Needle distribution

What health commissioner encourages addicts to inject fentanyl 10 to 15 times a day as an antidote to contracting HIV?  How is this not perpetuating a cycle of addiction as opposed to improving public health?  Who benefits from this craziness in the safest big city in the country?  How about using some common sense?  Stop the distribution of needles immediately.  Clear the streets of all tents, chairs, wheelchairs, etc.  Put them all in treatment. If they refuse, they go to jail. Sixty days in jail will get them off of drugs more effectively than handing them syringes.

Sean F. Flaherty

Boston

Free needles

As a retired Boston Police Officer and editor of my union’s newspaper Pax Centurion, I wrote frequently in the late 90’s and early 2000’s about the dangers of passing out free needles to drug addicts. Then, the free needles were being handed out by a group called the “AIDS brigade.” Of course, I was derided as “backward-thinking,” “old-fashioned” and even “racist” for pointing out the obvious.

Fast forward to 2025: the liberal residents of the South End are outraged about discarded needles, filth and disorder caused by drug addicts roaming through their neighborhoods, and the city responds by passing out up to 80,000 needles per month to addicts, who sometimes need “10-15 fentanyl injections per day” according to the city spokesman.

I guess you get what you paid for, Boston residents. “The chickens have come home to roost,” and whatever old-fashioned, “backwards” pearls of wisdom apply. Keep voting for Democrats, Boston residents. You’ll get more of the same….

James W. Carnell

Quincy

Postal Service

Having been in the mailing and shipping business before retirement, this could be a great idea (“Sell the U.S. Postal Service to UPS,” Sept. 2).  UPS has always been a stellar vendor in my 35 years. If you are mailing a 3-pound package to Kansas from Boston I already know what it’s going to cost and when it will get there. When I started my business in 1988 a first class stamp cost 25 cents. Now a stamp cost 78 cents. Give this service to someone who can handle it. It’s too important to ignore. Mail still works !

Jack Zaccardi

East Boston

Tropical storms

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is watching tropical storm Gabrielle to see what track it will follow.  The previous prediction of storms this season was between 13 and 19 named storms.  Gabrielle will be the 7th named storm, a far cry from the expert’s predictions.  Global warming must be on vacation this year; or maybe weather is just unpredictable and storms come and go regardless of how many windmills and solar panels are built.

Donald Houghton

Quincy