2008
HEAVY LIFTING
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Serrano and Norton fought to lift the ban on needle exchange funding for D.C.—next stop America? |
Wednesday night, Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC at large) hosted a Capitol Hill reception to celebrate the end of the ban on needle-exchange in Washington, D.C., but legislators and harm reduction advocates already have their eye on lifting the wider-reaching ban that prohibits federal money from being used for such programs. At the reception, there was little concern that a Bush rider to reinstate the D.C. ban would pass in the House (lest the House be seen as major flip floppers). José Serrano (D-NY), who is championing the legislation to lift the federal ban, said it was important to capitalize on the momentum of the success in D.C.
"Lifting the D.C. ban is great within itself, but we've always seen it as a stepping stone to ending the federal ban," said Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, which sponsored Wednesday's celebration along with AIDS Action, the AIDS Institute, D.C. Appleseed, and PreventionWorks!
Hilary McQuie, Western Director of the Harm Reduction Coalition, was glad to see AIDS groups in the house. "This has been a little off the map for AIDS advocates, and it's way past time," she said. "Every year that goes by there are more people who become infected. We can always put off trying to lift the ban, but now is the time."
More and more people seem to be getting the message that needle-exchange programs are a sane way to prevent the spread of HIV. Last Thursday, National Black AIDS Awareness Day, the NAACP and Urban League voiced their support of lifting the ban. Editorial boards at the Boston Globe and The Detroit Free Press also showed their support.
There are no illusions that Bush will be the president to sign it into law, but advocates are starting to organize and work with Congress now to get the federal ban on funding removed from the Labor HHS funding bill. Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama, told AIDSVOTE.org they support lifting the ban. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and Sen. John McCain's positions on needle exchange are unclear.
Nationally, there are more than 210 needle exchange programs in place in 36 states, and approximately half of the programs receive local or state funding.
Underway in D.C.
D.C. has one of the worst HIV/AIDS infections rates in the country: One out of every 20 Washingtonians has HIV/AIDS. IV drug users account for about a third of new AIDS cases annually, yet D.C. was the only city prohibited from spending its own funds to provide clean needles to addicts. Needle exchange programs have been proven to prevent the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C, and not to increase drug use.
Now that the District can fund needle-exchange, the money has started flowing. The D.C. government allocated $650,000 to needle exchange programs. $300,000 is going to PreventionWorks!, which plans to use much of the funding to help other organizations set up needle exchanges. The remaining money will go to organizations interested in starting their own programs.
The ban was first imposed through a 1998 federal law that prohibits the District government from using local tax money to fund any organization that operates a needle exchange program. The House has added the ban each year to the District's appropriations bill. Despite the good news in D.C. and the new excitement over lifting the federal ban, advocates know that they have a fight on their hands. "It's bizarre what a lightning rod this issue is for the culture wars," McQuie said. "Nobody can dispute the science on it, but people make a point of putting the ban back in like it's a mainstay of the right-wing agenda. It's going for the lowest-hanging fruit."