NEEDLE EXCHANGE DRAWS LOCAL CRITICISM

TRENTON -- Gov. James E. McGreevey yesterday signed an executive order
declaring a public health emergency in cities with high rates of HIV
infection due to injection drug use. The declaration allows these
communities, with municipal support, to start needle-exchange programs
to reduce the spread of HIV infection.

But the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office was far from thrilled with
the notion of drug users having access to clean needles.

"I don't know how the governor can suspend criminal law without the
Legislature doing it," said First Assistant Terence P. Farley. "The
governor doesn't have any authority to say what's a crime and what's
not a crime."

Farley said, although there would be no needle programs in Ocean
County, it would make it difficult for prosecutors here to charge
people who were part of programs in other counties with possession of
hypodermic needles.

"Once you have it in one place, it's going to be everyplace," he said.
"Every junkie on the East Coast will be going to Atlantic City now."

Of those living with AIDS in the United States, New Jersey has the
highest proportion of women. It also has the third-highest pediatric
HIV rate, the fifth-highest adult HIV rate and a rate of infection
among injection drug users significantly above the national average.

"Today, there are New Jersey communities facing a public health crisis
that cannot wait," McGreevey said in a release. "With New Jersey
ranking fifth-highest in the nation in AIDS cases, HIV/AIDS has
ravaged too many in our state.

"While communities with a high incidence of injection drug use are
being devastated by this disease, it is not just the user who is
affected. Children in these communities are, quite simply, dying for
our help. Research demonstrates that needle-exchange programs are a
powerful weapon against the spread of HIV/AIDS. Yet, in the face of
that research, New Jersey is one of only two states that provide no
access to sterile syringes to prevent the spread of the disease. That
changes today."

Under McGreevey's executive order, cities with the highest prevalence
of HIV due to injection drug use would be eligible to start a
needle-exchange program if they meet two additional criteria:
Municipal commitment and an ability to demonstrate to the state
Department of Health and Senior Services that participants would have
sufficient access to health-care facilities, social services and drug
treatment.

New Jersey and Delaware are the only two states without type of needle
exchange.

McGreevey sought to make needle exchanges part of his legacy by trying
to fast-track legislation into law before he leaves office on Nov. 15,
but the measures have fallen victim to legislative wrangling.

Health Commissioner Clifton R. Lacy testified before a Senate panel
last week that needle exchanges are a proven method of reducing the
rate of HIV infection among addicts and their sex partners.

The Assembly had already passed bills that would allow communities to
create their own needle-swapping programs and allow drug stores to
sell syringes without prescriptions.

The legislation stalled in committee in the Senate, where three
Republicans joined Democrat Ronald Rice of Essex County in opposing
the bills. Five votes are needed to move legislation through the
eight-member panel.

"It has been convincingly demonstrated that expanding access to clean
syringes decreases the sharing of needles and thereby decreases the
transmission of blood-borne diseases," Lacy said.