These Findings Are Well Known

These findings are well known and have been accepted by key U.S. government officials charged with oversight of the nation’s health.

Dr. C. Everett Koop, who played a central role in rallying evangelical Christians to oppose abortion before Ronald Reagan appointed him Surgeon General, applied his pro-life convictions to this issue as well. "When we are dealing with something as devastating as the AIDS epidemic," he declared, "it doesn't matter what we do to reach people that have to be reached, we have to do it. … [I]f clean needles will do anything to contain a part of the epidemic, we should not have any foolish inhibitions about doing so.

Dr. Harold Varmus, Director of the National Institutes of Health, declared in 1998 that, "An exhaustive review of the science in this area indicates that needle exchange programs can be an effective component in the global effort to end the epidemic of HIV disease….Recent findings have strengthened the scientific evidence that needle exchange programs do not encourage the use of illegal drugs."
        
Donna Shalala, Secretary of Health and Human Services during the Clinton Administration, sounded a similar note: "A meticulous scientific review has now proven that needle exchange programs can reduce the transmission of HIV and save lives without losing ground in the battle against illegal drugs. It offers communities that decide to pursue needle exchange programs yet another weapon in their fight against AIDS.”
        
And in 2000, Dr. David Satcher, Surgeon General of the United States, wrote that, “[W]ell designed and implemented syringe exchange programs have demonstrated efficacy in engaging populations at severe risk for HIV and reducing the further spread of HIV among injection drug users, their sexual partners and children .…After reviewing the research to date, the senior scientists of the department and I have unanimously agreed that there is conclusive scientific evidence that syringe exchange programs, as part of a comprehensive strategy, are an effective public health intervention that reduces the transmission of HIV and does not encourage the use of illegal drugs.”  
    
Given this near unanimity among relevant professionals, it is peculiar that policy makers from the White House to City Hall have shown such resistance to the notion of providing injecting drug users with easier access to clean needles, for their own sake and that of the larger society.