The U.S. Congress has quitely lifted the federal funding ban on needle exchange programs after more than a quarter century the programs went into effect. The needle exchange programs provide clean needles, allowing intravenous drug addicts to trade dirty syringes for clean ones to prevent to help combat HIV.
The partial repeal passed by Congress in late December, spearheaded by House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers and backed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, both from Kentucky. The decision is also supported by West Virginia Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito who is on the Appropriations Committee, Buzzfeed reported.
The funding ban repeal came in response to a massive HIV/AIDS outbreak in Indiana, and the state's decision to implement its own exchange to combat growing heroin use. The repeal will allow federal government to make resources available to pay on partial aspects of the needle exchange programs including staff, vehicles, gas, rent, and everything but the syringe. Local funds or private funds are expected to cover the direct costs of syringes and needles.
HIV/AIDS experts and activists praised the decision as an effective end to the ban, since syringes are a very inexpensive part of needle exchange programs. Associate Dean of Global Health Sciences at the University of california at San Diego, Dr. Steffanie Strathdee, said that the move is basically a giant work around to conservative opposition.
Leana Wen, health commissioner in Baltimore, said that the needle exchange programs reduce the transmission of disease, according to USA Today. Wen said that the Congress has made a critical first step in helping every state implements the evidence-based policy that has proven to save lives.
The U.S. government instituted a ban on federal funding for needle exchange programs in 1988 for people who inject street drugs. In 1998, a study from researchers at John Hopkins University found that clean needle exchanges generally reduce the spread of HIV without increasing drug use. Another study in 2004 by the World Health Organization (WHO) found similar results.
According to Human Right Campaign's (HRC's) blog, the HRC successfully lobbied the government to have the ban fully repealed in 2009. However, when Republicans regained control of the House in 2011, they reinstituted the ban.
The needle exchange programs applied in Washington DC succesfully dropped needle-caused HIV cases by 80 percent, from 149 in 2007 to 30 in 2011. The are at least 194 needle exchange programs operating in the U.S., under budgets ranging from $100,000 to $300,000.
