NEEDLE PROGRAMS SAVE LIVES

The Massachusetts supreme judicial court did the right thing by ruling
that people who receive clean syringes through a state-sanctioned needle
exchange program in one community cannot be arrested for carrying them in
another.

Needle-exchange programs have been proven to reduce the spread of HIV
without increasing drug use. They also serve as bridge to drug treatment
for a hard-to-reach population. Drug users are not the only
beneficiaries. Centers for Disease Control researchers estimate that 57
percent of AIDS cases among women and 36 percent of overall AIDS cases in
the United States are linked to injection drug use or sex with partners who
inject drugs.

This easily preventable public health crisis is a direct result of zero
tolerance laws that restrict access to clean syringes. In the interest
of containing the HIV epidemic, let's hope America's tough-on-drugs
politicians acknowledge the drug war's tremendous collateral damage sooner
rather than later.

Robert Sharpe

Program Officer Drug Policy Alliance Washington