N.J. NEEDS A NEEDLE-EXCHANGE PROGRAM

New Jersey needs a needle-exchange law. First, Paterson missed a
deadline to apply for a pilot needle-exchange program established by
an executive order of former Gov. James E. McGreevey. Then, just two
weeks before the program was about to start in Atlantic City and
Camden, a Mercer County Superior Court issued an injunction in
response to a challenge of McGreevey's order by seven lawmakers.

For now, the fate of the pilot program is uncertain. The Attorney
General's Office may appeal to have the injunction lifted, but
regardless, the challenge will be decided by the courts.

Instead of relying on stopgap measures and being dependent on court
rulings, New Jersey needs to enact a permanent solution to its high
rate of HIV/AIDS transmission through intravenous drug use. It is one
of just two states - the other being Delaware - that ban the
distribution of syringes without a prescription.

The scientific consensus is clear: Needle-exchange programs reduce
the rate of HIV transmission. Opponents argue that they condone bad
behavior. But with the fifth-highest rate of HIV infection in the
country, New Jersey should be more concerned with taking preventive
action than with the message it might be sending.

In addition to being legally vulnerable, McGreevey's pilot program -
which he justified by declaring a public health emergency - is narrow
in scope, applying to just three cities. And it depends on cities
being responsible enough to apply for it.

Paterson failed that test - despite the fact that sharing needles is
the No. 1 cause of the city's HIV transmission. Paterson also has the
third-highest number of HIV patients in the state, 35 percent of whom
contracted the disease from sharing needles.

But Mayor Jose "Joey" Torres made a unilateral decision not to apply
for the pilot program, which he personally opposes. He said he
couldn't go ahead without first getting input from the city's
residents, yet made no effort to do so before the May 6 application
deadline passed.

Last October, the state Assembly passed a needle-exchange bill. Since
then, the bill has languished in a Senate committee, thanks to the
opposition of four Republicans and one Democrat.

Meanwhile, at least two New Jerseyans a day are becoming infected
from sharing needles, according to the Drug Policy Alliance of New Jersey.

More than half of the state's HIV cases originated from addicts using
contaminated needles. The state's rate of transmission as a result of
intravenous drug use is twice the national average. The drug users
spread the disease to their sexual partners and their children - one
of the main reasons New Jersey has the highest rate of HIV infection
among women in the country and the third-highest among children.

Most of those infected are minorities. One out of 50 blacks is
HIV-positive. Statewide, 75 percent of those with HIV/AIDS are minorities.

To those people, it is certainly a public-health emergency.

Opponents of needle-exchange programs argue that they increase
dependency on drugs, but science says otherwise. They argue that the
focus should be on treatment and counseling, but needle-exchange
programs can be effective vehicles for steering people to treatment.

It is time to stop the excuses and start saving lives.