The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to allow the District of Columbia to use local tax money to pay for needle-exchange programs, sending the bill to the Senate for consideration, the Washington Post reported June 29.

For nine years, Congress has used its budgetary authority to prevent D.C. officials from funding needle exchanges, which supporters say help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS among injection-drug users. "For too long, Congress has unfairly imposed on the citizens of D.C. by trying out their social experiments there," said Rep. Jose E. Serrano, (D-N.Y.), chairman of the D.C. appropriations subcommittee. "The ban on needle exchanges was one of the most egregious of these impositions, especially because the consensus is clear that these programs save lives."

The Senate also is expected to approve the needle-exchange measure. City officials are already planning to spend $1 million on needle exchanges in 2008. "It's a landmark day, something folks in D.C. have worked for for many, many years," said D.C. Health Director Gregg A. Pane.

The Bush administration opposes lifting the funding ban, as did many Republicans and some Democrats. Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) said that needle-exchanges "merely subsidize heroin use."

"It is not compassionate to enable addicts to continue their addiction. What we need to do is get them off," Souder said.

But mainstream medical groups like the American Medical Association, the American Public Health Association and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have all endorsed needle-exchange programs.