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purchases Republicans aren’t
technically running afoul of the largely
unfounded belief that giving needles to
drug users can encourage further use.
Originally implemented in 1988, the
ban on needle exchanges came as much
of the international community – as
well as researchers like Strathdee –
were becoming increasingly convinced
that these sorts of programs could help
reduce the rate of transmission of
infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS and
tuberculosis amongst intravenous drug
users.
The lack of federal funds significantly
retarded the growth of state and local
programs in the 1990s and 2000s, as
state houses and local governments
faced increasingly tighter budgets.
That, according to Strathdee, in turn
hampered efforts to test vulnerable
populations for HIV/AIDS and TB,
since exchange programs often double
as testing centers.
But by 1998, after a decade of growing
scientific research supporting the
programs, the Clinton administration
appeared on the verge of coming out in
support of federally funding needle
exchange programs.
That April, then Department of Health
and Human Services Secretary Donna
Shalala was planning to hold a press
conference announcing the decision to
back lifting the ban.
On April 22, then Rep. Denny Hastert
– who would go on to become Speaker
of the House and, ultimately, plead
guilty to fraud charges related to
allegations he sexually abused
underage boys as a wrestling coach –
took to the House floor to denounce
the upcoming announcement by
Shalala.
‘I think we have a bad message,
certainly a bad message to drug addicts
to all of a sudden say it cannot be too
bad. The federal government is giving
me the paraphernalia to put these drugs
in my veins,’ Hastert said.
‘And certainly the message to parents,’
he added, ‘and I think as a parent
myself, and a teacher, the worst thing
that I would ever want to happen is to
think about my kids using drugs …
Yet, the federal government is actually
saying, oh, by the way, if you need free
needles to use drugs, you cannot use
drugs. That is bad. That is illegal. But
if you want the free needles to use
them, here they are.’
As part of his floor speech, Hastert
entered into congressional testimony a
key paper written by Strathdee on
needle exchanges in Vancouver –
despite the fact that the paper
concluded the programs are viable
programs that should be encouraged.
According to an April 23 Washington
Post report from that year, during a
flight from Chile to the United States
on Air Force One, Drug Czar Barry
McCaffrey pushed Clinton to abandon
a push to repeal the ban, insisting it
would be too politically risky.
Clinton ultimately agreed, and Shalala
ultimately announced that while
scientific evidence showed needle
exchanges did indeed reduce
transmission rates, federal funds would
continue to be withheld.