LEADERSHIP NEEDED ON AIDS

Intravenous drug users who are infected with H.I.V. by sharing needles
with other addicts -- and can pass on the infection to sexual partners
and unborn children -- have accounted for more than a third of the AIDS
cases in the United States. Drug treatment and safe-sex awareness
programs are crucial to fighting the epidemic. But so are common-sense
programs that supply addicts with clean needles while they wait,
sometimes for years, for treatment.

Most states have permitted needle-exchange projects, prompted by
studies showing that they slow the spread of the AIDS virus without
spreading drug addiction. But five states still consider it a crime to
distribute syringes without a prescription. One of the laggards is New
Jersey, where the rate of AIDS transmission through intravenous drug
use is nearly twice the national average. Drug-related infections are
ravaging Camden, Newark, Jersey City and especially Atlantic City,
where one in 40 people is said to be infected with H.I.V. Two state
senators have drafted a bill that would let communities create
needle-exchange programs.

Such programs could save hundreds, if not thousands, of lives in New
Jersey's drug-infested cities. But Gov. James McGreevey, who is on
record as supporting needle-exchange programs in principle, has not
come out in support of the bill, perhaps fearing an election-year
backlash from conservatives.

Mr. McGreevey should realize that lives are at stake -- and show some
leadership.