The NYT has a good piece today about a the federal government's Trojan Horse bill to fund needle exchanges. The smart part? Congress is ready to lift a ban on federal funding for needle exchanges, which reduce disease transmission and put drug users in contact with drug-addiction counselors. This is a key mechanism in slowing the spread of HIV in America. The stupid part?

[T]he bill would also ban federally financed exchanges from being within 1,000 feet of a school, park, library, college, video arcade or any place children might gather — a provision that would apply to a majority of the country’s approximately 200 exchanges.

“This 1,000-foot rule is simply instituting the ban in a different form,” said Rebecca Haag, executive director of the AIDS Action Council, an advocacy group based in Washington. “Clearly the intent of this rule is to nullify the lifting of the ban.”

Under a separate bill, all exchanges in Washington within the 1,000-foot perimeter would be barred from receiving city money as well as federal money.

“Let’s protect these kids,” said Representative Jack Kingston, Republican of Georgia, who introduced the Washington bill. “They don’t need to be playing kickball in the playground and seeing people lined up for needle exchange.”

Hey, Kingston, in cities, everything is within 1,000 feet of "a school, park, library, college, video arcade or any place children might gather." In fact, everything is within zero feet of where something might happen. Obviously, kids don't need to be seeing drug users while they play kickball. But cities do need to contain rampant HIV and hepatitis rates among drug users. And that means needle exchanges in the city. The middle part of the city. Like near kickball fields and buses and trains. You don't want the drug users to drive somewhere to get the needles, right? I mean, junkies behind the wheel is probably a bad idea... If needle exchanges aren't accessible, people won't go to them. And if they don't go to them, then HIV rates in a city rise, and that's not very good for those kids playing kickball when they grow up.

Seattle used to have a needle exchange on 2nd Avenue and Pike Street, which was within 1,000 feet of children. Was it unsightly? Yes—junkies are generally crusty and gross. Could children walking to the Pike Place Market see it? Yes. But were they harmed by it? No—don't be ridiculous.

But we've already seen seen a preview of what would happen to our needle exchange, which is now in Belltown, if a 1,000-foot rule were applied in Seattle. It would leave downtown and find another location—like SODO. Even there, the Seattle Mariners tried to use the city's 800-foot rule to stop a strip club from opening near Safeco Field. They said kids go there. The strip club had a good lawyer and the Mariners lost, after nearly a year of legal proceedings. But needle exchanges don't have loads of cash and cadres of attorneys. And challenging them every time some puritanical business or homeowner wants to push needle exchange out of their neighborhood because a child might be there is a death sentence.