Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Los Angeles Times (Home Edition); Tuesday July 8, 1997 Page B-6
Since 1993, several major studies have shown that the programs that give addicts clean needles in exchange for used ones decrease HIV infection in injected-drug users by 30%, increase the likelihood that addicts will enter drug treatment programs and do nothing to lead nonusers into drug habits. But, unlike in most developed nations, many U.S. state laws and federal law prohibit government from supplying clean needles. (California does not prohibit private programs, but Gov. Pete Wilson has thrice vetoed bills that would have explicitly legalized such programs.)
Prohibitions cost lives and money. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control, most of the 41,000 new HIV infections each year occur among injected-drug users and their sexual partners and children. The average cost of lifetime care for those infected with HIV or suffering from AIDS runs about $120,000, while each sterile needle costs 10 cents.
Citing "an urgent public health need," the American Medical Assn. and the U.S. Conference of Mayors have called for revocation of the 1988 law and of similar state laws prohibiting needle exchange programs. In a resolution sponsored by Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, the Conference of Mayors went a step further, urging Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala to use her authority to permit federal funding.
Reflecting the conventional wisdom in Washington, conservative public policy analyst Gary L. Bauer says the idea of lifting the ban on needle exchange is unthinkable because it "strikes the average voter in the gut as being against common sense." But recent polls suggest otherwise: A Kaiser Family Foundation survey last year found that 66% of Americans support needle exchange programs.
Washington should listen to the civic leaders and public health experts who have seen close up how the programs can be an effective and inexpensive way of curbing the spread of a deadly disease.
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