Congress to End Syringe Exchange Ban!; Pelosi Deems Policy Shift A Top Priority
Posted by , December 09, 2009 at 6:43pm
Activists spoke and Congress listened.
Have we got good news for you! The House and Senate joint 2010 appropriations bill released late Tuesday night completely removes the ban on federal funding for syringe exchange in the U.S.
The bill also nixes the 1,000-foot rule that would have banned syringe exchange programs within 1,000 feet of schools, recreational centers, daycares, playgrounds and video arcades.
“This is a wonderful and amazing victory,” said the AIDS Institute’s Carl Schmid. Two weeks ago, Schmid met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s staff, who said removing the “1,000 foot rule” was a top priority for the Speaker.
The appropriations bill still has to pass the full Congress, but Schmid said with all the earmarks that Congressmembers have in the bill “it’s very slim” that the bill won’t pass.
In the conference committee Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) tried to keep the ban completely in place, but that amendment was voted down 15-9 in a party line vote.
Ending the federal syringe exchange ban removes a huge obstacle for evidence-based prevention that saves the lives of people infected with HIV and hepatitis C through injection drug use. Cities with syringe exchange programs, such as New York, have lowered HIV incidence among people who inject drugs by 80 percent. Earlier this year, the syringe exchange funding ban was also eliminated from the spending bill governing Washington, D.C.
Localities will still be able to determine where syringe exchanges can take place. The 2010 appropriations bill’s language reads, “None of the funds contained in this Act may be used to distribute any needle or syringe for the purpose of preventing the spread of blood borne pathogens in any location that has been determined by the local public health or local law enforcement authorities to be inappropriate for such distribution.”
Moving forward, advocates will be working with the CDC, which has begun strategizing about how to allocate resources should the ban be lifted.
President Barack Obama is expected to sign the bill into law, although he still hasn’t spoken out against the ban on syringe exchange funding as president. Activists in July protested Obama’s lack of action around syringe exchange. (See video below):
“While we remain disappointed that President Obama did not take a public stand on the matter, we expect and trust that his budget proposal will include substantial federal funding of needle exchange programs and are grateful for the leadership of the conference committee in taking this critical step toward AIDS prevention that follows science and not ideology,” said Housing Works President and CEO Charles King.
In other good news out of the appropriations bill…
Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA) received a $25 million increase, bumping it up to $335 million, its highest on record—although still far short of the demonstrated needs of homeless people with HIV/AIDS in this country. Abstinence-only sex education funding was also completely eliminated.
The bill is now expected to be on the House floor no later than December 10. After that, the legislation will be sent to the Senate for action, which must be done before midnight by December 18.
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