To the Editor:

Attorney General Deborah T. Poritz's recent decision to prosecute
volunteers at The Chai Project, a needle exchange program in New Brunswick,
reflects a chilling disregard for the value of human life and a shocking
willingness to toe the line.

Needle exchange programs have been conclusively shown to reduce the
transmission of HIV without increasing the use of drugs. The Clinton
Administration's Internal Review on Needle Exchange concluded that
"available [data] provide no evidence that needle exchange programs
increase the amount of drug use by needle exchange program clients or
change overall community levels of non-injection and injection drug use."
(page 18 of report Summary)

The same report also concluded that "Multiple lines of evidence suggest
that it is likely that NEPs decrease the rate of new HIV infection." (page
26) This report is available at http://www.drcnet.org on the World Wide
Web. Ms. Poritz should read this report and think about the consequences of
her decision.

By deciding to intimidate volunteers at the Chai Project into giving up
their work, the Attorney General is effectively increasing the spread of
HIV. Only God will know how many additional deaths due to AIDS will be
attributable to this decision.

Joseph Gabriel
Haydenville MA