It's often easy to huff and puff about the city's lack of voting rights, budget autonomy and the kingly powers used by members of Congress to derail local initiatives or force the city into doing things that its voters never envisioned. But rarely does an example come along that brings the District's second-class status into such sharp relief as did a story published today in the New York Times.

The story chronicles the tireless work of Ron Daniels, the director of Prevention Works, an organization that sponsors needle exchanges. In virtually any other city or state, Daniels would be able to tap into state and local money to fund his program, one that plays a vital role in helping prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and other such diseases through the use of dirty needles. But in the District -- one of the urban areas with the highest rates of HIV in the country -- Congress has forbidden the use of local funds for such programs, just as they have used their powers to prevent city officials from counting the votes in a referendum on whether or not to legalize medical marijuana, put holds on key legislation to extract concessions from the District, attempted to nullify local gun laws and pondered using the city as a laboratory for tax and educational schemes.

But unlike many other interferences in local affairs, this one threatens lives. Daniels relies on $385,000 in private donations to deal with a huge and pressing health problem, reaching only one-third of the District's estimated 9,700 intravenous drug users. By limiting Daniels' access to this vulnerable segment of the population, Congress similarly limits the city's ability to educate them, offer them needed services and provide the most basic safeguard against the spread of a deadly disease. Daniels -- himself a former drug user and HIV-positive -- is left to fight the battle alone, offering his services in a Winnebago.

All of this makes granting the District increased autonomy over local affairs more pressing than ever. While there is finally increased attention to giving District residents a full vote in the House of Representatives, it's just as important that Congress consider loosening the reigns on the city's affairs. Voting rights or not, the control that Congress exerts over the District's decisions exemplifies a colonial mentality that justifies giving someone from Indiana, Texas or Nebraska more say in local governance than the very residents that would be subjected to it.