NEEDLE EXCHANGE PLANS REDUCE SPREAD OF HIV

Kudos to The News for its excellent Sept. 22 editorial on the Project Reach
needle exchange program. According to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, 57 percent of AIDS cases among women are linked to injection
drug use or sex with partners who inject drugs. Overall, 36 percent of AIDS
cases in the United States can be traced back to intravenous drug use. This
easily preventable public health crisis is a direct result of
zero-tolerance policies 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. Drug abuse is bad, but the zero-tolerance
drug war is worse.

ROBERT SHARPE

Program Officer, Drug Policy Alliance