http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113687056The van travels the same route every afternoon. It's important to keep a regular schedule, so that clients know where and when to show up. PreventionWorks executive director, Dr. Philip Terry, says it's an effective way to bring health care to people who wouldn't get it otherwise.
"We take clean syringes, we take access to health care, we take access to treatment, access to detox, we take it to the people where they are, where it's needed most," he says.
But these programs could effectively be shut down by two pieces of legislation currently before Congress. And here's where things get a little complicated.
Congress actually banned the use of any federal funding for needle exchanges back in 1988. President Obama hasn't yet acted on a campaign promise to lift the ban. So the House and Senate both passed bills this year that would end it — and then they tacked on restrictions forbidding federal funding of needle exchanges within a thousand feet of schools, parks, recreation centers and anywhere else children are likely to gather.
The situation is even more complex in Washington. Rep. Jack Kingston, a Republican from Georgia, has added an amendment to next year's appropriations bill that would completely ban any needle exchanges within that thousand-foot limit.
...
Mary Beth Levin, PreventionWorks' director of programs and services, says if these bills become law, they'll leave needle exchange programs with nowhere to operate. "We joke that the only two places where we could legally do needle exchange would be in graveyards and the middle of the Potomac," she says. "But actually more accurately, it would be in the middle of some national parks, and on the steps of the Capitol are pretty much the only places where we would not be in conflict with the current law."
I wish I could post the whole article here. For those who don't want to go to the link, the additional salient points:
* Surgeon General's report in 2000 said ""syringe exchange programs ... are an effective public health intervention that reduces the transmission of HIV and does not encourage the use of illegal drugs."
* Kingston claims the following as the rationale for his bill: "There's a mixed signal when we're telling kids stay off drugs, but in some cases 200 feet away, we're allowing people to exchange needles," Kingston says. "And we think, you know, if you got to do it, just keep out of sight of children."
In response to the second point, I can say that as a teenager and young adult, I did experiment with some "recreational" drugs (I don't do that stuff now, although if mj were legal I probably would occasionally indulge ... different topic though); but I stayed away from anything really dangerous or addictive because I saw what those things (like heroin, pcp, meth, etc) did to people and that people lost control of their lives and I wasn't going to let that happen. Well sure everyone is not like me but I can't believe that seeing strung out heroin addicts seeking charity help would
encourage a young person to emulate them. Think of how tv adverts for cigarettes (when those were allowed) and booze and soda and other unhealthy stuff work: they don't show you what people look like after years of using those substances, they create the myth that you can be healthy and vibrant and "cool" if you use their product. Let kids see the real deal and I think that might counter the other messages they're getting that drugs are somehow "cool".
Also, the van needs to be recognizable to addicts but it doesn't have to look like an ice cream truck to school kids, if you know what I mean.
To sum up, I don't necessarily think the needle van should be right outside the door of a school, but the no-go zone should be a lot smaller, because I think Kingston's premise is complete bunk.
What do you all think?
And if you think the proposed restrictions on needle exchange programs are a problem, please contact your congress critters about it.
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