Pubdate: Fri, 21 Dec 2007
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Page: A34
Copyright: 2007 The Washington Post Company
Contact:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Cited: Prevention Works! http://www.preventionworksdc.org
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange)

DONE DEAL

The District Can Finally Use Its Own Money for Needle-Exchange Programs.

FOR NEARLY 10 years, Congress prevented the District of Columbia from 
using its own money to fund needle-exchange programs, interventions 
that greatly reduce the risk for intravenous drug users of 
contracting or spreading HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The 
obstruction ended with passage this week of the omnibus budget bill.

The ban had been in place since 1998, when Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) 
attached a rider to the District's budget that prevented the District 
from spending even its own funds to save lives. The provision 
survived every attempt to remove it. But with Democrats now in 
charge, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and Rep. Jose E. Serrano 
(D-N.Y.) succeeded in stripping the language from legislation.

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty promises that he will waste no time in taking 
advantage of the opportunity once President Bush signs the budget 
bill. Prevention Works!, which is the city's sole needle-exchange 
program and has struggled to raise private funds, will get an 
immediate infusion of cash. And a request for proposals will be 
issued to local health-care, substance-abuse and HIV-AIDS agencies to 
create more programs that will reach out to intravenous drug users 
and get them into treatment.

That it took this long is a travesty. HIV-AIDS is ravaging this city. 
A recent HIV-AIDS epidemiology report issued by the District showed 
that intravenous drug use was the third most common mode of 
transmission of the virus. All told, the District has 128.4 AIDS 
cases per 100,000 people, higher than the rates in New York, 
Baltimore, Philadelphia and every other American city. With its new 
authority, the District has another weapon in its uphill battle 
against this disease with no cure. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake