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US Surgeon General Gives Okay for Needle Exchange Funding

Submitted by Phillip Smith on (Issue #672)
Politics & Advocacy

Needle exchanges save lives -- ask the Surgeon General (Image via Wikimedia)
In a notice dated last Friday, but posted in the Federal Register Wednesday, US Surgeon General Regina Benjamin has determined that needle exchange programs constitute a form of drug treatment, which means that NEPS can qualify for funding under the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment block grant programs.

"[NEPs] are widely considered to be an effective way of reducing HIV transmission among individuals who inject illicit drugs and there is ample evidence that [NEPs] also promote entry and retention into treatment," Benjamin said in making the determination. "The Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service has therefore determined that a demonstration syringe services program would be effective in reducing drug abuse and the risk that the public will become infected with the etiologic agent for AIDS."

The use of federal dollars to fund NEPS had been banned for 21 years until 2009, when a Democrat-controlled Congress undid it and President Obama signed the lifting of the ban into law. But moves are afoot in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives to put it back in place. The Surgeon General's notice will weaken that effort.

Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.

Comments

TJ (not verified)

So i guess the republicans are for spreading aids and hep c. they also support added health care cost for people who get infected with aids and other illnesses. Even thought this program has been proven that it will pay for itself many times over again i just don't get republicans at all except for like Ron Paul and Gary Johnson but that just on very limited terms also. This is for sure a step in the right direction at preventing use and the spread of aids.

Thu, 02/24/2011 - 7:01pm Permalink
Anna (not verified)

This program is the epitome of "leading the people down the wrong path; a self destructive path; urged on and spawned by the very Gov. who arrests Citizens for using medicinal marijunana; shame on those lawmakers...a

Fri, 02/25/2011 - 6:25am Permalink

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