Elected Officials Neglect AIDS Crisis
By Diana McCague
Director, Chai Project, New Brunswick, NJ

On October 21, in an unprecedented display of solidarity in grief, a
procession of more than 100 mothers some of whom are living with AIDS,
others whose children have been infected with HIV, and still more who are
raising children orphaned by AIDS marched to the statehouse in Trenton.
They came to educate our elected officials about the devastation that
injectionrelated AIDS has wrought upon their families. Some spoke of
raising children to adulthood, only to lose them AIDS. Others told of
having been in intimate relationships and of discovering too late that
their partners had a history of injecting drugs and that they themselves
had become infected. Still more spoke of raising children whose natural
parents are living with or who have died of AIDS. These women opened their
hearts, giving all of New Jersey the opportunity to see their grief, hoping
that it might make a difference in the lives of others. Others whose
families, perhaps, might otherwise be touched by this preventable scourge.

The Mothers March was the result of the work of a coalition of
organizations including the ACLU, N.O.W. New Jersey, the New Jersey Public
Health Association, the Hyacinth AIDS Foundation, and the Chai Project,
along with churches, communitybased organizations and professional
associations. It was a collaborative effort to bring New Jersey closer to
the end of the horror caused by the lack of sufficient access to drug
treatment and clean syringes. The Centers for Disease Control estimates
that there are 46,000 injection drug users in the state of New Jersey who
are not yet infected with HIV. The number of loved ones parents,
spouses, children and friends yet to be affected is uncountable. The
widespread establishment of syringe exchange programs, and expanded access
to drug treatment in New Jersey, would undoubtedly spare other families the
suffering, grief and death which thousands of others have experienced.

As of June, 1997, more than 21,000 New Jersey residents had been infected
by injectionrelated HIV. At and estimated costs of $120,000 per
diagnosis, the state has already obligated itself to more than two billion
dollars of taxpayer money for their medical care alone. Of greater import
is the emotional and spiritual impact on the families and communities of
those needlessly infected. So the mothers marched to ask for the
legislative and budgetary changes which would undoubtedly spare many others
the unspeakable and preventable burden which they carried with them every
step of the way.

But alas, their pleas went unheeded. Governor Whitman's response, issued
within hours of the event, was, as is her history on these issues,
simultaneously obtuse and dishonest. She said, "Illegal drug use is at the
heart of the crimes that are committed in New Jersey. Providing drug
addicts with the means to inject drugs runs absolutely counter to
everything we've done to bring crime down to a 23year low in New Jersey."
This rhetoric was hardly surprising in the middle of a campaign in which
the Governor is fighting for her political future. It was, however, a
depressing reminder of how little the lives of New Jersey residents, at
risk because of current state policy which she has steadfastly refused to
change, mean to her in relation to her political aspirations. New York
City, despite being home to eight legally sanctioned and state funded
needle exchange programs, is experiencing a drop in their crime rate
similar to New Jersey's. So, where is the connection between crime rates
and access to clean injection equipment? There simply isn't one. The
Governor, claiming to "feel deeply for those who have lost [family members]
to AIDS," continues to produce baseless halftheories to support her
irresponsible policies concerning New Jersey's injectionrelated AIDS
epidemic.

What about budgeting to create more drug treatment slots? If we are to
accept Whitman's assertion that she is concerned about the correlation
between substance use and crime, then she's made the case for us. Surely
allowing those who are drug dependent easy access to drug treatment is
exactly what this state needs. Those in treatment are at decreased risk
for infection with HIV at the same time that they are engaging in less
criminal activity. It just does not make sense to put more and more money
into building new prisons and expanding the old ones, while there is a
shortage of openings for drug treatment which, in addition to being more
costeffective than prison space, would make some of those expenditures
unnecessary. Can it be that Governor Whitman believes that our families
and communities are better served when our children, siblings and parents
are incarcerated when they are receiving treatment for what is acknowledged
to be a health problem?

The mothers who marched as well as those who came to share their stories of
grief, courage, and faith in God, came not to benefit themselves as they
are already victims of New Jersey's flawed policies. They came instead to
help prevent other mothers across New Jersey from becoming victims as well.
Their voices and their message deserve to be heard, the warning inherent
in their plight needs to be heeded. These mothers, from all across the
cultural and economic spectrum, came and spoke and pleaded and cried in the
hope that they could convince the political leaders of our state to save
the thousands of others who will otherwise join their grieving ranks. What
they got was political rhetoric and the assurance that next year, and the
year after that, all of New Jersey will be listening to the stories of
other mothers whose grief and whose loss our leaders have failed to
prevent.