Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 09:52:03 -0500
To: president@whitehouse.gov (Bill Clinton)
From: Matthew Belmonte <mkb4@Cornell.edu>
Subject: needle exchange saves lives

An editorial this month in the medical journal Lancet cites the large number of
epidemiological studies that have demonstrated the effectiveness of needle
exchange against the spread of HIV infection.  Simply put, needle exchange saves
lives.  In addition, needle exchange provides an incentive for drug abusers to
contact local medical authorities and thus makes it easier for those authorities
to offer them counselling and other treatments to help them stop abusing drugs.
Over half of all new HIV infections in the United States could be prevented by
needle exchange.

The federal ban on funding for needle exchanges is wrong and must be reversed.
This latest criticism from the international medical community is one of the
most telling indications thus far.