Hallelujah! Christmas has come a bit early for Prevention activists in the US. From Julie Childs over @ PreventionJustice.org:

This weekend, the Senate joined the House in approving the final 2010 appopriations bill that will lift the ban, without the deadly not-near-1000-feet-of-anything amendment that would have rendered it virtually meaningless.

Long overdue, and now happening in the context of economic crisis where prevention efforts are being defunded on a daily basis due to state cuts. CDC must act on their pledge to do all they can to help syringe exchange now that the ban is lifted. It's not going to be easy.

But the best way to bring any possible justice to this long-standing affront is to immediately work with all due haste to remove any possible barriers - funding, local misinformation or bias, bureaucratic social service practices that would alientate users, etc - and get the needles out where they are needed. As has been said so many times before, the point is the point.

Needle exchange is one of those tried and true tools in our prevention toolkit. We know it works, but dag nabbit if the government hasn't stymied efforts to put it into practice by criminalizing its practice. This is one important step forward, but as Julie notes there are more barriers in place at the level of bureaucratic policy, funding guidelines, and state and local legislation regarding the practice.