I am tottaly for needle exchange! :D
im so happy obama is for it because this can save so many peoples lives. people typically look down upon drug users and say "well it was their choice to be in the addiction so let them suffer" kinda thing. right ?
well i think its amazing that there are needle exchange programs to give those with addictions hope and that they are infact beeing looked after. YAY OBAMA! :D

While Obama has stated that he supports needle exchange programs - he did not lift the federal ban on funding needle exchange programs - which he said he would do during his campaign and shortly after being elected. Saying you support something and then not supporting it - isn't all that great. Hopefully this will change soon.

yeah really thats a little werid. i expected more from him .

I really truly agree with the fact that, no matter what, that people will always do heroin, or other drugs like it. It's sad, but true. The leaders of our nation (and others) can do all they want to stop drugs from being used, but there will always be a significant percentage of people who do drugs. No matter how much some would like to ignore these statements, how we look at drugs needs to change. For example, a man gets busted for having cocaine; he gets sent to jail. Instead it should go like this; a man gets busted for having cocaine; he gets sent to get help for his addiction.

Also, no matter how frowned upon drug users are, there's no reason for innocent people (non drug users and users alike) to suffer because of a dirty needle.

I support the needle exchange 100%.

Absolutely not.

I can't believe what I'm reading. So because the faux arugments of "it was ever thus" and "the problem is just too big", we should all just lower the bar and give up? Quitters. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Have any of you ever studied for final exams before? Sure, at the outset, it looks like way too much work; but little by little you break it down. Same thing here. If the American forefathers were scared of big problems and hard work, we'd still be flying an English flag over this land.

Some people can be born into drug addiction misscherie. but i can see where your comming from becuase ive defiantly thought of well they got themselves into that mess so they can get themselves out. or its not hard to go get a clean needle. yeah truly.
but also what needle exchange programs do is help people get better by keeping a record of how many times they come in, it keeps them safe. and hoenslty its a lot better for the world becuase there could be a junky on the side of the road shooting up and they dont properly dispose of the needle and it ends up on the ground and some little kid comes up and touches it and pokes themselves. or an animal could. they may get some sort of sick diesase because of that. thats not good for anyone.

so really if you have to, look at it as protecting soceity from these types of people than helping them. youll be protecting yourself by makeing your environment safer by them getting better and moving on with their lives okay ?:) and also its better for them to be in buildings than on streets were young children can be influenced by them.

Why do you think drug addicts who report to needle programs would automatically be forthright about all the drugs they've injected into their system? Do you honestly believe that just b/c one enters into a program like this that they are automatically compelled to tell the truth? Statistics prove otherwise. Addicts lie all the time so they can get their next fix and to try to cover up their habits.

Taking away punishment for an infraction in the law takes away a very effective deterrent for committing a dangerous act. Fear of punishment keeps many people in line. Does it work for everybody? No. But just b/c it doesn't work for a minority doesn't mean we should chuck it altogether. The ultimate festering wound here is that the people who want to do drugs, don't want to get caught. So they spend much time and energy (that they could be using on less nefarious purposes) thinking of ways to eliminate this roadblock on their way to living their lives in semi-permanent stupors. They are too lazy to put in the hard work to overcome their emotional baggage, so they want to lower the bar for everyone.

Environmental aspect. Really? Who are you kidding -- I mean, other than yourself? Again, take care of your emotional baggage the right way. Tell your parents (not a potential boyfriend you're trying to impress with your pharmaceutical resume) and talk to a therapist. Don't continue to self-medicate.

They are people to and going to a clinic like that actualy helps them.
there is an episode on This is 4Real where Eva medez goes to Vancover, Canada and sees the drug users who are there. In vancover there is actualy a needle exchange program which douchebag steven harper wont allow. i thought the same way as you did before i watched 4Real (an mtv show, or search it on google) that people wwho did drugs got themselves there and can get themselves out.

and yes they are beeing hazordus to the envorinment around them. have you have thought what it does to nature , all those non properly discarded needles ? i never knew you were that heartless.

and those people cant even afford theraphy let alone food, well yes if they didnt spend so much on drugs then maybe they could but that is their sickness, the drug. and without it there dead inside.

like thats great that you have your own oppinon and all but hoenslty needle exchange programs can help so many people. and it doesnt nessisarily mean its helping the people who are going there, it may mean even their families.

