Former U.S. President Clinton Says He Was Wrong On Needle-Exchange Funding Ban

Former President Clinton acknowledged, "I was wrong" about one of the most controversial AIDS decisions of his presidency: his refusal to lift the ban on federal funding of needle exchange programs. A government panel advised him at the time that the practice, used to slow the spread of HIV among injection drug users, was effective and did not promote drug abuse. But Clinton sided with his drug czar, Gen. Barry McCaffrey, who opposed it because of "the message it would send on the drug front," Clinton said Thursday.

Clinton met with young people in an MTV town hall-style meeting at the 14th International AIDS Conference in Barcelona. Clinton repeatedly stressed in an interview that letting AIDS continue to devastate poor countries could fuel "narcocrime and terrorism." He also praised Caribbean nations that together negotiated 70 percent to 90 percent discounts on AIDS drugs made by six major pharmaceutical companies. He said those nations should pony up what they can and that the United States and Canada should pay for the rest.

Clinton also said he believes the United States should devote $2.5 billion a year in foreign HIV assistance, up from about $1 billion currently, "and if we don't do it, we will be spending far, far more than that to clean up the mess," he said. Clinton plans to continue to visit hard-hit countries to encourage politicians to tackle the tough issues like condom use and to help them develop national AIDS plans.

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