‘NY Times’ Prickly Over Needle Exchange Law
While the NY Times editorial board approves of the President’s hypodermic turnaround, the journalists expect more from the Bush administration:
Congress and President Bush have done the right thing, lifting a disastrous nine-year ban that prevented Washington from using locally raised tax dollars on needle-exchange programs that help fight the spread of AIDS. Unfortunately, that still leaves in force an even broader and more damaging law that prohibits the use of federal funds for needle-exchange programs in the United States or abroad.That ban must also be rescinded.
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First enacted by Congress 20 years ago, the prohibition against using federal dollars for these crucial needle-exchange programs has hobbled AIDS prevention efforts both in this country and abroad. Health organizations using American tax dollars should be encouraged rather than blocked from developing these programs.Eliminating the federal ban would save many thousands of lives every year.
And that’s the truth, Ruth.
We have the needle exchange program here in Australia and it seems to be working – there’s been a significant decrease in the number of new cases of AIDS. We now need to get the message to the stupid young kids who say, “Oh, I don’t want to wear a condom cause I can’t feel anything”,etc. The amount of times I’ve heard young teens say that scares the crap out of me.
needle exchange works in philly, chicago, san fran… it should be nationalized as a plan using federal monies. but not if big pharma has anything to do with it. who lines politicians’ pockets? the chem/drug companies do handsomely. these fat cats don’t want prevention or even a cure, because that cuts into their profits.