For some reason you've gotten the impression that I operate in some kind of a bubble where I have no experience with drug addicts. I work in the legal system and come into regular contact with addicts. And from my experience, I can tell you that the disciplinary aspect of the law is a necessity. It's pure naivety to assume that just because of a brief glimpse into the lives of a few addicts on a TV show that this needle program would have the potential for success. Mind altering drugs do bad things to the human body and will make an individual do horrible things. Doesn't matter if they get clean needles or not. The substance within the needles still has the potential to kill the user or worse.

Heartless, huh? This coming from a naive teenage user. Have you ever seen what drugs used in "safe" contexts do to people? I've seen the gamut. Situations and excuses galore. I've seen the results of parents hosting alcohol/drug parties for their kids. I've seen the results of regular addicts being absolutely sure their needles were "safe". I've seen the results of young kids getting into their parents' stash. I guarantee you, none of it is pretty. Don't tell me I'm heartless. You're advocating for a system that will excuse individuals slowing injecting poison into their bodies in an effort to passively kill themselves. You're advocating for the second-hand abuse of the children and babies that goes hand-in-hand with the "safe" use of drugs. Why? Because while individuals are in their stupor, who's taking care of their kids? Sure, you can say, what if the addicts leave their kids with grandma for the weekend while they get high? That's not the common/regular scenario. Imagine the videos on the net and on TV where adults and teens are blowing marijuana smoke in little kids' faces. That's the ordinary for addicts.

True enough. so pretty much the system that drug users are under isnt working. we need to change things. so maybe needle exchange programs will help in some way. or maybe even go as far as changing this world as instead of spreading hate all the time is to spread love. we need to show these people love even though they may deny it at first. i know many people who have been adicts, i know many people who abuse drugs, and i know unfortunatly people who have died because of it.
it effects everyone in some way and maybe needle exchange programs will help victims of these horrible substances.

I understand what you're saying, Saroin420. And at the outset, the "all you need is love" slogan looks pretty good. However, we cannot let our love for humanity cross over into the realm of enabling. That doesn't help anyone. Discipline for bad actions is a form of love, tough love. For instance, I don't enjoy punishing my kids. But if I am to be a good mother, I must give consequences for bad behavior. When one goes to the grocery store and sees a child throwing a temper tantrum, we expect the parent to discipline that behavior. Why? Because no retribution only leads to a spoiled rotten child with entitlement issues, and that will come back to bite them in the butt later in life. A little hurt in the immediate means avoiding big hurt in the long-term.

The system. Who told you the system isn't working? I see the system working every day. I see people go through their rehab and when they are sober and clear headed with the resources to really make something out of their lives, they always say how glad they are that the chains are gone. Who gave them the resources? The system that you say isn't working, but it only gives aide to those who really are making an effort to fix their brokenness. Do you believe the system isn't working because you saw a TV show with images and filtered information from a perspective that was pushing a biased agenda? Look, no one likes to be chastised. It makes us feel bad. But instead of trying to quash those bad feelings by getting rid of the authority that regulates behavior, why not focus on why we commit the bad behavior and fix the underlying problem? People self-medicate for their own individual reasons. And I would venture that if they found out what that reason is and worked hard at eliminating it, they would also eliminate the need to use illicit drugs.

yeah i can defiantly see where your comming from.
but .
i still think that there should be needle exchange because it will prevent diseases, and it will help our environment.

It's pure naivety to assume that just because of a brief glimpse into the lives of a few addicts on a TV show that this needle program would have the potential for success."

I'm not sure what TV shows you base your decisions about substance abuse legislation on - but I base mine on the facts. Clearly you have not looked into the results of needle exchange programs. They do exist in the U.S. and in many other countries and we have a great deal of evidence of their actual success - not just their potential for success.

