Groups Urge White House Action on Syringe Exchange
November 20, 2009
Melody Barnes, Esq.
Director
Domestic Policy Council
Executive Office of the President
Tina Tchen
Director
Office of Public Engagement
Executive Office of the President
Brian K. Bond
Deputy Director
Office of Public Engagement
Executive Office of the President
Dear Ms. Barnes, Ms. Tchen, and Mr. Bond:
As participants of the February 18th meeting on federal HIV/AIDS policy, we are deeply appreciative of your early outreach to us as partners in the fight against HIV/AIDS. We thank you for inviting us to maintain open communication on issues of national import. In that spirit, we are bringing to your attention today just such an issue.
Without immediate White House action, congressional negotiations between the House and Senate may fail to adopt the Obama Administration’s position to allow federal funding for proven-effective syringe-exchange services in order to curb HIV and viral hepatitis infections. Moreover, the District of Columbia, where HIV prevalence rates rival those in Sub-Saharan Africa, could face a significant set-back in its efforts to control HIV/AIDS in our nation’s capital. Just last year, Washington, DC secured the legal authority in legislation signed by President George W. Bush to dedicate municipal taxpayer dollars for syringe-exchange services as part of a comprehensive response to the epidemic. It would be a travesty, and an embarrassment for President Obama, if the District of Columbia were to again be restricted by law from responding to the health needs of its residents.
Syringe exchange programs are one of the most efficient and cost-effective strategies available to reduce blood-borne viruses, including HIV and viral hepatitis. A myriad of federally funded studies have demonstrated that syringe exchange programs (SEPs) reduce HIV and viral hepatitis without increasing drug use or crime. SEPs provide essential services to high-risk individuals and their partners including HIV prevention education, HIV counseling and testing, linkages to substance use treatment, and referrals to social services such as housing and food assistance. However, SEPs are limited in their reach due to a severe lack of funding.
As you know, during the presidential campaign, then-candidate Obama stated without equivocation his opposition to the federal funding ban on syringe exchange. He campaigned as a champion of sound, evidence-based strategies to address the U.S. HIV epidemic. This year, the President reaffirmed his support for lifting the ban through the National HIV/AIDS Strategy. Though we support the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, the removal of the 20-year ban on syringe exchange cannot wait for its execution. We urge the President to call on Congress immediately to move forward and eliminate this policy that has no scientific basis and the continuation of which only fuels the HIV and hepatitis epidemics. Decisive action by the President to curb rates of HIV/AIDS in the U.S. is perhaps the most strategic way to jump start the development of a National HIV/AIDS Strategy and signal his commitment to a unified, results-oriented approach to moving our nation closer to ending the epidemic.
This summer, Appropriations Chairman David Obey led efforts in the U.S. House of Representatives to remove the ban as part of the FY2010 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill. Unfortunately, the House also added restrictions against federal funding for syringe-exchange services located within 1,000 feet of a school, park, pool, or other public setting. A separate provision in the House Financial Services Appropriations bill would apply the 1,000-foot restriction to programs receiving municipal or federal funds in the District of Columbia. The practical impact of these draconian amendments would be to stop life-saving HIV prevention services in the very communities that need them the most.
The Senate did not end the federal funding ban on syringe-exchange services. Public health advocates now anxiously await action on these issues by a House and Senate conference committee. We urge conferees to adopt the House provision eliminating the syringe-exchange funding ban without restrictions (such as the “1000-foot rule”) on the decision-making authority of local and state jurisdictions.
The House and Senate may finalize the remaining appropriations bills in the coming weeks. We cannot afford to miss this opportunity. The lives of vulnerable Americans depend on urgent action by the White House and Congress. We therefore urge the President to follow through now on his promise to remove the ban on federal funding for syringe exchange programs.
Please contact Senators Harkin, Reid, Inouye, and Durbin and Representatives Pelosi, Obey, and Serrano to convey in no uncertain terms the Administration’s full support for ending the ban on syringe exchange programs and enabling local jurisdictions to determine how to best address their local epidemics.
The U.S. Congress and President Obama have a distinct opportunity to protect the progress that was made two years ago by removing the DC ban and to propel this country forward in the fight against HIV/AIDS. We urge him to side with science and the health of the public by ensuring that the ban and any subsequent restrictions on this highly effective disease-prevention intervention are eliminated.
We appreciate your attention to this issue and look forward to your response. Please contact David Ernesto Munar at 312-334-0933 or dmunar@aidschicago.org for additional information.
Katie Caldwell
President/CEO
Legacy Community Health Services in Houston
Mark Cloutier
CEO, San Francisco AIDS Foundation
President, Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation
Kandy Ferree
President/CEO
National AIDS Fund
Rebecca Haag
CEO/President
AIDS Action Committee of MA
Marjorie Hill, PhD
President/CEO
Gay Men’s Health Crisis
David Holtgrave, PhD
Baltimore, MD
Mark Ishaug
President/CEO
AIDS Foundation of Chicago
Paul Kawata
Executive Director
National Minority AIDS Council
Dr. Celia Maxwell
Howard University Hospital
David Ernesto Munar
Vice President
AIDS Foundation of Chicago
Craig E. Thompson
Executive Director
AIDS Project Los Angeles
Phill Wilson
Executive Director
Black AIDS Institute
Cc: Jeff Crowley, Director, Office of National AIDS Policy
Helene Gayle, Chair, President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS
