Kaiser Policy

“Needed: A Vote for the Earth” (editorial, April 10) correctly points the finger at a small group of lawmakers holding up action on the historic conservation funding opportunity now before Congress. However, your editorial also states that the Sierra Club supports this legislation, which is not yet the case.

When the bill reaches the House floor, a bipartisan group led by Reps. Sherwood L. Boehlert (R-N.Y.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) will offer an amendment to remove incentives for offshore oil drilling from the bill and ensure that funding is not spent on environmentally damaging development along our fragile coasts. Passage of the amendment will ensure that the Sierra Club stands in full support of this bill.

BRUCE HAMILTON

Conservation Director

Sierra Club, San Francisco

Re “Kaiser Drug Policy Prompts State Inquiry,” April 12: I have been a staff psychiatrist with Kaiser Permanente, Southern California, since 1983. I have never written a prescription for medication without first evaluating and examining the patient, nor have I been asked to do so. This has been true during my professional years at the Kaiser Mental Health Center and at the Lomita Outpatient Department of Harbor City.

BARBARA SAX MD

Lomita