NEW YORK (Reuter) A New York philanthropist plans to spend $1 million on
sterile syringes to be given to drug addicts at risk of contracting AIDS and
other diseases, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Financier George Soros told the New York Times in an interview published
Sunday that he believes his contribution will ``save the most lives'' of all
his philanthropic donations.

``Probably of all the money that we spend on various projects, this is the
one that is actually going to save the most lives,'' said the Hungarianborn
Soros who immigrated to the United States over 40 years ago.

The article said Soros has spent close to $20 million in an attempt to change
how Americans look at illegal drugs.

In 1996 Soros contributed $1 million in California and Arizona to finance
voter approval of marijuana for medicinal use, the Times said.

The newspaper said Soros does not support making drugs legal but believes
banning their use is impossible. Soros said it is more realistic to reduce
the harm that drug users cause themselves.

Soros also told the Times he has experimented with marijuana and has
misgivings about making it legal because marijuana impairs motivation and
performance of children in school.

``I don't have an answer to the drug problem. I think we need to explore
different ways of dealing with it, and I think that which we are doing now is
doing more harm than good,'' Soros said.

The $1 million needle exchange gift is being made through the Tides
Foundation in San Francisco, the paper said. The Foundation matches
philanthropic donors with requests for financial support in the field of
social change.