Editorial Addresses Needle Exchange Limitations In House Legislation Amendment

"An amendment attached to House legislation would continue the ban [on funding needle exchanges] by barring federally financed needle exchange programs from operating within 1,000 feet of where children gather – schools, parks, swimming pools and the like," a Hartford Courant editorial states. The editorial adds, "In the dense urban environment where such programs are most needed, it would be virtually impossible for them to operate." The same restrictions were placed on locally-financed programs in Washington, D.C., the editorial states, concluding, "These cruel amendments should be removed before the appropriations bill is sent to the president's desk. Saving lives and slowing the spread of deadly infections should be the goal" (8/17).