Editing Needle and syringe programmes (section)

==== Funding ====

In the United States, a ban on federal funding for needle exchange programs began in 1988, when republican North Carolina Senator [[Jesse Helms]] led Congress to enact a prohibition on the use of federal funds to encourage drug abuse.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last=Weinmeyer|first=Richard|date=2016-03-01|title=Needle Exchange Programs' Status in US Politics|url=https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/needle-exchange-programs-status-us-politics/2016-03|journal=AMA Journal of Ethics|volume=18|issue=3|pages=252–257|doi=10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.3.hlaw1-1603|pmid=27002996 |issn=2376-6980|doi-access=free}}</ref> The ban was briefly lifted in 2009, reinstated in 2010, and partially lifted again in 2015. Currently, federal funds can still not be used for the purchase of needles and syringes or other injecting paraphernalia by needle exchange programs, though can be used for training and other program support in the case of a declared public health emergency.<ref name="Davis C, Beletsky L 2009">{{Cite journal|last1=Davis|first1=C. S.|last2=Beletsky|first2=L.|year=2009|title=Bundling occupational safety with harm reduction information as a feasible method for improving police receptiveness to syringe access programs: Evidence from three U.S. Cities|journal=Harm Reduction Journal|volume=6|pages=16|doi=10.1186/1477-7517-6-16|pmc=2716314|pmid=19602236 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-07-08|title=Federal Funding for Syringe Services Programs|url=https://www.cdc.gov/ssp/ssp-funding.html|access-date=2020-08-23|website=cdc.gov}}</ref> In the time between 2010 and 2011 when no ban was in place, at least three programmes were able to obtain federal funds and two-thirds reported planning to pursue such funding.<ref name="Green TC, Martin E, Bowman S, Mann M, Beletsky, L 2012 e9-e16"/> A 1997 study estimated that while the funding ban was in effect, it "may have led to HIV infection among thousands of IDUs, their sexual partners, and their children."<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Lurie|first1=P|last2=Drucker|first2=E|title=An opportunity lost: HIV infections associated with lack of a national needle-exchange programme in the USA.|journal=The Lancet |date=1 March 1997|volume=349|issue=9052|pages=604–8|pmid=9057732|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(96)05439-6|s2cid=37080993}}</ref> US NEPs continue to be funded through a mixture of state and local government funds, supplemented by private donations.<ref name="Des Jarlais DC, McKnight C, Goldblatt C, Purchase D. 2009 1441–6"/> The funding ban was effectively lifted for every aspect of the exchanges except the needles themselves in the omnibus spending bill passed in December 2015 and signed by President Obama. This change was first suggested by Kentucky Republicans [[Hal Rogers]] and [[Mitch McConnell]], according to their spokespeople.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/01/07/funding-ban-needle-exchanges-effectively-lifted/78420894/ | title=Funding ban on needle exchanges effectively lifted | work=USA Today | date=7 January 2016 | access-date=25 January 2016 | author=Ungar, Laura}}</ref>