The Tribune’s fine Sept. 18 editorial “A potential step back on AIDS” told it like it is on the Coburn-Hastert bill, which aims to “permanently ban federal funding or endorsement of clean-needle programs as an AIDS prevention strategy.”
As the Tribune accurately reported, current scientific evidence “unanimously indicated that needle exchanges help reduce the rate of HIV infections without promoting drug use.” Candidly, this proposed bill is absurd and is an outrageous affront to common sense.
As frivolous lawsuits bear a huge monetary penalty, perhaps we ought to sponsor a new bill against frivolous legislation that lacks the essentials of common sense. To impose a permanent ban on anything precludes any possibility that future studies will produce data to the contrary or that common sense will prevail.
Both Congressmen ought to be ashamed of themselves for sponsoring such bizarre legislation. With proposed bills like this, it’s no wonder the Congress is held in such low esteem by the public.
