Needle
Exchange:
Harris
Poll
finds
71%
favor
lifting
the
ban!
11/2/97
A Harris telephone poll found that 71% of respondents favored allowing states and localities, rather than the federal government, to decide whether or not to use federal AIDS funding for needle exchange programs. The poll surveyed 1,003 American adults and was commissioned by The Lindesmith Center, a New York-based drug policy think-tank. It was conducted by telephone October 15-19. The results were consistent across party lines with 72% of Republicans, 70% of Democrats and 74% of independents agreeing that decisions should be made at the state and local level. While the poll found that only 45% were either "very familiar" or "somewhat familiar" with these programs, 58% of those claiming familiarity support their use as part of a strategy to reduce the spread of HIV and AIDS. "The U.S. is virtually alone among advanced, industrialized nations in prohibiting the funding of needle exchange programs," said Ethan Nadelmann, Director of the Lindesmith Center. "Americans want crucial decisions about funding for needle exchange and other HIV prevention efforts made at the state or local level, not in Washington." This poll coincides with the release of the Lindesmith Center's Syringe Availability, a concise and comprehensive review of data on needle exchange programs and pharmacy sale of syringes. To order copies, call (212) 548-0695 or e-mail tlcweb@lindesmith.org. You can find The Lindesmith Center on the web at http://www.lindesmith.org.
PERMISSION to reprint or redistribute any or all of the contents of Drug War Chronicle (formerly The Week Online with DRCNet is hereby granted. We ask that any use of these materials include proper credit and, where appropriate, a link to one or more of our web sites. If your publication customarily pays for publication, DRCNet requests checks payable to the organization. If your publication does not pay for materials, you are free to use the materials gratis. In all cases, we request notification for our records, including physical copies where material has appeared in print. Contact: StoptheDrugWar.org: the Drug Reform Coordination Network, P.O. Box 18402, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 293-8340 (voice), (202) 293-8344 (fax), e-mail drcnet@drcnet.org. Thank you. Articles of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of the DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.
|