Supervisors on AIDS Prevention

It’s a shame our Board of Supervisors can’t get beyond their inherent dislike for the groups affected by AIDS. In vetoing plans to distribute bleach and condoms to intravenous drug users, the supervisors expressed concern that such a program would imply that they condone the behavior of addicts (Metro, Aug. 31). Whether the supervisors condone it or not, IV drug use will continue. In addition, IV drug users are felt to be a portal for the spread of AIDS into the nondrug-abusing heterosexual population, a group whose behavior the board presumably condones. Distributing condoms and bleach might send a message that the supervisors are concerned about saving lives. Why not vote more funding for AIDS prevention and drug rehabilitation? The board’s continued moralistic shortsightedness will cost many lives.

WILLIAM F. SKEEN

MD/MPH

Los Angeles