NO REASON TO FUND

When I ask the average New Jerseyan whether our tax dollars should be
used to give clean needles to drug addicts in the hope that they will
not spread HIV, the vast majority think the idea is preposterous.
Nevertheless, Gov. Jon S. Corzine and the state Legislature
authorized six pilot needle exchange programs (NEPs) at the end of
2006, allocating $10 million for drug treatment and leaving it up to
private entities to fund needles and paraphernalia. Yet, only months
after inception, proponents are asking the state's taxpayers to
provide funding for needle exchange programs without proof that the
pilot programs are even working.

In fact, there is still no concrete proof that a needle-exchange
scheme works to reduce the spread of HIV. A comprehensive 2006
Institute of Medicine study of NEPs states, "Evidence regarding the
effect on HIV incidence is limited and inconclusive." If proponents
seriously believe that giving out free clean needles reduces the
spread of HIV and other blood-borne diseases, then they should get
private funding to do valid scientific research. The only test
parameter that yields valid statistical data is the following: use a
sample of injection drug users who agree to use a specified NEP, test
their blood to determine negative HIV status, then after set periods
of time, test their blood again at predetermined levels to determine
whether they have contracted HIV and compare those results to a
sample of injection drug users at set intervals in the same area not
using the NEP. In the seven studies of this caliber, no evidence has
been demonstrated that NEPs effectively reduce or prevent the
transmission of HIV.

Unknown to the average taxpayer, the studies routinely quoted by NEP
proponents do not use the aforementioned quality of research,
including government agencies that espouse political support for
NEPs. Sadly, the New Jersey pilot programs will also not yield
credible results. In Newark, for example, users are questioned about
their history of HIV and drug treatment, but no testing is mandatory.
After six months, they will be questioned as to whether they are
still sharing needles, which is self-reported data from an addict.

While the push for NEP funding continues in New Jersey, consider what
is really going on regarding HIV/AIDS and injection drug use in the
state, and in NEPs elsewhere:

In New Jersey since 2003, the proportion of HIV/AIDS cases and the
number of those exposed through injection drug use is decreasing --
without the existence of NEPs -- while the proportion and number of
cases exposed through sexual contact is increasing, according to the
latest Dec. 2007 NJ HIV/AIDS report. This is all the more reason why
we must not fund NEPs, which will do nothing to address exposure to
HIV/AIDS through sexual contact.

The cost of NEPs continues to escalate. In Vancouver, since 1996 the
number of syringes distributed jumped from 128,000 to one million,
users of the NEP have increased from 545 to 2,000, and AIDS Vancouver
says it needs $585,000 -- more than double its current operating
budget -- to run an expanded NEP in a new location.

In Newark alone, a 2004 study estimated that there are more than
23,000 injection drug users, yet at the present time, there are only
200 in Newark's pilot program.

Cities where NEPs are located are badly affected. In Victoria,
Canada, junkies continue to shoot up, defecate, buy drugs and
collapse on the streets around the NEP site, while area businesses
try to shut it down. One business owner said, "Every afternoon about
4 p.m., it's like Night of the Living Dead, and it's horrible until 6 a.m."

Needles are not always "exchanged." San Francisco's NEP gave out more
than 2 million needles and received only about 70 percent back.
Needles wind up in parks, playgrounds and even people's gardens.
Golden Gate Park Recreation says that on any day, they collect about
100-200 discarded syringes.

NEPs are not an effective bridge to treatment, nor are they a
substitute for treatment. New Jersey does not even have enough
treatment facilities to meet the demand of injection drug users who
say they want treatment.

The Institute of Medicine study reveals that NEPs have even "less
impact on transmission and acquisition of hepatitis C virus than on
HIV." In San Francisco, since the existence of an NEP, rates of
hepatitis C have reached epidemic levels.

With the state of New Jersey deep in debt, there is absolutely no
reason whatsoever to consider funding controversial, unproven
needle-exchange programs. Any future allocations would be much better
spent meeting the need for more drug treatment to end the cycle of addiction.