The New York Times EDITORIAL/LETTERS Thursday, January 1, 2008

Reaching Drug Users

To: the Editor:

Re: “Preventing AIDS Prevention” (editorial, Dec. 28):

Besides  their  effectiveness  in  preventing  the  spread  of AIDS,

needle  exchange  programs  help  us  to  engage  drug  users who

generally do not  come up  from  the underground until  they  are

arrested or hospitalized.

This  engagement  presents  an  opportunity  to  bring  these

individuals  into  drug  treatment  and  health  care  systems  at  an

earlier time, with a potential benefit to both the user and society.

Howard Josepher

New York, Dec. 28, 2007

The writer is the executive director of Exponents, a nonprofit group that

helps people with drug problems and H.I.V.-AIDS