Ask," the Bible says, "and ye shall receive." There's just no telling what answers you might get.
Case in point: Yakima City Council member Reedy Berg set off three months of fretting around City Hall when he raised concerns about a needle exchange program run by the local health district back in September.
At the time, Berg proposed that the council consider banning an exchange that has operated on the east side of town for more than 30 years. Rick Glenn and Leo Roy jumped in, too, questioning the costs and the wisdom of supplying free hypodermic syringes to drug users.
To his credit, Berg took the time to seek out some answers before he initiated any official actions. Good thing, too - after visiting with Yakima Health County District officials, he learned that the program is authorized and funded by the state, meaning the city doesn't have the authority to shut it down.
He also learned that the exchange's core purpose is to prevent the spread of dangerous diseases like hepatitis C or HIV via dirty or shared needles. The goal isn't to encourage drug use, but to at least try to keep it as safe as possible - that's why they call it "harm reduction."
In addition to sterile syringes, the exchange offers users a portal to various local treatment programs. That significantly increases the odds that some of the 3,000 or so people it serves each year will seek professional help for their addictions.
And it operates on a strict one-for-one system. Nobody gets any fresh needles until they turn in the ones they've already used.
More information about needle exchanges emerged during a city work session last week, when representatives of the health district reviewed details about the program and addressed the city's questions.
"Our goal is to reduce drug use in the community," the health district's executive director, Andre Fresco, assured the council. "But it's also to prevent outbreaks."
From the sound of it, the information council members have learned has been persuasive. Mayor Patricia Byers - who, along with all three county commissioners, is on the health district's board - cautioned against tinkering with a program that's helping the community.
Berg himself acknowledged in an email to the YH-R that the exchange seems generally helpful to public health, and no one from the city has made any formal motion to change anything.
That's the way it should stay.
While it's healthy for public officials to question how things work, there's no point in fixing things that aren't broken, and there's no shame in relying on the expertise of professionals.
That seems to be the case here. Whatever the initial intent, a little skepticism on the City Council's part has given the whole community a chance to see the value of a program that's been serving us well for decades.
And in the end, perhaps Berg deserves a left-handed compliment for helping show that the county's needle exchange is an effective and thoughtful way to promote good health.
Yakima Herald-Republic editorials reflect the collective opinions of the newspaper's local editorial board.