AP has a good story reminding us of the plight of Bill Day, whose effort to reduce AIDS in San Antonio has been blocked by overzealous local drug warriors.

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Bill Day is a familiar face out under the San Antonio viaducts, where skinny addicts shoot drugs into their bruised arms.

Day, 73, is the source of something many of them desperately need: clean syringes, which Day sees as his calling from God to prevent the spread of disease.

Authorities see it differently. Backed by an opinion from the Texas attorney general, District Attorney Susan Reed says she can prosecute anyone in possession of drug paraphernalia, regardless of the reason they have it.
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"I am really angry," Day said, pointing to piles of used needles in the brush under a bridge on the city's West side. "Every day we're not out here, someone is getting HIV."

How can anyone possibly dispute that? The drug czar's office continues to maintain that needle exchange enables drug use and makes the problem worse, to which Day responds:

"No one says to themselves, 'They're giving away syringes, let's go get some heroin,'"

The reality that addicts will shoot up with or without clean needles shouldn't have to be debated or even explained. It is deeply disturbing to witness opposition to proven AIDS prevention practices from the very people who are supposed to be protecting our society from the harms of drugs. For the thousandth time, I find myself shaking my head in amazement that the people in charge of our drug policy want to reduce the availability of clean needles.