FINALLY, SOME SENSE ON NEEDLES

James E. McGreevey and Clifton R. Lacy are my new co-heroes. McGreevey, who
is going to be the new governor in 48 hours or so, and Lacy, the incoming
health commissioner, say they are going to start a needle-exchange program
for drug addicts in New Jersey.

It doesn't go far enough, it is 20 years late, it won't work if it is
structured too rigidly, and it could be done in by the state Legislature.
But after seven years of irrational resistance by Gov. Christie Whitman and
one year by former acting Gov. Donald DiFrancesco, the willingness of
McGreevey and Lacy to look at needle-induced AIDS for what it is - a public
health issue - is refreshing.

Dispensing clean needles and paraphernalia to junkies in exchange for
dirty, used equipment saves lives and it doesn't tempt the innocent to
start perforating themselves. That's been the experience of 174 programs in
34 states over many years. That's the position of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

That's the judgment of a host of professional health organizations,
including the very conservative American Medical Association.

Even Whitman's own hand-picked Advisory Council on AIDS endorses needle
exchanges.

Yet for seven years, none of that cut any ice with the former governor.
Needle exchanges send the "wrong message," she proclaimed. And what would
the children think of us if we inveighed against drugs on the one hand and
dispensed them with the other?

So what has sending the Right Message all these years wrought? Well, it
could be worse, I guess. We could rank 50th among the states in containing
the AIDS epidemic instead of 47th. And there are cities with worse records
than Jersey City and Newark for AIDS among women and children - two to be
exact.

Not only have we been sending the Right Message all these years, we are
operating under the Right Laws thanks to a state Legislature that thinks it
can stop people from using intravenous drugs by outlawing their means of
delivery. New Jersey is one of nine states that boldly banned the sale of
syringes without a doctor's prescription. The result here is that the price
of street needles rose to 20 or 30 times their retail cost, virtually
guaranteeing a high rate of needle sharing because people who shoot up tend
to be hard up as well.

But that's one of the unfortunate side effects of our zero-tolerance
policy. Laws that make a bad situation worse are the price a free society
pays for virtue - that and a record of 700 babies who were born HIV
positive and then went on to develop AIDS. And the No. 1 ranking for women
with AIDS.

New Jersey has a special AIDS problem. In most jurisdictions, the majority
of HIV infections are the result of sex between male homosexuals. Here just
more than half of the state's 42,000 active AIDS cases are the result of
infected needles.

You can, if you like, argue that junkies get what they deserve if they pick
up AIDS. You can, if you are so disposed, argue that women who consort with
addicts should know better. You can say that the wages of sin is death. But
nobody can contend that an unborn child had it coming, that he deserves to
be condemned to a horrible death before he is even born.

McGreevey may find that getting legislative approval for needle exchanges
is a heavy lift. Democrats, back in power after 10 years of weeping and
gnashing of teeth, are going to be skittish about being perceived as soft
on drugs. And many of the Republicans in Trenton are Whitmanesque on the
issue and eager to see Democrats labeled soft on drugs.

They should know that Connecticut revoked its ban on the over-the-counter
sale of needles 10 years ago and not a single legislative supporter was
unseated. There are miles to go before this is put to rest but it's good to
know that after Tuesday we'll be sending a new message. When you strip the
old one of all its senseless moralizing, it reads: "NJ. to Addicts: Drop Dead."