Would you rather save lives and save money — or make a political point? Sadly, when the question involves the issue of clean needle programs, the choice to “send a message” always seems to win. The provision of clean needles to drug addicts is one of the most effective known interventions in the entire field of public health. Nonetheless, the budget agreement reached this week in Congress reinstates a federal ban, which had been removed in 2009, on funding for such programs. There’s still hope that the ban could be lifted at the last minute, but the fact that needle exchange, a cheap, effective lifesaver, still remains a political football is profoundly depressing to me. Not only do opponents of needle-exchange programs misunderstand the data on their effectiveness, but they also fail to understand the invaluable message of empowerment and hope that such programs actually send. You see, in 1986, learning to use clean needles saved my life. At the time, I was an intravenous drug user, shooting cocaine and heroin up to 40 times a day. New York City had yet to open a syringe-exchange program. I hadn’t even heard of AIDS. MORE: Could Medical Marijuana Reduce Patients’ Need for Opioid Painkillers? If a San Francisco outreach worker on vacation in New York hadn’t taught me how to protect myself, I probably wouldn’t be here to write this story. The man she was staying with in the city — with whom I frequently took drugs — was HIV-positive. Indeed, 50% of IV drug users in New York City in the 1980s had HIV. That percentage has dropped to 16% today, falling steeply after the introduction of needle exchange programs. Today, infection is far more common among those without access to needle exchange or legal access to clean syringes. When educated and empowered, people like me will protect themselves and others: that’s one thing needle exchange teaches.  I’ve now been in recovery for 23 years. But back when I was still using, half of all new HIV diagnoses in New York … Continue reading Clean Needles Saved My Life. Now Congress Wants to Ban Funding for Needle Exchange