HANDLING OF NEEDLE EXCHANGE PROGRAM A TRAVESTY

I was disgusted to read Jordan Schrader's story, "Needle exchange
pilot program dropped," (AC-T, May 31), about how the North Carolina
legislature "dropped a needle-exchange program like they had been
pricked." This sort of political cowardice is all we get from our
pusillanimous politicians these days but, in this case, real lives
will be lost. I, myself, am in the later stages of HepC and pray daily
I'll get to see my daughter graduate from law school. All of this
arises from a time of upheaval in my life. All that is so far in the
past now. People change, sometimes drastically, for the better. The
bum you feed today may be your boss, or at least your friend, tomorrow.

To allow dirty needles to be used by our kids, in the vain hope that
it will "send a message" against drug use, is folly and an immoral
crime of the worst kind. The viruses will be flowing tonight in North
Carolina and those who had the power to stop it, but did nothing,
deserve a special place in hell.

D.H. Michon, Eau Claire, Wisconsin