Pubdate: Sat, 30 Apr 2005
Source: Star-Ledger (NJ)
Copyright: 2005 Newark Morning Ledger Co
Contact:  http://www.nj.com/starledger/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/424
Author: Susan K. Livio, Star-Ledger Staff
Cited: Drug Policy Alliance of New Jersey 
http://www.drugpolicy.org/about/stateoffices/newjersey/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange)

2 N.J. CITIES GEAR UP FOR NEEDLE EXCHANGES

Atlantic City and Camden Would Be First

Atlantic City and Camden met a state Health Department deadline
yesterday and volunteered to become the first two communities in New
Jersey to legally use the controversial strategy of needle exchange to
stem the spread of AIDS in their hard-hit communities.

The experimental programs could be operating by early summer, assuming
health officials approve the cities' applications by a May 6 deadline,
local officials said.

Health activists and lawmakers have tried unsuccessfully to pass a law
for nearly a decade to permit syringe exchanges -- giving
intravenous-drug users a clean needle for every used syringe they surrender.

Opponents have succeeded in blocking the effort by arguing the
practice condones illegal drug use, and by questioning the veracity of
the studies that claim the programs are effective.

When it was clear the Legislature would not support needle-exchange
legislation last fall, Gov. James E. McGreevey issued an executive
order three weeks before his Nov. 15 resignation that allowed as many
as three cities to launch pilot programs.

Only Atlantic City and Camden, which adopted local ordinances creating
needle-exchange programs last year, came forward, health spokeswoman
Donna Leusner said late yesterday.

McGreevey at the time said the order was necessary to address the
"public health emergency" of AIDS transmission between addicts, their
sexual partners and their newborn children. Fifty-one percent of New
Jersey's 62,200 AIDS and HIV cases are attributed to injection-drug
use, according to state data.

Yesterday, Atlantic City's health officer, Ronald Cash, praised
McGreevey and acting Gov. Richard Codey for their efforts, saying he
and others in the city "were waiting and praying for the Trenton
politics to loosen up. Thank God Governor Codey didn't put a stop to
it. Most people in Atlantic City and Camden want to see this happen."

Yet a lawsuit filed in December to overturn the order is still
"working its way through the courts," said Sen. Thomas Kean Jr.
(R-Union), one of four lawmakers who filed the suit. "My hope is the
court will realize there is something happening and recognize there is
a new level of immediacy.

"This end-run around the legislative process and the voice of the
people is a very bad way to set policy, especially on an issue that
affects so many people," Kean said.

One of every 40 residents in Atlantic City is infected with the virus
that causes AIDS, city health officials have said. One-half of all
cases are attributed to injection drug use or sex with intravenous
drug users.

There are 1,340 people living in Camden with HIV and AIDS,
representing more than half of the county's 2,430 cases, said Anthony
Lingo, manager of special grant projects for Camden's Department of
Health and Human Services.

"This is not going away by happenstance. We have to take definitive
action," Lingo said.

The state invited nine cities with the highest HIV and AIDS rates to
apply. They are: Atlantic City, Camden, East Orange, Elizabeth,
Irvington, Jersey City, Newark, Paterson and Trenton. To qualify,
according to the state's application, cities need a minimum of 750
people with AIDS/HIV; they must show injection drug use is responsible
for a significant portion of their AIDS/HIV cases; and elected
officials must have passed an ordinance supporting a needle-exchange
program.

Of the nine cities, only Atlantic City and Camden approved such an
ordinance. They passed laws last year, but the Atlantic County
Prosecutor's Office successfully challenged Atlantic City's ordinance,
preventing the cities from moving ahead legally with needle exchanges.

In applying for the pilot program, the cities also needed to describe
how it would be funded, how it would operate and how it would link
addicts to treatment. The executive order did not include any money.

Camden will operate a mobile exchange program with a nonprofit agency;
Atlantic City, also working with a community AIDS organization, will
operate mobile and stationary locations, local officials said.

"Our hope, once the programs are up and running, is that people will
see it works," said Roseanne Scotti, director of the Drug Policy
Alliance of New Jersey, who helped the two cities prepare their
needle-exchange programs. "Our goal is ultimately to pass the bill."

New Jersey and Delaware are the only two states in the nation that
neither permit needle exchange nor allow over-the-counter syringe sales. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake