CITIES STOKE DEBATE BY BUCKING N.J. LAW ON NEEDLE EXCHANGE

Two-and-a-half years after Gov. James E. McGreevey took office and pledged
to legalize needle exchanges to curb the spread of HIV and AIDS, frustrated
activists and lawmakers are still waiting for a program to materialize.

Last month, governing bodies in Atlantic City and Camden, two cities
hard-hit by the virus, grew tired of waiting and passed ordinances creating
local exchange programs.

The Atlantic County prosecutor, with the support of state Attorney General
Peter Harvey, immediately challenged the move. In Camden, the
state-appointed chief operating officer, Randy Primas, has threatened to
veto it.

These are battles needle exchange advocates did not expect to fight on
McGreevey's watch.

"I am disappointed the state chose to challenge the ordinance," said
Roseanne Scotti, director of the Drug Policy Alliance of New Jersey, an
activist group that helped the cities draft the ordinances. "Municipalities
have a right to protect their citizens from epidemics and diseases. We are
talking about saving people's lives."

Still, advocates of programs to exchange drug users' contaminated needles
for clean ones are pleased the issue has been revived. The local skirmishes
have lit a fire under legislators who promise to deliver a bill McGreevey
will support.

Assembly Majority Leader Joe Roberts (D-Camden) is the latest to take up
the cause. Finding a solution will be his "summer project," he said, vowing
to introduce a bill when the Legislature returns after its summer break.

Roberts said he was troubled that the Camden and Atlantic City ordinances
appear to run counter to state law, but understands why the councils acted.

"They are trying to take matters into their own hands because they believe
the state has not taken on a leadership role," Roberts said. "Our current
policy has resulted in people losing their lives. It's intolerable."

New Jersey has more than 45,000 AIDS cases, fifth-highest in the nation.
Intravenous drug use is linked to 45 percent of the adult and teen HIV
infections, much higher than the 25 percent national rate, according to
state and federal data.

Delaware and New Jersey are the only states without legal exchange programs
or a law that allows non-prescription sale of needles.

Opponents of these programs argue they condone illegal drug use. The New
Jersey Catholic Conference, representing the state's bishops, said the
Atlantic City and Camden ordinances would endanger the public.

"Addicts will be able to walk around with needles, even in school zone
areas," said Marlene Lao-Collins, the conference's associate director. "A
better use of our tax dollars would be to establish adequate funding for
education, drug treatment, as well as anti-retroviral therapy and essential
community-based social services for recovering addicts" and their families.

Atlantic County Prosecutor Jeffrey S. Blitz has sued Atlantic City, arguing
that if the city distributes needles without prescriptions, individuals
could face arrest for "unlawfully receiving that which another component of
government has given to them."

Paul Loriquet, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, said it
supported Blitz because "currently, the law prohibits needle exchange
programs in New Jersey and we will continue to enforce the law."

Scotti, of the Drug Policy Alliance, said the cities will argue in court
that the ordinances are valid because the state law banning drug
paraphernalia does not apply to medical professionals or institutions, or
to a state or government agency.

The debate in New Jersey is at least a decade old, surfacing when
volunteers who called themselves the Chai Project (Chai is Hebrew for
"life") began running an underground exchange program in New Brunswick in
1994. After authorities arrested volunteers twice, they stopped
distributing free needles in 1998.

Then-Gov. Christie Whitman strongly objected to needle exchange, saying it
sent the wrong message -- that government condones drug use.

Since taking office in January 2002, McGreevey's position has not wavered,
said his health commissioner, Clifton Lacy. McGreevey has said he would
support a pilot program run from or by a hospital that can provide a bridge
to treatment and counseling.

"If a bill came to the governor to sign, he would sign it," Lacy said.
"There's no question these programs are beneficial. The scientific evidence
is there. And it's been shown it does not encourage drug use."

Yet bills that would put clean needles in intravenous drug users' hands
have gone nowhere. Some blame that on a lukewarm response from lawmakers
and McGreevey's administration.

"I'm not sure anyone believes there is enough votes," said Riki Jacobs,
vice chairwoman of the Governor's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS and Related
Blood-Borne Pathogens, and one of the most vocal supporters of syringe
exchange in New Jersey.

"The way (legislators) think is they are not going to push something unless
they are sure they can pass it," said Jacobs, who also is the executive
director of the Hyacinth AIDS Foundation, an advocacy and service organization.

Earlier this year, aides close to McGreevey told legislators that needle
exchange is a controversy he cannot afford right now, according to two
state sources familiar with the conversation, who spoke on condition of
anonymity.

Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex), one of the syringe bill sponsors,
acknowledged it's a thorny issue. "This will be one of the most difficult
political lifts in my seven years in the Legislature. But it's well past
time New Jersey supported exchange programs they should have had years ago."

Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Essex), a former police officer, disagrees, saying a
program that makes it easier to use illegal drugs raises public safety issues.

"Residents are saying we care about AIDS, but please, our major concern is
getting drug dealers away from our homes, our schools, our church steps, so
we can feel safe again," Rice said. "The trickle-down of giving a free
needle is (the user) still needs to go to street corners to get their
substance.

"The free needle assures people there will be a buyer."

Councilman Ali Sloan-El Sr., who sponsored the ordinance in Camden, called
Rice's viewpoint "old fashioned."

"He doesn't recognize people are in desperate need of help," Sloan-El said.
"He wants the drug dealers off the corner. It's easy to say law enforcement
can do this, but that ain't working."