The Presidential Advisory Commission on HIV/AIDS was all set to vote (4/9) on a resolution which would have demanded that the President direct Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala either make a determination regarding the ban on federal funding for syringe exchange, or resign. That vote, however, has been put on hold in the wake of information that a decision is forthcoming.
Sources familiar with the situation told the Week Online that President Clinton's Chief of Staff, Erskine Bowles, called commission chairman Dr. Scott Hitt on the eve of the vote to tell him that Secretary Shalala is "supportive of the issue" of exchange, and that HHS' internal review would be complete and a decision announced within two weeks. While the White House has not guaranteed what the decision would be, the Commission has decided to table any action on the resolution pending prompt action by Shalala.
The Department of Health and Human Services did not return calls for comment.
In a letter that was leaked to Congress and the New York Times last week in which Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey indicated his opposition to lifting the ban, McCaffrey pointed to two Canadian studies as evidence that syringe exchange does not necessarily prevent, and may actually increase HIV transmission. Syringe exchange opponents in Congress also pointed to the studies as evidence mitigating against lifting the ban. On Thursday, April 9, however, Drs. Julie Bruneau and Martin T. Schechter, the authors of the studies, published an op-ed in the Times claiming that the officials had misinterpreted the research and that factors such as the population sample, the type of drugs injected (cocaine, which is generally injected far more frequently by users than heroin) and the under-provision of exchange services were responsible for the high transmission rates that the studies reported.
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| Issue #37, 4/10/98 DRCNet Exclusive: Syringe Exchange Funding Ban Decision to be Released Within Two Weeks | Oakland Asset Forfeiture Law Challenged -- and, Federal Forfeiture Update | Senate Would Extend Marijuana Prohibition to Include Medical Research | Felony Charges for Woman Cultivating Marijuana for Ukiah Cannabis Buyers' Club | "It's the Pain, Stupid:" Kevorkian, Pain, and the DEA | Vaclav Havel Vetoes Bill Criminalizing Drug Possession | Update on Drug and Harm Reduction Policies in Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States | German Doctors Vote in Favor of Heroin Prescription | Drug Policy Letter Focuses on Women and Drugs | Medical and Public Health Organizations Oppose Criminalization of Pregnant Addicts | Editorial: Vaclav Havel's Second Prague Spring |
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StoptheDrugWar.org: the Drug Reform Coordination Network (DRCNet)
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