Pubdate: Mon, 22 Nov 1999
Date: 11/22/1999
Source: Nation, The (US)
Author: Howard Josepher
Related: All the special issue articles are linked at:

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n963/a03.html

Michael Massing is not the first to put forth the idea of shifting the
federal drug budget to a 50/50 supply/demand split.

I was in a meeting with a small group of AIDS and substance abuse
advocates during the 1992 New York State primaries, which included
Congressman Barney Frank and then-advocate but now New York City
Councilman Phil Reed, where candidate Bill Clinton made this same
promise without solicitation. When I asked Clinton for his position on
needle exchange programs, he said, "I don't have a problem with needle
exchange, but I would leave it up to the states to decide." We can
only wonder where we would be today in our struggle against drug abuse
and AIDS if the man who won my support in that meeting had kept his
word.

Howard Josepher
Exponents Inc.

(a drug treatment and harm reduction service agency) New York City