Silla Brush, The Hill, November 4, 2009
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) is blaming Republican lawmakers for the District of Columbia’s high HIV/AIDS rate.
In a letter posted on her website, Norton lashed out at Republican efforts in recent years to attach riders to annual congressional spending bills that limited the District from using locally raised revenues to support needle exchange programs.
She said this explains “in large part” why the District has a higher HIV/AIDS rate than do similar cities.
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The letter came in response to efforts by Republicans to seek a congressional probe into the high rate of HIV/AIDS in the District and the use of federal funds. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is scheduled on Friday for a staff briefing with D.C. city officials on the management of federal AIDS funding.
At least 3 percent of the District’s population has HIV or AIDS, a rate far above the national average of 1 percent, according to a 2008 report by D.C.’s HIV/AIDS Office reported by The Washington Post.
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“When the Democrats assumed the majority in the 110th Congress, we removed the needle exchange ban and the District initiated a state-of-the-art exchange health program, but Republicans are again trying to attach a rider that would effectively end the program,” Norton wrote.
{snip}
[Editor’s Note: Delegate Norton’s letter can be read on-line at her webiste here,
Original article
(Posted on November 5, 2009)
Comments
People who shoot drugs are anything but health conscious so why the fuss? Trying to protect people from their own behavior is a rather foolish undertaking and attempting to blame others for the outcome of the foolish behavior is even more absurd. We have known for decades that the easiest way to get AIDS is to share needles.
[Editor’s Note: Delegate Norton’s letter can be read on-line at her webiste here, where she calls herself a “congresswoman.”]
As I recall, DC’s status as a “district” is Constitutionally mandated and not contingent on EHN’s acceptance or anybody else’s.
While I’ve heard claims that needle programs are supposed to lower rates of transmissions, I’ve never seen anyone present definitive proof this is true.
My guess is that these exchanges would more than likely end up being a new cash source for those who prey on addicts.
Let them have their clean needles. They won’t stay that way long.
Eleanor Holmes Norton is a fool, but then again, a substantial portion of her constituency are too. Personal responsibility is an anathema to her.
Needle exchange programs are only implemented where there are some restrictions on obtaining needles. I called a drug store in D.C. and was told they they do not require a prescription, but they do require the buyer be over 18 and show ID. If a person buys too many, too often, it would be at the discretion of the pharmacist to sell more to him or her. (I guess the pharmacist could be accused of profiling then.)
These laws are foolish and lead to the situation where a person may not be able to have a clean needle. The price for 10 at the CVS I called was $2.33. This is certainly not a price that makes them prohibitive. Users buy their own lighters and pipes to smoke their crack, and junkies will buy their needles given the opportunity. We don’t need another government program, we need less government involvement.
It would make most sense to repeal all drug laws. Let people make an individual decision. Don’t force people to take vaccines, or try to prohibit them from using some recreational drug.
It’s a bit disingenuous because those on the far right would have likely quarantined those with AIDS, and, right or wrong (comparative cost analysis?), there would likely be a hundred-times fewer victims - possibly with the disease being completely under control. If the media were truly fair and balanced, it’s quite likely quarantine would have been the choice of the public. Even Fidel Castro in Cuba implemented such a policy.
Is that a government sponsored site? If so, it may be illegal for her to misrepresent herself as a Congresswoman.
Why cant these dumb drug addicts figure this out?tTo prevent the transmission of diseases through needles,one has to do just one if two things:have a syringe and needle for yourself only,just likre yoy do with your toothbrush, or bleach out the syringe before using it after someone has used it
Surely addicts should be demanding clean needles from their drug dealers at ‘point of sale’ rather than from another facility probably some distance away. Either that or just buy ‘pre-loaded’ needles as the cost of only 23 cents could be absorbed as a ‘lost-leader’ by the dealer. This needle exchange programme seems a bit like buying a pack of disposable polystyrene cups in return for a similar number of used cups then taking them, one at a time, to a coffee shop to have them filled when the need arises. Why anyone willing to pump an unknown, unhealthy, unnecessary and contaminated mixture into their body would be concerned about using a clean needle is a real puzzle to me. Apparently it stops addicts from catching AIDS but there is no law against addicts engaging in unusual sexual practices (which also carry an AIDS risk) to earn money to buy illegal drugs. I have not heard of anyone blowing snot from their nose into a tissue then offering it to someone else for re-use.. what’s the difference??
If Norton is so concerned about the spread of AIDS, why does’nt she criticize Obama for recently lifting the 22 year old ban that prevented people with HIV from coming to the United States.
Why waste taxpayer money to encourage drug use? Let Ms. Norton subsidize a needle exchange program out of her own pocket since she cares so much. I’m not unsympathetic to the plight addicts suffer but I’ve found out that they either don’t want help in kicking their addiction or they’re too far gone to even care. Sometimes the best thing to do is let nature take it’s course.
Soon the Republicans will also be blamed for the high rates of AIDS in Haiti and Africa.
After all, nonwhites are NEVER to be held responsible for their own actions.
No surprises here. Of course whites have to be responsible for every black malady. This has long since become cliché. Would it be worth requesting blacks to be more careful and health conscious in regards to sex? Not unless you want to be “racist of the week”.
How about all those black males engaging in the “down low” lifestyle. That has to be a big contributor to the Aids epidemic in the black community. Are Republicans to be blamed for that as well?
The DC government is notoriously corrupt; 3rd world level. The Wash Post or some other local paper did stories a month or so ago about how lots of DC monies for AIDS relief never got to people with the disease.
Ms. Norton should read the news more.
Oh, please. Six months from now it’ll be revealed that blacks just share use needles they find on the ground or use them for weeks before throwing them out. No one in the media will report it for fear of being racist…
Switzerland had a hugely successful needle-exchange program in addition to decriminalization of heroin and treatment instead of punishment for heroin addicts. Of course Swiss heroin addicts are… Swiss, and much much fewer in number than ours.
I remember when they shut down the gay bathhouses in my city. They just didn’t, and said they did. Maybe a few of the less profitable ones closed, but the one nearest my neighborhood, on a main street with a big sign, Roman Holiday for Men, kept its doors open, plain as day. It was still there five years ago.
