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A disposal container is filled with hypodermic
needles that were exchanged at a clinic in
Portland, Maine
After Democrats took control of the
House and Senate in 2006 and
President Obama won election in 2008,
activists and Democrats moved swiftly
to repeal the ban, and in 2009 it was
ended.
Almost as soon as federal funds began
being used for exchange programs,
however, it was ended. After retaking
the House in 2010, Republicans made
re-enforcing the ban part of their year
one priorities, and the ban was once
again put in place.
But by this summer, the political winds
had once again shifted. Collins said the
Indiana HIV/AIDS outbreak and the
Kentucky’s exchange program – as
well as the heroin epidemic that has
swept through much of the Midwest
over the last few years – helped thaw
GOP opposition to the programs.
Indeed, while Rogers and McConnell
had long been strident opponents to
funding exchange programs, Collins
said, ‘Mr Rogers and his staff decided
they weren’t ready to fully lift the ban,
but they were willing to do a partial
lift.’
McConnell, meanwhile, committed to
ensuring the language was in the
Senate’s appropriations bill. Combined,
the two Bluegrass lawmakers were able
to ensure the repeal made it through
December’s difficult omnibus process.
On December 21, the Centers for
Disease Control quietly announced that
federal funds could begin flowing to
exchange programs.
In a statement on the CDC website that
went unnoticed by most health officials
until this week, National Center for
HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and
TB Prevention Director Dr Jonathan
Mermin said: ‘Congress has given
states and local communities, under
limited circumstances, the opportunity
to use federal funds to support certain
components of syringe services
programs.
‘These programs provide sterile
injection equipment and may also link
individuals to services including HIV
and Hepatitis C testing and care for
those infected, substance abuse
treatment, and overdose prevention.’
For Strathdee – who’s research was
used to implement a ban she opposed –
the repeal is something of a personal
victory.
‘I’ve spent the last couple of decades
trying to undo this … when your
research is deliberately misused, it
really hurts,’ Strathdee said.
John Stanton, BuzzFeed (7/1/16)