NEEDLE EXCHANGE

As a physician I was always told that an ounce of prevention is worth
a pound of cure. It is always better to inoculate the patient with a
vaccine, for example, than to treat the disease.

Not only is it easier on the patients, it is also easier on the
wallet.

In a country that is running annual deficits that would scare even the
most liberal congressional spender, Steve Chapman comes with a
rational approach to a moral conundrum.

Whatever your views on the illegal drug problem currently affecting
our nation, needle exchange makes sense in more ways than one.

Chapman forgets to mention that hepatitis B and C are transmitted in
the same fashion and they are currently costing the health-care system
twice what we spend on HIV.

Not only that, but hepatitis C is killing more Americans every year
than HIV/AIDS does.

Carlos T. Mock, MD, Chicago