A NEEDLE EXCHANGE IS SOUND PUBLIC POLICY

New Jersey has the highest rate of women living with AIDS in the nation and
is one of just two states that prohibit needle exchange programs and
over-the-counter pharmacy syringe sales. So it's no coincidence that 46
percent of all HIV cases in New Jersey are transmitted through injection
drug use.

State residents have paid a high price for the tough-on-drug-paraphernalia
stance of former Gov. Christie Whitman. With 44,613 AIDS cases reported to
the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as of June 2002, New
Jersey ranks fifth nationally in the total number of AIDS cases.

Needle exchange programs have been shown to reduce the spread of HIV without
increasing drug use. They also serve as a bridge to drug treatment for an
especially hard-to-reach population.

Such exchange programs are supported by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Medical
Association, the American Bar Association and the American Public Health
Association. The good news is that Gov. James E. McGreevey has voiced
support for a pilot needle exchange program in New Jersey. The bad news is
that syringe access remains controversial.

The prospect of a state-sanctioned needle exchange program is sure to
inspire heated debate in the Legislature. When it comes to drug policy, far
too many elected officials continue to put politics before public health.
Shameless tough-on-drugs politicians have built careers on confusing the
drug war's collateral damage with drugs themselves.

Any attempts to limit the supply of illegal drugs while demand remains
constant only increase the profitability of trafficking. For addictive drugs
like heroin, a spike in street prices leads desperate addicts to increase
criminal activity to feed their habits. The drug war fuels crime.

When politics trump science, people die. Centers for Disease Control
researchers estimate that 57 percent of AIDS cases among women and 36
percent of overall AIDS cases in the country are linked to injection drug
use or sex with partners who inject drugs. This easily preventable public
health crisis is a direct result of zerotolerance laws that restrict access
to clean syringes.

Studies by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Johns Hopkins
University show the sale of syringes in pharmacies would reduce infections
among injection drug users by half and protect the health of law enforcement
officers as well. It's not just the lower HIV rates that keep cops safer.
When syringe access isn't restricted, drug users are less likely to carry
and reuse dirty needles. That means police officers are less likely to
suffer a contaminated needle stick when patting down a suspect.

Allowing drug users to purchase clean needles in pharmacies without a
prescription has the added benefit of not costing taxpayers a dime. A bill
sponsored by Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Princeton) would allow syringes to
be sold in New Jersey.

Regardless of whether it's an exchange program or an over-the-counter
system, access to clean needles is critical. There is far more at stake than
the health of drug users. New Jersey has the third-highest number of
pediatric AIDS cases, with 95 percent resulting from perinatal transmission
from mother to fetus. Many of these mothers would not have AIDS if clean
syringes had been available.

Seen purely in terms of public health, syringe access for intravenous drug
users is clearly an appropriate strategy. Like it or not, drug use is here
to stay, and prohibitive syringe regulation is a prime example of big
government making things worse. In the interest of containing the HIV
epidemic, let's hope tough-on-drugs politicians acknowledge the drug war's
tremendous collateral damage sooner rather than later. Drug abuse is bad,
but the drug war is worse.