Ban on Needle Exchange Funding Stays

Last week it was revealed that President Obama will not be keeping his promise to lift the ban on needle exchange funding.

A White House spokes person assures that Obama is still committed to this change:
"We have not removed the ban in our budget proposal because we want to work with Congress and the American public to build support for this change," he said. "We are committed to doing this as part of a National HIV/AIDS strategy and are confident that we can build support for these scientifically-based programs."

The Huffington Post's Ryan Grim lets us know that the White House website no longer features the president's support of the program, however. See the before and after here.

Hmmm... I think LEAP's Tom Angell sums things up perfectly: "It's hard to imagine how removing mention of support for a proven lifesaving program from the White House website is part of a grand strategy to 'build support' for syringe exchange."

If Obama wants to build more support for lifting the ban he shouldn't be removing his own support from his website. He should have more information about needle exchange programs and their success at reducing the spread of HIV.

Why Smoke One Blunt, When You Could Smoke At Least 5?

I'm in DC right now, gearing up for SSDP's 10th Annual International Conference, which I'm sure you already know all about. I'm actually burning the midnight oil with SSDP's eastern region outreach director Amber Langston. We can see Prince George's County from her house, a place where the county council just voted to do something very unlikely to achieve the goals the council hopes it will. I think it will do just the opposite.

The council voted 8 to 1 to ban the sale of single cigars, requiring stores to sell them in packages of at least five. The new law will also make it easier to charge someone possessing a cigar with a drug paraphernalia offense.

Yes, buying 5 cigars will cost more than buying one cigar, but its not likely to break the bank, even for a teenager. In fact, buying in bulk is a way to save money, not spend more. If a single blunt is $1.00, a package of 5 will probably not cost more than $5.00. And if you look at blunt wraps, which do not come filled with tobacco and often feature attractive individual packaging, you can bet that companies will be happy to create larger packages and advertise the new BONUS SIZE! It will no doubt increase production and possibly consumption (like most American consumers, if I buy the Family Size bag of chips, I'm likely to eat a larger serving per sitting than if I bought a single serving bag - but I'd be saving money by buying the bigger bag).

Maybe this isn't so silly after all. In these times of economic uncertainty, we need to teach youth about smart spending and how to get more blunts for their buck! Then we can arrest them for having a legal tobacco product, charge them with possession of drug paraphernalia, and deny them financial aid to college! Drug problem solved. Goodnight.