Congress Authorizes Funds for Needle Exchange

Congress has given the go-ahead for the release of federal dollars to fund needle exchange programs with the Dec. 13 Senate passage of an appropriations bill to which the funding legislation was attached.

The move has won plaudits from The Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), a non-profit organization that promotes HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and public policy. AmfAR issued a press release on the end of the funding ban the same day. "We're thrilled that Congress has taken this crucial step to promote effective, evidence-based HIV prevention policy," Kevin Robert Frost, the CEO of amfAR said. "Once President Obama signs this bill and the ban has been lifted, local governments and agencies will have more flexibility and be better equipped to combat HIV transmission in their communities."

Needle exchange programs nationwide have come under threat as state budgets have contracted. Federal funds have long been denied to such programs, despite their effectiveness at reducing HIV infections.

"Availability of federal funds for syringe exchange is particularly urgent given that many states are facing budget woes and are making severe cutbacks in health funding," Frost continued, going on to praise the efforts of Wisconsin Democrat David Obey, a member of the House, who worked to end a ban on federal funds for needle exchanges. "Chairman Obey's leadership and the support of Speaker Pelosi have been crucial to removal of the ban."

The appropriations bill to which the legislation lifting the ban was attached increases the budget for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by over half a billion dollars, as well as providing slight increases in spending for efforts to fight HIV/AIDS around the globe. The minimal increases for those programs drew a note of concern from the organization, with amfAR Vice President and Director of Public Policy Chris Collins saying, "We applaud this historic step to remove the ban on federal funding for syringe exchange, but we are disappointed with the relatively minor increases in AIDS and health research and global AIDS programming.

"The funding levels in this bill represent a significant slowdown in expansion of global AIDS services," added Collins. "That's a tragedy given the millions in need of treatment and the opportunity we have to build out from AIDS programming to address broader health needs.

"Moving forward, amfAR will be working with our allies in Congress and the community to achieve the highest possible funding for AIDS and health research and domestic and global AIDS programming."

The House passed legislation to end the funding ban last July, though with a snag: a provision in the bill that would deny crucial funding to programs that operate within 1,000 feet of places where children might congregate: schools, parks, day care centers, pools, arcades, and other locales attractive to youth.

Proponents of needle exchange programs say that the provision is the ban all over again, only swaddled in friendlier-looking clothing. "This 1,000-foot rule is simply instituting the ban in a different form," the executive director of the AIDS Action Council, Rebecca Haag, told the New York Times in a Nov. 8 article. "Clearly the intent of this rule is to nullify the lifting of the ban."

The article noted that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that up to 20% of HIV cases stem from needle sharing. Moreover, the World Health Organization showed in a 2004 report that reductions in HIV cases of up to 18% accompanied the largest needle exchange programs.