Needle exchange programs are supported by the Center for Disease Control and the National Institute of Health.[10][11] The National Institute of Health estimates that in the United States, between fifteen and twenty percent of injection drug users have HIV and at least seventy percent have hepatitis C.[12] The presence of needle exchange programs has been attributed to a reduction of high-risk injection behavior by up to 74%.[13]

Also, needle exchange programs has been proven to NOT increase drug use. http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:tVLsOgQZw3wJ:www.aidsaction.org/legislation/pdf/Policy_Facts-Needle_Exchange2.pdf+who+supports+needle+exchange&hl=en&gl=us

Please stop making accusations and focus on some real reasons why you do not support life saving programs like needle exchange.

Needle exchange programs are hardly even controversial anymore. Ask a medical professional if it's easier to treat addiction or AIDS. You'll get you're answer pretty quickly.

Here is a recent Boston Globe op-ed on needle exchange and the lift of the federal ban on funding NEPs.

TWO DECADES of paranoia on needle exchange took a welcome hit last week when a House subcommittee omitted the federal ban on needle exchange.

Since 1988, needle exchange programs have been prohibited from receiving federal funding. However, such programs have long been proven to dramatically reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS by allowing intravenous drug users more access to clean needles. The proof, domestically and globally, has been around for so long that in 1998, Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala and Surgeon General David Satcher said it was time to lift the ban. “One of the worst things that can happen in this country is for us to say, if the science doesn’t agree with our perspective, then we want to suppress the science,’’ Satcher said.

But that’s exactly what President Clinton did back then, a Democrat cowed by Republican moralizing about aiding and abetting drug users despite the science showing otherwise. No push to repeal the ban would come under Republican President Bush, of course.

Then came Obama, who said during the campaign, “We have to look at the drastic measures potentially, like needle exchange, in order to assure that drug users are not transmitting the disease to each other.’’ Obama has surrounded himself with appointees who support needle exchange, such as drug policy director and former Seattle police chief Gil Kerlikowske, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Thomas Frieden.

But as for Obama himself, his FY 2010 budget contained the sentence banning needle exchange: “No funds appropriated in this Act shall be used to carry out any program of distributing sterile needles or syringes for the hypodermic injection of any illegal drug.’’

In milquetoast responses to press inquiries, White House spokesmen said Obama needs time to “build support’’ with Congress and the public to get rid of the ban.

Instead, it is Congress, or rather, courageous members of Congress, who are in the position of building support with Obama. The heavy lifting was left to David Obey, the Democrat from Wisconsin who chairs both the House Appropriations Committee and the Subcommittee on Labor, Education, Health and Human Services, which cut out the ban. Having decided that ideology has far too long ruled the day as US intravenous drug users have 11 times the HIV infection rate of such drug users in Australia, which has long had needle exchange, Obey made sure he highlighted the repeal in his public statement on the appropriations bill.

“Scientific studies have documented that needle exchange programs, when implemented as part of a comprehensive prevention strategy, are an effective public health intervention for reducing AIDS/HIV infections and do not promote drug use. The judgment we make in this bill is that it is time to lift this ban and let State and local jurisdictions determine if they want to pursue this approach.’’

Aides to the Appropriations Committee said that some of the science that Obey relied on was a 2007 CDC review of 185 needle exchange programs in 36 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The review concluded that with just state and local funding, the programs “are helping protect IDUs [injection drug users] and their communities from the spread of bloodborne pathogens and are providing access to health services for a population at high risk.’’

This is of little interest to some Republicans, such as Todd Tiahrt of Kansas, the ranking Republican of the House subcommittee, who said he was “very concerned’’ about the elimination of the ban. He still clings to the disproved notion that clean needles promote drug use. It is time, with the House having taken the lead, for Obama to get out front and say once and for all that science takes the front seat to ideology. Some issues are too critical to the very lives of Americans to wait to “build support.’’

Derrick Z. Jackson can be reached at jackson@globe.com