The Nation - News from March 9, 1989

Health and Human Services Secretary Louis W. Sullivan threw his support behind community-based programs that provide clean needles to drug addicts as a way to stem the spread of the deadly AIDS virus. Sullivan said he would not favor a federal needle-exchange program because of strong sentiment against the idea in some communities, but he encouraged communities to test such programs. He said he would need to look “very carefully” at whether the federal government should pay for needle-exchange programs, but he said it could provide such support as trained health workers to advise on how to set up programs.