科学美国人60秒:Needle Exchange Programs Now Get Fed Support

针具交换方案得到联邦政府支持

In 1988 the U.S. government instituted a ban on federal funding for needle exchange programs for people who inject street drugs. Here’s a quote from an article in the July 1998 issue of Scientific American on HIV prevention:

1988年，美国政府禁止使用联邦基金用于资助街头吸毒者的针具交换计划。以下是从1998年7月科学美国人关于预防HIV报道的节选：

“Access to clean needles can help protect those still using injection drugs. Exchange programs, despite the controversies they elicit, have been shown to lower the risk of viral infection in many studies worldwide. Six U.S. government–funded studies have found that needle exchanges help to reduce HIV transmission without leading to greater drug use.”

使用干净的针头可以保护采取药物注射的人们。尽管针头交换项目，引起争议，但是，在全球许多研究中都表明这种作法可以降低病毒传染。由美国政府资助的6项研究表明，针头交换有助于减少艾滋病传播，防止毒品扩大范围使用。

Later in the same piece: “Fears of encouraging drug abuse have proved unfounded: many studies have shown that needle availability does not increase the use of illegal drugs.”

同一篇报道：“滥用药物导致的恐慌是没有根据的：许多研究表明针头并不会增加滥用非法药物。”

The article was written by AIDS experts Thomas Coates and Chris Collins. I was their editor.

这篇文章是由艾滋病专家托马斯科茨和克里斯柯林斯写。我是他们的编辑。

Now, more than a quarter century after the federal funding ban on needle exchange programs went into effect, it has quietly been almost completely lifted. A repeal of most parts of the ban was included in the major omnibus spending bill that passed at the end of 2015.

现在，在联邦基金禁止资助针头交换项目25多年之后，这条禁令似乎悄悄解除了。2015年底通过的综合开支法案撤销了此禁令的大部分。

According to Buzzfeed news reporter John Stanton, key Republican supported finally came about in response to a recent and ongoing HIV outbreak in Indiana and the decision in Kentucky in 2015 to establish its own needle exchange program.

据Buzzfeed新闻记者约翰·斯坦顿报道。2015年印第安纳州艾滋病疫情爆发，以及肯塔决定建立自己的针头交换项目，这最终得到了主要共产党人的支持。

The reason I keep saying the ban was mostly overturned is that it’s still going to be illegal for federal money to cover the cost of the syringes themselves, presumably so members of Congress can say they’re not paying for needles. Fortunately, needles are cheap. And federal funds can now cover the other costs of needle exchange programs, such as facilities and staff. The change, though long overdue, is still welcome. As activists used to put it in the 1990s: “Dead addicts don’t recover.”

我一直在说这条禁令已基本被推翻，是因为使用联邦基金才支付注射器费用仍旧是违法的。原因可能是国会议员会说他们没有钱支付这些针头吧。幸运的是，这些针头很便宜。但是联邦基金现在可以支付针头交换项目的其他费用，如设备和人员的费用。虽然这些变化，来的有些晚，但仍是受欢迎的。就像在20世纪90年代，积极分子写道的那样：恶习难除。

备注：针头交换项目是指的以旧的针头换取新的针头。