Feminists For Choice

And its about damn time. I’ve had enough of this cultural war between science and ideology, where the conservative right use and abuse ‘War on Drugs’ rhetoric to prevent addressing the global HIV/AIDS crisis. Fortunately enough, last Friday, House Appropriations Committee Chair David Obey (D-WI), took the courageous step toward eliminating the 20-year ban on federal funding of needle exchange. This ban has been nothing short of an unecessary impediment in solving the global crisis of HIV/AIDS. And studies actually show that these programs are extremely effective in reducing HIV transmission, providing an entry point for drug treatment and other support services, and in fact does not increase local crime rate or drug use (despite the Republican scare tactics.)

And these studies are certainly not in a vacuum. The World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations coordinating authority on international public health, have also concluded similar findings.

The opposition to these programs are typical conservatives who attach themselves to age old arguments about potential drug use, regardless of the actual facts. Of course, any time something remotely related to drug use gets proposed, Republicans instinctively stand in opposition. God forbid they actually evaluate the factual evidence proving the success rate of these programs. I think we can all come to an understanding of why it’s extremely problematic to use ‘War on Drugs’ rhetoric in this debate, but I think there is something more to it then that.

Talking about AIDS/HIV in this country is extremely taboo. I’ve noticed this in my every day life when trying to start a productive dialogue with family and friends about how to tackle these pressing issues. People seriously don’t want to talk about it. Which is disheartening, to say the least. I mean, we are dealing with a global crisis that literally affects millions of people around the world. This has to be something we talk about, and discuss comprehensively. We can’t just keep supporting one and done solutions; we need to push forward support for programs that seek to decrease the spread of HIV/AIDS on top of providing health care services to people already living with HIV/AIDS.

Incase you don’t want to take my word that these programs are actually effective, here is what Gil Kerlikowske, former Seattle Police Chief and the new Director of the White House Office of Drug Control Policy, had to say in April of 2009, “Needle exchange programs have been proven to reduce the transmission of blood borne diseases. A number of studies conducted in the U.S. have shown needle exchange programs do not increase drug use. Research has shown these programs, when implemented in the context of a comprehensive program that offers other services such as referral to counseling, healthcare, drug treatment, HIV/AIDS Prevention, counseling and testing, are effective at connecting addicted users to drug treatment.”

I’m pretty optimistic this initiative will pass, considering the fact that congressional democrats, President Obama, and most health experts, universally agree that NEP’s reduce transmission of HIV/AIDS. With that being said, Republicans will most certainly push through compromises that would seek to limit these programs effectiveness. I hope that congressional democrats can stand strong in ensuring that these programs are well funded and accessible despite the destructive ideological agenda of most Republicans. Additionally, in response to conservative accusations that these programs are not cost-effective, I simply laugh. I mean lets be real for a second. The cost of preventing HIV transmission is alot less expensive than paying for the healthcare expenses of countless Americans that would otherwise become infected with HIV, Hepatitis and numerous other bloodborne pathogens.

We seriously can no longer afford to waste time on this issue. For every two individuals treated for HIV, five more become infected. Federally funded needle exchange programs can significantly curb HIV transmission in the drug using community, and because of efforts by Chairman Obey, we may be seeing this ban lifted not too far from now.

Once again, this isn’t something we can passively await congress to accomplish. Call members of the Appropriations Committee at 202.224.3121 today. Urge committee members to support Chairman Obey’s efforts and ask that they vote against any Republican driven amendments that would seek to decrease this programs effectiveness.