Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1998. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
San Francisco Chronicle; Tuesday, April 21, 1998
"A meticulous scientific review has now proven that needle exchange programs can reduce the transmission of HIV and save lives without losing ground in the battle against illegal drugs," said Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala.
But even with that unequivocal endorsement, she said the federal government will not pay to let drug addicts exchange used needles for clean ones. She advised local communities to pay for their own needle exchange programs.
That was a craven bit of political double- talk from Shalala whose mission is to protect the health of the nation, when she knows that nearly 40 percent of all AIDS cases reported in the United States have been linked to illegal intravenous drug use.
And, according to her own department's statistics, 70 percent of HIV/AIDS infections among women of childbearing age are directly or indirectly related to intravenous drug use and more than 75 percent of infected babies had a parent who used needles. A Clinton administration official said the decision not to fund the programs ias made by Shalala after consultation with the White House.
Stunned AIDS activists asked how federal public health officials could say needle exchanges work, but refuse to fund them.
"This is obviously immoral to say we know how to save lives but we are not going to let federal funds be used for that purpose," said Dr. R. Scott Hitt, chairman of the Presidential Advisory Commission on AIDS. "Americans should ask why," said Hitt, the administration's top AIDS advisor, appointed by President Clinton.
By refusing to fund needle exchange programs that have proven to work in nearly a hundred cities -- including San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose -- the Clinton administration has shamefully chosen political expedience over human welfare.
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