NEEDLE EXCHANGE SHORT-TERM ANSWER THAT RISKS SAFETY OF URBAN RESIDENTS

If this were a perfect world, there would be affordable housing,
plenty of decent paying jobs and inexpensive health care, and there
would be no HIV/AIDS.

Unfortunately, this is not a perfect world. The cost of living has
increased steadily as the unemployment rate climbed to 6.3 percent in
New Jersey this summer. More than one in eight New Jersey residents do
not have any health care coverage for themselves or their children.
And the number of those known to be living with HIV/AlDS is more than
32,000 in this state.

With so many New Jersey residents in desperate need of some kind of
assistance, it pains me to know that Gov. McGreevey, acting through an
executive order, declared a state of emergency to permit
municipalities to begin needle exchange programs. This order is a
devastating blow to my cause to keep needles off the street, but it
further fuels my fire to continue to fight for what my constituents,
as well as other urban residents in New Jersey, truly believe --
needle exchange is the wrong answer when trying to stop the spread of
HIV/AIDS.

I acknowledge that AIDS has reached epidemic proportions and something
needs to be done, but a needle exchange program will be only a
short-term solution to the ticking time bomb of HIV/AlDS infections. A
needle exchange program will explode into a real, long-term problem
for the communities in which these drug users reside. With the needle
exchange, we are handing out instruments for drug use to junkies
instead of financing programs to help seniors, children and
law-abiding citizens who have to endure the constant risk to their
public safety from living alongside dealers and addicts.

I have been an outspoken opponent of any syringe exchange bill or any
legislation that would permit the sale of needles over the counter
because I see firsthand every day the pain in the faces of urban
residents, in particular women and minorities, who are struggling to
just get by.

When I walk the streets or when I attend community meetings, I realize
I must fight for the residents who are looking for help to get off
drugs, not a free needle with which to shoot up. I realize that I must
continue to stand up for the people living on the street, who continue
to wait on ever-growing lists for affordable housing.

The legislators in Trenton should not claim to be concerned with
issues facing minorities and women when the bills they approve will
clearly lead to the demise of mostly poor urban dwellers. McGreevey,
in his last days in office, has turned his back on the democratic
process and assumed the power of the Legislature. He issued the state
of emergency in order to force a measure that was being held up for
further discussion in the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior
Citizens Committee. The Senate acknowledged the need to further
discuss and analyze the facts from other needle exchange programs, but
the actions of the governor have crushed our efforts to seek and
obtain the truth.

I want the people, as well as my fellow elected officials, to know the
truth about syringe exchange programs. I will continue to repeat how
such programs clearly show negative results from needle exchange.

The Vancouver study in the 1990s followed the same users for 10 years.
The study proved that those who were involved in the needle exchange
program were twice as likely to get infected with HIV as the people
who were not involved in the program in the first place. People in the
program were also more likely to get high and swap needles and spread
the infection, regardless of the health risks.

The startling results of the study were that deaths increased, the
program users were twice as likely to contract HIV, and drug
trafficking and other crimes increased.

As in Boston, the needle exchange program in New York's Lower East
Side was a failed program and created many problems in the area. It
has been reported that the Baltimore study -- cited by supporters of
needle exchange legislation -- has flawed and even fraudulent
statistics and now must stop collecting data.

The governor, health commissioner Clifton Lacy and supporters of
needle exchange programs arrogantly avoid the facts from the Boston
needle exchange program. Soon after a syringe program was initiated,
researchers found that Boston developed the cheapest, purest heroin in
the world and experienced a serious drug epidemic among youth. I do
not want to see this happen to New Jersey cities and their residents.

As I see it, needle exchange is just another way to condone drug use,
by making needles more accessible to those who would abuse them. The
women and minorities in New Jersey have cried out for help, and all we
offer them are needles to get high. Municipalities that are
considering offering the exchange programs are playing with fire, but
it will be the urban residents who get burned.