Conservative Lawmakers Lessen Resistance to Needle Exchange Programs

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are easing their resistance to needle exchange programs in the wake of increasing heroin use in many of their home states, according to The New York Times.

The proposed House annual health spending measure would still ban using federal money to purchase sterile needles or syringes. But under the measure, officials would be allowed to use federal grant money to provide support for state and local drug treatment programs that use needle exchanges, the article notes.

For decades, conservative legislators have insisted on banning needle exchanges for people who use illegal drugs intravenously. Recent outbreaks of HIV and hepatitis linked to use of heroin and other intravenous drug use in states including Indiana and Kentucky have led conservative legislators in those states to change their mind about needle exchanges.

Indiana Governor Mike Pence, a Republican, who was a longtime supporter of banning needle exchanges, recently allowed the programs in parts of his state.

The federal ban on needle exchanges was put into place in 1988. It prohibits federal money from being used to distribute sterile syringes to people who use intravenous drugs. Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization have recommended needle exchange programs.

The proposed House bill would allow federal money to go toward the support of needle exchange programs if the state or local community “is experiencing, or is at risk for, a significant increase in hepatitis infections or an HIV outbreak due to injection drug use, and such program is operating in accordance with state and local law.”

“I would count this cautiously as a win,” said Daniel Raymond, Policy Director for the Harm Reduction Coalition, an advocacy group focused on health issues related to drug use. “I think that Congress is listening, including members from red states and purple states.”