Needle Exchange Programs Now Get Fed Support

联邦注资针具交易项目

撰文/播音 史蒂夫·米尔斯基（Steve Mirsky）

翻译 Meatle

审校 陈娉莹

More than a quarter century after the federal funding ban on needle exchange programs went into effect, it has quietly been almost completely lifted

在联邦禁止对针具交易项目提供资金的超过二十五年后，这个禁令悄悄地近乎完全解除。

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年美国政府颁布了禁止联邦资助针对注射街头药物的针具交易项目的禁令。1998年7月号科学美国人对防护HIV有如下评论：

"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."

“有权使用干净的针管可以帮助那些仍然使用注射毒品的人们得到防护。尽管交易项目引起了相当多的争议，但在全球的许多研究中，它都有效减少了病毒传染的发生。六个政府资助的研究发现，针具交易项目在能够有效减少HIV传染风险的同时，并不会导致吸毒人数的増加。”

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."

其后的一些文章中：“对鼓励滥用药物表示恐惧的言论毫无根据：大量研究已经表明，针具获得的难易程度不会增加非法药物的使用。”

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

这篇文章由艾滋病专家托马斯·科茨与克里斯·科林斯撰写，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，在联邦禁止对针具交易项目提供资金的超过四分一个世纪后，这个禁令悄悄地近乎完全解除。在2015年尾颁布的主要综合支出法案中，该项禁令的大多数内容均被撤销。

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.

根据Buzzfeed新闻记者约翰·斯坦顿的报道，针对印第安纳州现正进行并持续蔓延的HIV疫情，关键的共和党成员发表了支持声明，并打算在2015年内在肯塔基州建立该州的针具交易项目。

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."

我强调这项禁令近乎被推翻的原因是，动用联邦的资金以支付注射器的费用仍将是违法的行为，故可以推断，国会的成员可能将不会为针具买单。所幸的是，针具并不昂贵。同时，联邦的资金现在能囊括针具交易项目其他方面的开销，比如设施和人员方面的费用。这项转变尽管姗姗来迟，却仍然受到我们的欢迎。正如1990年时活动家们所评论的那样：“死去的上瘾者也是人，人死不能复生。”