Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
San Francisco Chronicle - The Voice of the West, 901 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94119 - Friday, September 12, 1997 - Page A2
Louis Freedberg, Chronicle Washington Bureau
"Numerous federally funded studies and organizations all agree that needle exchange saves lives," said Regina Aragon, director of public policy at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. "Congress has put politics before health, and as a result, thousands more will become infected with HIV."
By a 266-to-158 vote, the House took aim at current law that allows the secretary of health and human services to lift a 3-year-old congressional ban on using federal funds to provide clean needles to injecting drug users.
The law permits the secretary to lift the ban if there is sufficient evidence that needle exchange programs prevent the spread of HIV and at the same time do not promote drug use.
The House voted on an amendment originally written by Representative Tom Coburn, R-Okla., which was attached to the $80 billion appropriations bill for the departments of Education, Labor and Health and Human Services. The amendment was apparently motivated by fears that the administration was moving closer to lifting the ban.
In February, Health Secretary Donna Shalala released an internal review of needle exchange programs that seemed to provide the scientific proof needed to lift the ban. "There is ample evidence that needle exchange programs save lives without encouraging illegal drug use," said Seth Kilbourn of the Human Rights Campaign, a Washington advocacy organizations. "But a majority of the House decided not to let the facts get in the way of demagoguing the issue." But the House action is still far from becoming law. The Senate has not passed a similar measure, and its fate will be decided sometime over the next two weeks in House-Senate conference committee.
Advocacy groups have long been pressuring the administration to lift the ban, but it has been reluctant to give any sign that it is lenient on drug use. Despite the ban, over 100 communities around the country have instituted their own needle exchange programs without federal funds.
The San Francisco AIDS Foundation HIV Prevention Project is the largest needle exchange program in the United States, exchanging 2.1 million needles annually. But officials say it could be even more effective with federal money. The House also passed another amendment on a 270-to-150 vote to expand restrictions on the use of federal funds for abortions to cover Medicaid contracts for managed care. Currently, federal funds cannot be used to pay for abortions under Medicaid, except in cases of rape, incest or to save a woman's life.
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