ACTION ALERT
Your Help is Urgently Needed to Work to Repeal the Ban on Using Federal Dollars to Fund Syringe Exchange Programs Through The Community AIDS and Hepatitis Prevention Act (H.R. 179)
The National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA) is working in coalition with the Harm Reduction Coalition (HRC), AIDS Action, and many others to once and for all repeal the ban on using federal dollars to support effective syringe exchange programs.
For more than a quarter of a century, almost 1/3 of reported HIV/AIDS cases have been attributed, either directly or indirectly, to injection drug use. Providing clean, sterile syringes is a simple, cost-effective method of saving these lives, yet Congress bans the use of federal funding for syringe-exchange programs.
On Tuesday, January 6th Representative Jose E. Serrano re-introduced the Community AIDS and Hepatitis Prevention (CAHP) Act H.R. 179 in the 111th Congress to lift the ban on funding Syringe Exchange Programs. The CAHP Act will save thousands of lives and provide communities the right to determine which scientifically proven prevention methods best address and serve their residents without the interference of the federal government.
If you would like help by coordinating state grassroots effort toward getting the federal ban lifted, please email me at klindsey@napwa.org or call our office at 240-247-0880. We will need you to contribute approximately 10 hours of your time in the next month or two. Whether you have worked on this issue before or are developing a new interest, your help is both needed and welcomed. Help is urgently needed in the following states: CA, CT, DE, FL, IA, IL, MN, MO, NJ, NM, NY, OH, OR, PA, RI, TN, WA, WI.
Not available to coordinate grassroots effort? We still need your help to encourage more support for the CAHP Act from your Representative. Please send an email today urging your Representative to co-sponsor the CAHP Act of 2009, and encourage your friends, families and networks to do the same. You can send the pre-written letter provided, amend it, or write your own. If your Representative already has co-sponsored, please write a note of appreciation.
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1627/t/100/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25278
Original cosponsors are: Mr. Serrano (for himself), Mr. Abercrombie, Mr. Berman, Mr. Capuano, Ms. Christensen, Mr. Delahunt, Mr. Farr, Mr. Fattah, Mr. Filner, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Hare, Mr. Hinchey, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Mr. Kucinich, Ms. Lee, Ms. Maloney, Ms. Mccollum of Minnesota, Mr. Mcdermott, Mr. Moran of Virginia, Mr. Nadler, Ms. Norton, MR. Paul, Mr. Rangel, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Ms. Roybal-Allard, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Towns, Ms. Waters, Mr. Waxman, and Ms. Woolsey
NAPWA amplifies the voices of the greater than one million persons living with HIV/AIDS in the United States to inform administration of HIV/AIDS programs, allocation of resources, and applicable legislation.
