News (Media Awareness Project) - ProNEP letter: Urging Mayor to do the smart thing |
Title: | ProNEP letter: Urging Mayor to do the smart thing |
Published On: | 1997-09-09 |
Source: | Rocky Mountain News [Denver, CO] |
Fetched On: | 2008-09-07 22:47:44 |
Mayor ought to do the smart thing and authorize needleexchange program
Clarence Page's proneedle exchange editorial ("Smart folks embrace 'dopey'
idea," 8/28/97) deserves a local addendum. Here are some of the smart folks
recommending syringe exchanges in Colorado: the Denver Medical Society, the
Colorado Nurses Association, the Colorado Medical Society, and Children's
Hospital Pediatric Infectious Disease Program.
These groups know how to analyze medical statistics: six federallyfunded
studies show that the programs lower the transmission of infectious diseases
without any increase in drug usage by the community. And unlike Denver City
Councilman Ed Thomas a halfcocked opponent these groups realize the
financial and emotional cost of dealing daily with the ravages of infectious
diseases like AIDS and hepatitis.
A Denver syringe exchange can be run without taxpayers' money
enough local
benefactors would pitch in. But it can't be run without a change in the law.
Mayor Wellington Webb ought to do the smart thing: issue an emergency health
order (like
Cleveland, Philadelphia and Los Angeles) exempting needle exchange programs
from the city's
paraphernalia law.
Gregory Daurer
Denver
Clarence Page's proneedle exchange editorial ("Smart folks embrace 'dopey'
idea," 8/28/97) deserves a local addendum. Here are some of the smart folks
recommending syringe exchanges in Colorado: the Denver Medical Society, the
Colorado Nurses Association, the Colorado Medical Society, and Children's
Hospital Pediatric Infectious Disease Program.
These groups know how to analyze medical statistics: six federallyfunded
studies show that the programs lower the transmission of infectious diseases
without any increase in drug usage by the community. And unlike Denver City
Councilman Ed Thomas a halfcocked opponent these groups realize the
financial and emotional cost of dealing daily with the ravages of infectious
diseases like AIDS and hepatitis.
A Denver syringe exchange can be run without taxpayers' money
enough local
benefactors would pitch in. But it can't be run without a change in the law.
Mayor Wellington Webb ought to do the smart thing: issue an emergency health
order (like
Cleveland, Philadelphia and Los Angeles) exempting needle exchange programs
from the city's
paraphernalia law.
Gregory Daurer
Denver
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