Pubdate: 21 Dec 1999 Source: Globe Copyright: 1999 American Media Operations, Inc. Page: 7 Address: 5401 N.W. Broken Sound Blvd., Boca Raton, FL 33487 Website: http://www.globeonthenet.com/ Author: Neil Blincow Cited: Common Sense For Drug Policy: http://www.csdp.org/ See: DrugSense FOCUS ALERT: http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0139.html Shortcut: to Judge Judy press clippings: http://www.mapinc.org/judy.htm JUDGE JUDY'S SHOCKING STAB AT AIDS JUNKIES Exclusive Interview: "Give Em All Dirty Needles" TV's tough-talking Judge Judy has sparked a firestorm of protest by blasting needle-exchange programs and saying drug addicts should be given dirty syringes instead! "Give 'em all dirty needles and let 'em die!" acid-tongued Judy Sheindlin declared during a press conference in Australia to promote her book Beauty Fades, Dumb is Forever. She also branded as "liberal morons" supporters of clean-needle programs, which are aimed at preventing AIDS-infected addicts from spreading the disease. Addiction specialists are infuriated by the 57-year old jurists comments. "I'm shocked and outraged," says Kevin Zeese, president of the drug education group Common Sense for Drug Policy. "If we did what Judge Judy suggests, that would just increase the spread of AIDS and condemn a whole class of people to death." Experts say needle exchange programs can reduce the risk of contracting HIV - - the virus that causes AIDS - by 50 percent. "The benefits of these programs are well documented," says Daniel Gentry, director of the Center for HIV Studies at St. Louis University in Missouri. "The idea is to help drug addicts lower the risk of gettting AIDS from infected needles. "Judge Judy obviously doesn't want to help these people." But the veteran Family Court judge, whose syndicated series is a huge ratings hit, is unfazed. In an exclusive GLOBE interview, she explains that she saves her sypmpathy for the victims of drug abuse, not the abusers. "The tens of thousands of drug-addicted babies, many of whom will die of AIDS and are born only to suffer - they have my sympathy," she says. "The mothers who fed them drugs do not. "The tens of thousands of victims of robberies, rapes, burglaries and murder have my sympathy. The perpectrators looking for their next fix do not." The no-nonsense TV star says that years of dealing with addicted criminals helped form her harsh opinion. "I spent a quarter century of my life in Family Court," she told the GLOBE. "I looked into the vacant eyes of a 10-year-old as she described what happened to her each time her drug-crazed mother sold her to men for $5. "Each year there was case after case of babies born drug-addicted and infected with AIDS to women who were still walking around pregnant with another baby. "Spend MY tax money on these victims and not a penny on free needles. If this sounds tough, YOU spend some time with these victims, as I did." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake