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Dozens of AIDS and harm reduction activists were arrested after holding sit-in protests in four U.S. Senators’ offices. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), and Representatives Denny Rehberg (R-MT), Mike Rogers (R-MI) and Eric Cantor (R-VA) were targeted for their role in reinstating the ban on federal funding for syringe exchange programs last December. Activists entered the offices chanting and carrying signs that read “Syringe Exchange: A Fix for AIDS” before they were arrested.
This demonstration was just one of many that took place around the country on March 21 as a way to pressure Congress to remove the ban on federal funding for syringe exchange once and for all.
“Our government should be embarrassed as this year’s host of the International AIDS Conference to have snuck this into an unrelated bill under the cloak of night last December,” said Charles King, CEO of Housing Works, Inc. “The U.S. cannot be any shining example to the rest of the world on how to end the AIDS epidemic when we’re still fighting foolish policies that reject what we know works.”
Congress reinstated the ban as part of a spending bill it passed to fund the federal government through fiscal year 2012, which ends September 30, 2012. The ban on federal funding for syringe exchange was originally adopted in 1989 but had been lifted in 2009. Without any discussion or debate, the language was slipped into the spending bill by GOP Senators, and was not objected to.
An overwhelming consensus of research proves that providing clean syringes to injection drug users is a highly effective way to prevent the spread of HIV and hepatitis C, and is credited with reducing the rate of new HIV infections among injection drug users (IDUs) by 80%. Additional research shows that syringe exchange programs neither increase the number of injection drug users nor the long-term health care costs for the medical needs of people with HIV and/or hepatitis C.
The latest study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that while overall new HIV infections through intravenous drug use have fallen by half over the last decade, one-third of IDUs say they share needles. Ramping up funding for syringe exchange programs makes more sense now than ever.
Many of the groups participating in the action are organizing under the banner of the We Can End AIDS Coalition, which is planning a massive mobilization in D.C. on July 24th.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
