There are just plain silly ideas, and then there are downright dangerous ideas. A dangerous idea has taken root among some people living in this city, the nation’s capital. And it’s the idea that the congressional ban on needle exchange programs in Washington led to the increase in the spread of HIV.

I heard this nonsense in a documentary called “The Other City,” currently running intermittently on the cable and satellite channel Showtime. The film opens with a graphic showing three cities: Port au Prince, Haiti, Washington, and Dakar, Senegal. A voice asks which of the three cities has the highest rate of HIV infections.