VANCOUVER STUDY

Your April 22 editorial supporting needle exchanges stated that "there is
little or no evidence that needle exchanges ... increase intravenous drug
use." The Family Research Council refers to the 1997 Vancouver study of
intravenous drug users which found high HIV infection rates among needle
exchange program participants. When the needle exchange program first opened
there in 1988, HIV prevalence was 1 percent to 2 percent. However, since
1994, HIV infection has rapidly increased to 18.6 percent per year at
present. Vancouver's AIDS problem is getting worse despite having North
America's largest needle exchange.

Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, President Clinton's drug czar, opposes federal
funds for exchanges: "Effective drug treatment offers the better long-term
policy for both drug control and AIDS prevention."

Abstinence-based treatment is the best way to turn people around from a
lifestyle aimed at death whether through AIDS, other sexually transmitted
diseases, and/or violent crime. Drug abstinence programs are superior to
free needles.

BARBARA H. COLLINS, Plano


Checked-by: "Rolf Ernst"