Series on Addicts and AIDS

That was a fascinating article “Headquarters for Heroin and HIV” (Sept. 27) but one sentence glowed in my mind like a neon light. “The nation has an estimated 1 million injecting drug users, and in recent years they have not only been responsible for 34% of all newly reported AIDS cases, they have also been the main cause of the epidemic’s spread to the heterosexual population.” I read that, then looked at the color photo of an addict shoving a needle into his neck and my only thought was--how do we remove these people from society?

FRED HERMON

Santa Ana