Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Clean Needles And Bad Blood: Needle Exchange As Morality Policy, Elizabeth A. Bowen

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The morality policy framework is a lens for understanding the unique characteristics of policies that attempt to regulate personal morals and behaviors. Needle exchange, a controversial intervention for reducing the transmission of HIV in injection drug users, shares many of the hallmark characteristics of morality policies. Analyzing needle exchange from a morality policy perspective, focusing on the 21-year ban on federal funding for needle exchange, reveals how value-based arguments have been used in the needle exchange debate and explains why the issue is likely to remain controversial in the United States. This analysis adds to the understanding of moral and …