[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 119 (Monday, June 29, 2020)]
[House]
[Page H2671]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             STOP NEEDLE EXCHANGE AND DISTRIBUTION PROGRAMS

  (Mr. LaMALFA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, needle exchange and distribution programs 
are doing nothing to get people off drugs, and our neighborhoods are 
suffering as a result.
  There is a facility in my district in Chico that distributes needles 
at local parks where families with children normally congregate.
  Now, on top of that, as a result of coronavirus, they have also 
started to deliver them directly to addicts' homes.
  We deserve better than a government that indiscriminately panders to 
addicts, so today I introduced the MEND Our Neighborhoods Act, a bill 
that would reinstate the Federal funding prohibition on needle 
distribution programs.
  Law-abiding citizens should not have to deal with the fact that they 
may be exposed to a used dirty needle in our parks, on our sidewalks, 
or virtually anywhere that an addict can sit down and shoot up.
  Enabling drug users should not take precedent over the health and 
safety of our areas and our parks, so that families can enjoy normal 
outdoor activities in our public places and in our parks.

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