DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE: …Meanwhile, in a huge win for public health, Congress has included language in the spending bill that would enable states and localities to spend federal funds on syringe access programs, effectively lifting the decades-long ban on federal funding for such life-saving programs.
“Syringe access programs are a sound public health intervention, rooted in science, and proven to drastically reduce the spread of HIV and hepatitis C,” said Michael Collins, Deputy Director of National Affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance. “Lifting this archaic ban will save thousands of lives.”
The ban was put in place in 1988 at the height of hysteria around the drug war and HIV. It was repealed in 2009 when Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress, but reinstated by Republicans in Congress in 2011 after they regained control of the House. But outbreaks of HIV in Indiana, and the rise in heroin use in places like Kentucky and West Virginia have forced Republicans to rethink their opposition to syringe access programs.
Restricting access to sterile syringes among people who inject drugs has been proven to lead to syringe sharing – a major cause of HIV infections. Clear evidence shows that allowing adults to access sterile syringes – through syringe exchange programs and non-prescription sales of syringes – prevents the transmission of HIV, hepatitis C, and other blood-borne diseases, without contributing to increased drug use, drug injection, crime or unsafe discard of syringes. Such programs are also cost-effective. Syringe access programs are supported by every major medical and public health organization, including the American Medical Association, National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Bar Association, and U.S. Conference of Mayors, as well as UNICEF, the World Bank, and International Red Cross-Red Crescent Society.
