If You Don't Believe Us Maybe Someone Else Can Convince You

In case we haven't sold you on it yet, check out what some other pretty reputable people have had to say about syringe exchange.

• Check out this great National Sign On Letter Supporting Syringe Exchange Programs posted on the American Civil Liberties Union website. If you really scroll down through the extensive list of signers it becomes apparent that support comes from a wide variety from across the board.
• I liked this from the Center for Health Improvement.
• Gil Kerlikowski, US Drug Czar and former Seattle Police Chief: "Needle exchange programs have been proven to reduce the transmission of blood borne diseases."
• Conservative writer, George Will in 2002: "Nationwide, the current rate of infection has been reduced from 100,000 people a year to 40,000, largely because of safer sex habits and needle exchange programs."
• Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has testified “From a scientific standpoint...it [syringe exchange] does prevent the spread of HIV infection and does not promote drug use.” He also stated that based on the scientific data “we should seriously, definitely implement needle exchange programs.”
• New York City Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg promised that he “will continue the practice of exchanging syringes. These programs have been operating in New York City for over ten years. The sky has not fallen. Drug use and drug‑related crime have not gone up. In fact, they've gone down.”
• Other federal public health officials who have voiced support for local syringe exchange programs include former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop and former Health and Human Services Secretary Louis Sullivan

The Board of Supervisors and local city councils will soon have the chance to get it right. The Central Valley is a unique place with unique problems. To honestly think that we are exempt from this conversation about harm reduction and SEPs is irresponsible, ignorant, and vain. We cannot continue on with our blinders on.

If you don't believe us based on what we positively know about Stanislaus County, please listen to someone else. The research is there, the experts are there, the statistics are there, the anecdotal evidence is there, the stories, the people, the professionals, the pressure on the system - it is all there.

So now what are we going to do about it?