José E. Serrano: “just one comment. First of all, the committee received a letter in support of removing the prohibition signed by 29…”

“just one comment. First of all, the committee received a letter in support of removing the prohibition signed by 29 leaders of medical, public health and social service organizations. In addition, while drug use is illegal, users should not have to pay with their lives. Studies conducted by the CDC, NIH, National Academies of Science and the GAO, which demonstrate that needle exchange programs reduce the incidence of HIV. I mean, this is an array of serious government agencies saying that this, in fact, reduces HIV. So, on the one hand we spent a lot of money in this country, both here at home and overseas. To the President's credit, he has picked up the ball lately on that issue, and has responded better than in the past on the idea of fighting this disease throughout the world. Well, right here at home, right here in the Nation's Capital, where the largest number of people infected exist now, the largest ratio, we could deal with this by simply allowing them to do what they must do.”