FOLLOW-UP

The two Italian legislators who were arrested for defying a New York State law barring possession of syringes without a prescription walked (se John T. Schuler and Jonathan M. M. Soroko, "Lethal Injections," April 22). The Manhattan District Attorney's office dropped the charges against Emma Bonino, a member of the Italian Parliament, and Marco Taradash, a delegate to the European Parliament, who had attempted to present a package of sterile syringes to New York Mayor David Dinkins, a staunch opponent of giving clean needles to I.V. drug users. Immediately after the dismissal, Bonino and Taradash proceeded to the office of the Health Commissioner Woodrow Myers and tried to get arrested again, without success. They had better luck at City Hall, but the D.A.'s office refused to prosecute - ever.

Nonetheless, the trial of members of the ACT UP Needle Exchange and the National AIDS Brigade on identical charges went forward. On April 8, a parade of expert witnesses for the defense overwhelmed thew D.A.'s office. Whatever the legal outcome, one wonders if there isn't a moral issue that's being overlooked here: Should a good Samaritan be prosecuted for giving an addict a clean needle and saving him or her from AIDS? A jury in a Redwood, california, needle exchange case apparently did not think so. It voted 11 to 1 for acquittal, and the jury foreman announced that he intends to get arrested for handing out sterile syringes on the steps of the courthouse.