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Feds remove needle exchange funding ban; when will Texas get its act together?

Earlier this month Congress approved legislation that removed the federal funding ban on needle exchange programs. According to the San Francisco Chronicle (Dec. 18):The federal ban, sponsored by the now-deceased Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., was enacted by Congress in 1988 and has been renewed annually.Supporters of the prohibition said needle exchanges encourage the use of dangerous drugs. Robert Martinez, chief of drug policy under President George H.W. Bush, said government funding for clean needles "undercuts the credibility of society's message that drug use is illegal and morally wrong."In 2000, however, Bush's surgeon general, David Satcher, said scientists had found that needle-exchange programs were effective and did not encourage drug use...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on December 29, 2009 (boomark / email).