cannabisnews.com: Tiahrt Angers AIDS Activists! 





Tiahrt Angers AIDS Activists! 
Posted by FoM on August 01, 1999 at 06:47:02 PT
Spending bill contains ban on needle exchange
Source: Wichita Online
WASHINGTON -- Republican Rep. Todd Tiahrt of Kansas has again provoked the ire of home-rule advocates and AIDS activists in the nation's capital by successfully leading a fight to ban federal support of needle-exchange programs to help drug addicts.
The debate came during consideration this week of a $4.7 billion spending bill for the District of Columbia, which the House passed but which President Clinton has threatened to veto if the final version includes the ban on needle exchanges.Tiahrt and other conservative Republicans, however, have tried to put the brakes on several city programs that highlight the political divisions on social policy."By handing out needles we encourage drug use," Tiahrt said. "It does not help the children of Washington, D.C., to take taxpayer money to fund these programs." Under the program, now operating in more than 110 cities, intravenous drug users can get clean needles in exchange for old ones. Supporters argue that it takes contaminated needles off the streets, which helps to reduce the transmission of AIDS and other diseases.Its backers include D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey and former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop. Noting that he has worked on the AIDS epidemic since it became a public health problem, Koop told the Republican House leadership in a letter this week that needle-exchange programs "can be an effective means of preventing the spread of the disease without increasing the use of illicit drugs." AIDS is the leading cause of death of Washington residents between ages 30 and 44. The city also has the highest rate of new HIV infections in the nation."It is both arrogant and misguided," Rep. Albert Wynn, a Maryland Democrat, said of Tiahrt's measure. "We would never attempt to impose the will of Congress on the citizens of Kansas." But Tiahrt said Congress "should not use taxpayer dollars to enable heroin addicts to continue their self-destructive behavior." He has cited an Office of National Drug Control Policy report that stated that the public health risks of needle exchanges exceed the benefits and that the "science is uncertain." The issue drew attention because Congress is responsible for the city's annual budget. After it banned the use of city spending on needle exchanges last year, a private, nonprofit group took over the program. Home-rule supporters said the issue was an example of how Congress intrudes on the city's right to govern itself."This shows how democracy really is a life-and-death issue," said Wayne Turner, an AIDS activist. "This is self-determination, and people die when Congress interferes with our own process." The debate over the city budget raised another home-rule issue. The House agreed to allow the city to release the results of a voter initiative last fall on the use of marijuana for medical purposes. The votes remain uncounted -- ) although exit polls show that the measure probably passed -- because Congress last year outlawed the use of federal money on a ballot initiative that would have legalized marijuana.The Washington spending bill passed by the House this week continued the ban on the legalization of medical marijuana. But the final bill has to be worked out in conference with the Senate, whose version includes neither the ban on marijuana nor needle exchanges.Art Spitzer, legal director for the local American Civil Liberties Union office, called it an "outrage" that the medical marijuana vote was held last fall and that the results still weren't known."The district's ability to make its own local policies is still a plaything on Capitol Hill," he said. August 1st, 1999New York Times News Service © The Wichita Eagle SHAME!!! Congress Barrs Democracy - Again! - 7/30/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread2293.shtml
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