PROGRAMMES FOR DRUG ABUSE HELP

IT was disturbing to read in a recent Irish Examiner editorial that
there are 13,000 drug addicts in Dublin alone. I do hope Ireland has a
more enlightened approach to dealing with drugs and AIDS than America.
Studies in Australia and New Zealand have proven that needle exchange
programmes reduce dramatically the rate of cross contamination of AIDS
and other viruses.

It is far more effective, both in human and economic terms, to finance
drug rehabilitation rather that spending billions on prisons as
America is doing. Americaís drug war has more to do with corporate
welfare for campaign donors than helping the chemically dependent.

In any American city you will find large numbers of homeless people
begging. Many have drug and alcohol problems, many also have criminal
records as a result, which means they are unable to find any type of
employment. It is important to deal with these issues.

Mike Hickey,
163 Third Avenue, #331,
New York, NY 10003.