REACHING DRUG USERS

To the Editor:

Re "Preventing AIDS Prevention" (editorial, Dec. 28):

Besides their effectiveness in preventing the spread of AIDS, needle
exchange programs help us to engage drug users who generally do not
come up from the underground until they are arrested or
hospitalized.

This engagement presents an opportunity to bring these individuals
into drug treatment and health care systems at an earlier time, with a
potential benefit to both the user and society.

Howard Josepher

New York

The writer is the executive director of Exponents, a nonprofit group
that helps people with drug problems and H.I.V.-AIDS.