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Congress Ends DC Funding Ban on Needle Exchange
24th of December 2007
High HIV infection rates in DC have been a public health crisis for years, and it is no secret that youth and families in DC’s poorest communities continue to suffer disproportionately. Until now, our city government had been prohibited from funding a proven intervention – needle exchange.
A December 21 Washington Post Editorial titled “Done Deal” announces congressional legislation to allow DC to finally use its own money for syringe exchange programs.
FOR NEARLY 10 years, Congress prevented the District of Columbia from using its own money to fund needle-exchange programs, interventions that greatly reduce the risk for intravenous drug users of contracting or spreading HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The obstruction ended with passage this week of the omnibus budget bill.
Continue to read the Post’s Editorial here