Pubdate: Fri, 12 Jul 2002 Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) Copyright: 2002 St. Louis Post-Dispatch Contact: http://home.post-dispatch.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/418 Author: Lawrence K. Altman, of the New York Times Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange) CLINTON SAYS HE REGRETS NOT BEING MORE AGGRESSIVE IN FIGHTING AIDS BARCELONA, Spain - Former President Bill Clinton said at an international AIDS conference Thursday night that he regretted not having done more about AIDS while he was in office. Clinton said he had erred in failing to support funding for needle exchange programs to prevent the spread of the virus among injecting drug users. In an interview after a session of the 14th International AIDS Conference in Barcelona, Clinton also urged leaders in hard-hit Africa, the Caribbean and Asia to speak out forcefully and develop plans to stop the spread of the disease. He said that although many political leaders had been afraid to take a strong stand on AIDS, "not a single one of them will be defeated for doing the right thing." Clinton said that since leaving office, he had kept quiet on AIDS for personal and policy reasons. But now, he said, he has decided the time is right to speak out. "I had young friends who died in their 20s," Clinton said. "I don't want kids to die." He called AIDS an economic, security and humanitarian issue for which the United States should pay its fair share. He added, "That requires us to go from $800 million a year now to $2.5 billion, which is a couple of months of the Afghan war." He applauded Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., for ending his opposition to AIDS expenditures and urging the United States to invest $500 million a year in battling the disease. Clinton said, "If people are given the facts, they will do the right thing, because they do not want to see their children die." The former president stressed the need for each country to develop "a plan that says, 'Here is what we are doing, and here is what we need from the rest of the world.'" Further spread of the disease, he said, could lead to more ethnic clashes and destabilize democracies in Africa. He foresaw a similar possibility in parts of the former Soviet Union. There, he said, a worsening AIDS epidemic could lead countries to "become even more dominated by narco-traffickers and organized criminals." Asked about what he had done to fight AIDS as president, Clinton said, "Do I wish I could have done more? Yes - but I do not know that I could have done it." In particular, he cited his stance on needle exchange programs. In 1998, his administration decided against lifting a long-standing ban on federal financing for programs to distribute clean needles to drug addicts. "I think I was wrong about that," Clinton said. "I should have tried harder to do that." At the time, Clinton's advisers said they feared a political disaster for him if he lifted the ban. They also feared that Republicans might push through legislation stripping federal money from groups that provided free needles. On Thursday, Clinton said he had ultimately been swayed against the needle program by Gen. Barry McCaffrey, who served as director of national drug policy in his administration. He added, "There have been several studies now, all of which indicate that a needle exchange program does not increase drug use." Clinton also took the occasion to applaud the 12 Caribbean countries for signing an initiative to buy AIDS drugs at a lower price than they could have individually. If the Caribbean plan succeeds, he said, it should be tried in the former Soviet Union. - --- MAP posted-by: Ariel