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LaMalfa Announces Legislation to Defund Needle Programs

February 20, 2020

(Richvale, CA) — Congressman Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale) released the following statement after announcing legislation that would reinstate and strengthen the Federal funding prohibition on needle programs that was repealed in the FY2016 Omnibus.

LaMalfa said: "Needle exchange and distribution programs as they exist today are doing nothing to get people off drugs, and our communities are suffering from these failed initiatives. By reinstating and strengthening the Federal funding prohibition on needle programs, this bill will serve as the first step to completely eliminating them. Our communities deserve more than their government pandering to drug addicts, when we could be working to rebuild our infrastructure or finding solutions to our housing crisis. The best hope of keeping drug addicts healthy – while keeping our neighbors safe – is to get them into treatment. By settling for "harm reduction" rather than helping people overcome drug addiction, law-abiding citizens deal with the fact that they may be exposed to a used needle in our parks, on our sidewalks, and virtually anywhere that an addict can sit-down and shoot-up."

Issues:Health Care