Mayor ought to do the smart thing and authorize needleexchange program

Clarence Page's proneedle exchange editorial ("Smart folks embrace 'dopey'
idea," 8/28/97) deserves a local addendum. Here are some of the smart folks

recommending syringe exchanges in Colorado: the Denver Medical Society, the

Colorado Nurses Association, the Colorado Medical Society, and Children's
Hospital Pediatric Infectious Disease Program.

These groups know how to analyze medical statistics: six federallyfunded
studies show that the programs lower the transmission of infectious diseases
without any increase in drug usage by the community. And unlike Denver City
Councilman Ed Thomas a halfcocked opponent these groups realize the
financial and emotional cost of dealing daily with the ravages of infectious
diseases like AIDS and hepatitis.

A Denver syringe exchange can be run without taxpayers' money
enough local

benefactors would pitch in. But it can't be run without a change in the law.
Mayor Wellington Webb ought to do the smart thing: issue an emergency health
order (like
Cleveland, Philadelphia and Los Angeles) exempting needle exchange programs
from the city's
paraphernalia law.

Gregory Daurer

Denver