Proposed House Amendment Would Impact Needle Exchange Programs in Washington, D.C.

A proposed amendment to Washington, D.C.'s federal appropriation for 2010 "would prohibit the city from using federal funds to distribute needles for the 'injection of illegal drugs ... within 1,000 feet of a public or private day care center, elementary school, vocational school, secondary school, college, junior college, university, public swimming pool, park, playground, video arcade or youth center,'" the Washington Post reports. Local HIV/AIDS advocates "are concerned that [the] proposed amendment ... would drastically reduce public funding for needle exchange programs and take away a weapon in the fight against HIV and AIDS," according to the Post. A companion bill in the Senate does not contain language prohibiting the use of federal dollars for needle exchange programs. "Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) urged her colleagues to fight the amendment which is before the full House this afternoon," the article states. The district has provided $700,000 in the past year to four non-profit organizations for needle exchange programs (Fears, 7/16).

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