The following email came to me from the New England Chapter of the American Liver Foundation. I urge you to contact your legislators.

As a New England Chapter volunteer, we are asking you to support very important legislation that will be voted on in the next few days by the state's Joint Committee on Healthcare. The legislation promotes access to sterile syringes to decrease the incidence of hepatitis and HIV in Massachusetts.

Led by the AIDS Action Committee, the Massachusetts Campaign for
Responsible Syringe Policy, a coalition of over 50 organizations of which the ALF is a member, presented powerful testimony at a January 28th hearing urging the passage of several bills that would expand access to clean needles in Massachusetts. These bills are important because needle use is the most significant factor in contracting hepatitis C, and Massachusetts is one of only four states in the nation that require prescriptions to purchase syringes.If you agree with the position, you can help to influence the vote by contacting members of the Joint Committee on Healthcare now before the vote takes place. We are asking you to call the committee representative in the district you live in and follow the simple steps below to express your views. It will literally take TWO minutes to make the call. If you don't live in a committee member's district, please call the offices of the Joint Committee
on HealthCare Co-chairs, Senator Richard Moore and Representative Peter Koutoujian, with the same message.

FIVE SIMPLE STEPS

1. Identify yourself as a volunteer of the ALF calling to express your support of sterile syringe access programs. Ask the person answering the phone if he/she is the appropriate person to speak to. You may be transferred to a healthcare aide.

2. When you have the appropriate person on the phone, you should say: "I'm (your name), a constituent of (senator/representatives name) and a member of the American Liver Foundation. I'm calling to ask that he/she support sterile syringe access. The ALF supports and encourages needle exchange programs to decrease the transmission of hepatitis and other blood borne diseases. I feel it's important for (your senator/representatives) to vote affirmatively on these issues." (You can stop there, or share your
opinion further. If you have a personal story about liver disease, feel free to include that information. We have also included a fact sheet on sterile syringe access--you can feel free to share any of that information if you'd like.)

3. Ask if the person knows the senator/representative's view on
sterile syringe access.

4. Thank them for listening and for their support (if applicable).

5. E-mail Allison Toretto at atoretto@liverfoundation-ne.org to let her know which office you called.

Our goal is to demonstrate widespread support for the bills by raising the total number of affirmative calls logged to as many committee members as possible. We will keep you updated on the outcome of the vote.

If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to call me or Allison Toretto in our office. Thanks so much for supporting this important initiative!

Wendy Lennon
Chapter Director
American Liver Foundation
www.liverfoundation-ne.org