LAW: CRITICISM UNWARRANTED

Barry McCaffrey, who will step down in three weeks as the nation's
drug czar, constantly and unfairly comes under attack for opposing
so-called needle-exchange programs.

McCaffrey's critics argue that addicts will continue to shoot
themselves full of illegal drugs, no matter what society does to stop
them, and many contract AIDS because they share syringes. The
solution, critics say, is to allow addicts to exchange their dirty
syringes for new ones -- at no cost and with no questions asked.

Not only will that spare the lives of addicts, these people say, it
could keep them from passing the AIDS virus to their sex partners and
perhaps to their unborn babies.

That sounds good. But there is something fundamentally flawed about
outlawing an activity and subsidizing it at the same time -- about
telling people not to destroy their brains while providing the
paraphernalia to do exactly that. Government cannot reasonably save a
person's life by helping him destroy it.

Besides, many studies indicate needle exchange programs are
counterproductive. In some cases, the AIDS rate actually has
increased among addicts who join needle exchange programs. That may
be partly because, free needles or not, drug-impaired people often
lack the capacity to exercise sound judgment -- both when they use
drugs and also when they have sex.

Those who advocate needle exchange programs have their hearts in the
right place, but they do not address the underlying problem --
irresponsible behavior.