N.J. LEGISLATURE EXPECTED TO BACK NEEDLE EXCHANGE

TRENTON -- The state Senate Health Committee will vote Monday on
legislation that would allow needle-exchange programs in New Jersey.

New Jersey is the only state in the country that does not allow the
sale of clean needles -- either at pharmacies or through exchange
programs -- as a way to combat the spread of HIV. Delaware adopted
needle exchanges before the Legislature's summer break.

State Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, who chairs the Senate Health
Committee, said last month he would not bring the bill up for a vote
until it had the necessary support. Needle-exchange bills have been
stalled in the state Senate Health Committee for more than two years.

"Based on some conversations I've had, several of the members are
open-minded and will listen to testimony," Vitale said. "I think a
majority will support it."

The committee will vote on two bills, both sponsored by Vitale. One
would authorize municipalities to adopt needle-exchange programs, the
other would allow pharmacies to sell as many as 10 syringes without a
prescription.

Atlantic City officials went to court, unsuccessfully, to try to
start their own needle-exchange program in 2004. Assemblyman Frank
Blee and state Sen. Bill Gormley, both R-Atlantic, have sponsored
needle-exchange legislation since 2004.

Needle-exchange opponents claim the program remains unproven and
condones illegal drug use. One state Senate Health Committee member,
state Sen. Ronald Rice, D-Essex, compared needle-exchange programs to
the Holocaust.

Advocates contend the programs give intravenous drug users the
opportunity to seek help for their addiction or, at the least,
acquire clean needles to help avoid contracting HIV and infecting
others. Gov. Jon S. Corzine has called on the Legislature to pass
needle-exchange legislation several times during his first year in
office and calls the science supporting the program indisputable.

"This is an important bill for the governor and he is pleased that
the legislative process is working," Corzine spokesman Anthony Coley said.

Should the bill pass the Senate, it would likely move quickly through
the Assembly, where Speaker Joseph Roberts Jr., D-Camden, Gloucester,
sponsored a pair of needle-exchange bills that were approved by the
lower house in September 2004.

"I think the governor's support, and Sen. (Richard J.) Codey and
Speaker Roberts' support, and the fact that we're now the last state
with no access to clean syringes, has really brought people around to
the fact that we need to do something," said Roseanne Scotti,
director of the New Jersey Drug Policy Alliance. "This is our chance
to start fighting the battle against AIDS with all the tools at our
disposal. We've been fighting this battle with one hand tied behind our backs."