AN ACT OF DEFIANCE

The chief health officer in Atlantic City is fed up. He has watched
too many drug addicts contract AIDS from using dirty syringes, and he
has seen too many of them die slow and horrifying deaths.

So he has decided to break the law by passing out clean needles. His
name is Ron Cash, and he says he will probably begin in a few months,
even if the state backs up its threats to put him in jail. The mayor
of Atlantic City, Lorenzo Langford, is solidly behind him, as is the
city council.

Our hope is that this civil disobedience in Atlantic City causes a
crisis that forces the leaders of this state to re-examine their
medieval attitude toward needle exchange programs. If Cash goes
through with this, count him as a modern hero.

New Jersey has lost roughly 30,000 people to the AIDS epidemic. Most
of them were drug addicts or their sex partners, along with some of
their children. It is a tragedy of epic proportions, and it's going on
quietly, under our noses. Even now, with effective drugs available to
all, more than 1,000 people a year are dying of AIDS in this state.

If any other infectious disease were causing this kind of havoc, the
state would take drastic measures to halt its spread. Yet in New
Jersey today, it is illegal to get a needle without a prescription
from a doctor. That creates a predictable shortage on the street,
leading addicts to share.

New Jersey is among the last states to cling to this policy. Some
states allow pharmacies to sell needles over the counter; others have
established programs that provide clean needles for free and use that
lure to direct addicts into treatment, an approach that is far more
humane and constructive.

By now, both types of programs have been studied to death. The
evidence is overwhelming that they save lives. Former Gov. Christie
Whitman fended off pressure to establish a clean-needle program by
establishing a commission of prominent experts to give her advice. Its
conclusion was the same as the others: Needle exchange programs save
lives and do not encourage wider drug use.

Still, Whitman did nothing, saying she didn't want to send a message
that the government tolerates drug abuse. Candidate James E. McGreevey
came along and promised that things would change. But he's done
nothing either. Meanwhile, the bodies keep piling up, and the
infections keep spreading.

Cash sees this up close every day. He wonders what message the
politicians in Trenton are trying to send. So do we.

To break the law is an extreme measure. But this is an extreme
situation. "I'm going ahead with this one way or another," Cash says.
"I've seen it devastate this community. I've seen it even with family
and friends. Hopefully, reasonable minds will prevail."

There was a glimpse of that last week. Sens. Nia Gill and Joe Vitale,
both Democrats, drafted a bill that would allow municipalities to
establish needle exchange programs. That would at least remove the
state roadblock, potentially saving many lives in the hardest-hit
cities like Atlantic City, Jersey City, Newark and Camden.

The governor hasn't taken a position on the bill yet. But the sponsors
are going to need his help because even this modest measure faces a
steep climb. Our hope is that the governor throws himself into this
and uses the opportunity to redeem himself on this critical public
health issue.