AIDS czar backs needle exchange
Evertz's pronouncements violate Bush beliefs, federal policy
By Peter LaBarbera
© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com
WASHINGTON – Scott Evertz, the openly homosexual director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, has broken ranks with President George W. Bush's stated opposition to needle-exchange schemes, endorsing government-funded "clean needle" programs in an interview that appeared in two homosexual newspapers.
During last year's presidential campaign, Bush assailed needle-exchange programs, saying they "signal nothing but abdication."
On Wednesday, White House spokeswoman Mercy Viana said that Evertz's comments do not reflect official administration policy: "We do not support federal funding of needle-exchange programs."
The next day, the administration issued this statement: "The president's advisers bring different perspectives to the table, but ultimately the president makes the decision, and he is opposed to needle exchange."
Evertz – who drew criticism from Concerned Women for America, Family Research Council and other pro-family groups as Bush's first major openly homosexual appointment – said he has examined the evidence on needle-exchange programs for drug abusers and is now convinced they work in slowing HIV.
Evertz's pronouncements have stunned family advocates and opponents of needle-exchange programs, who say the Bush "AIDS czar" is ignoring studies that question the effectiveness of such programs.
"I don't know what evidence he could have looked at. If he had an open mind in April, he's thinking ideologically now," said Michael Schwartz, vice-president for government relations for Concerned Women for America.
In an interview with Evertz in the homosexual newspaper Wisconsin IN Step, the following exchange occurred:
IN Step: It is our understanding that you are supportive of syringe exchange. What efforts can/will you make to, at the very least, discontinue the ban on federal funding for these programs?
Evertz: I have indicated in a number of different go-rounds [that] I view it as my job to present substantive and conclusive data that I can gather on this issue to those who need to make a decision to eliminate [the current ban on federal funding of needle-exchange programs] – or keep it in place. I know there was work done in my predecessor's office in the previous administration. As we all know, nothing happened [on needle exchange]. … [M]y job is to present to those making the decision the data and [say] that this office is charged with keeping people, among other things, from contracting HIV. This [needle exchange] is saving lives and the evidence is conclusive. [emphasis added]Evertz, who was a Republican "gay" activist in Wisconsin prior to coming to Washington, said that in the past he spoke on the needle-exchange issue "without having seen any of the data or seeing any of the reports." Now, he said, he is "gathering the information that I need" – through clinical studies – to "substantiate" his support of drug needle-exchange programs.
Bucking the boss' policy
Evertz's comments violate clear campaign positions by Bush opposing needle-exchange programs and Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson's commitment in June to uphold the Clinton ban on federal funding of needle- exchange programs for drug addicts.
According to one HIV-oriented website, candidate Bush had these tough words when a Chicago AIDS group asked him about needle-exchange programs:
"I do not favor needle-exchange programs and other so-called 'harm reduction' strategies to combat drug use. I support a comprehensive mix of prevention, education, treatment, law enforcement and supply interdiction to curb drug use and promote a healthy, drug-free America, not misguided efforts to weaken drug laws. Drug use in America, especially among children, has increased dramatically under the Clinton-Gore administration, and needle-exchange programs signal nothing but abdication, that these dangers are here to stay. Children deserve a clear, unmixed message that there are right choices in life and wrong choices in life, that we are all responsible for our actions and that using drugs will destroy your life. America needs a president who will aim not just for risk reduction, but for risk elimination that offers people hope and recovery, not a dead-end approach that offers despair and addiction."Homosexual newspapers complained during the campaign that neither Bush nor Democrat Al Gore supported the controversial AIDS prevention strategy. In a March interview with ABCNews.com, Clinton's HHS secretary, Donna Shalala, said that she almost succeeded in persuading Clinton and then-Vice President Gore to endorse needle-exchange programs, but "for political reasons they decided at the last minute they didn't want government money to be used for needle exchange."
Like Evertz, Shalala claimed "the science was very clear on the argument" in favor of clean- needle programs.
Pro-family groups believe Shalala is wrong about the science. On the moral front, the long dominant view in the Republican Party has been that such programs are wrong because they put government in the role of subsidizing bad and addictive behavior.
Did Evertz dismiss opposing evidence?
Traditional-values leaders say Evertz's precipitous endorsement of needle exchange also breaks a promise to carefully weigh the evidence opposing this method of reducing HIV infections.
Schwartz met with Evertz in April and said he received a pledge from him to study the evidence opposed to needle-exchange programs with an open mind.
Schwartz said a GOP congressional aide sent Evertz a report critiquing various studies of drug needle-exchange programs that were in place in various big cities and in foreign countries like The Netherlands.
The report by Dr. Fred J. Payne entitled, "An Evidence-Based Review of Needle Exchange Programs," concludes:
In spite of the frequent assertion that implementing needle and syringe exchange programs (NEP) on a national scale would be a life-saving measure in the current HIV epidemic, there is little hard evidence to support such a claim either in the reports garnered by this extended literature search or in those listed as supportive of the HHS recommendation for federal funding of NEP. To the contrary, the best of these studies indicate that needle-exchange programs fail to protect against HIV transmission. There appears to be some impact by the NEP on reducing the risk behavior such as needle sharing among participants, but this is primarily based on self reporting by individual [intravenous drug users].Payne's lists summaries from 19 studies, some of which support claims that needle-exchange policies help reduce HIV infections and some of which undermine those claims. For example, a 1997 study in the American Journal of Epidemiology "suggests that the initiation of [needle exchange programs] does not result in an increase in the number of discarded needles."
Schwartz, who knew Evertz 20 years ago in Wisconsin where they were both pro-life activists, now questions Evertz's loyalty to Bush.
"When Scott first came to Washington, his intention was to be a loyal member of the Bush administration," he said. "But his recent statements suggest that he has been swallowed by the special interests that he used to refer to derisively as 'AIDS, Incorporated' – and now has become their ambassador to the Bush administration."
No change from Clinton?
Evertz also told IN Step that "there is no difference in response [to AIDS] between the previous administration and this one. We are committed, if not more so, to the comprehensive approach to dealing with HIV and AIDS."
One Republican congressional aide who is active on AIDS issues on Capitol Hill was distressed by Evertz's rhetoric and his praise of Clinton's policies.
"The last administration's AIDS policy was a disaster. In Clinton's eight years as president, 320,000 Americans became infected with HIV and the rate of growth never dropped once in those eight years. In fact, many estimate infection rates began to rise again during that time – despite billions spent every year.
"We did not elect George W. Bush to continue these failed policies, and I know George Bush does not intend to continue them, either," said the aide, who requested anonymity.
"If someone within the Bush administration feels that the president is wrong on needle exchange – or some other aspect of HIV prevention – I'd be happy to provide an opportunity for them to testify before the appropriate subcommittee and explain their motives to the Congress and the American people," he said.
Peter LaBarbara is a senior policy analyst at the Culture and Family Institute.
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