Lowell authorities are considering a needle-exchange program, and the Springfield city council has just approved one, following Boston, Cambridge, Northampton, and Provincetown.  Almost all of these programs have aroused strong voices both for and against it; the Northampton program was unusual in that it began with little public outcry. 

A recent article in the Heritage Foundation's Policy Review has gathered a large amount of evidence that the harm done to addicts by needle-exchange programs far outweighs any benefit in AIDS prevention. 

Similarly, last April the Family Research Council urged President Clinton's Health and Human Services Administration to reconsider its endorsement of needle-exchange programs, arguing that they promote "a culture of death." 

Like most Massachusetts opponents, the FRC also made the argument that public opinion is against needle-exchange programs, citing a poll of one thousand taken a year ago.  However, the San Francisco Chronicle reported in March, 1996 that a survey of fifteen hundred people showed that two-thirds favored clean-needle distribution. 

The effectiveness of needle-exchange programs is also a matter of controversy.  In April Dr. James R. Marshall of the Arizona Cancer Center argued that recent studies by the National Academy of Sciences and by Canadian authorities showed no benefits in needle-exchange programs. 

But needle-exchange programs are popular among AIDS advocacy groups.  Tapestry Health Systems, formerly the Family Planning Council of Western Massachusetts, has trumpeted the success of existing programs in the state and advocates their expansion.  Australian researchers claim to have found benefits in a survey of  programs, although they concede substantial limitations in their study.  The most extensive claims made came from a 1994 study of New York City drug users in which the risk of HIV infection was cut in half by participation in needle-exchange programs. 

A year ago, the US conference of Mayors called on the federal government to end its ban on funding for needle-exchange programs. 

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