THE WAR ON DRUGS: NEEDLE EXCHANGE STUDIES MISREAD

Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Thomas Farley recently responded to
a letter from a supporter of syringe exchange, saying the writer was
badly misinformed. It is Farley who is misinformed. Let me address the
major points.

Every major professional, medical and scientific body that has
reviewed the research, including the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, the American Medical Association, the National Academy of
Sciences, the American Public Health Association, and the National
Institutes of Health Consensus Panel, has concluded that needle
exchange reduces the spread of HIV and does not increase drug use.

Farley ignores all this evidence, while citing two studies done in
Montreal and Vancouver to support his contention that needle exchange
is ineffective. Opponents of needle exchange have been citing these
two studies for years, and it is time to put this argument to rest.
There is no better way to do this than to go to the experts -- the
authors of the studies. In a 1998 editorial in the New York Times,
they stated, "As the authors of the Canadian studies, we must point
out these officials have misinterpreted our research.' The authors
explained their research, concluding, "Clearly these (needle exchange)
efforts can work."

Farley claims that New Jersey is in the mainstream in having laws
"dealing with needle possession and use." What he fails to point out
is that most states have laws that allow for access to syringes to
prevent the spread of disease. Only two states -- New Jersey and
Delaware -- allow for no access whatsoever.

Farley sought to refute the economic efficacy of needle exchange. The
bottom line is that lifetime AIDS care costs about $227,000. Each
infection prevented would save taxpayers that amount. Allowing for
syringe access could save New Jersey taxpayers millions of dollars in
avoided medical costs and thousands of lives.

Dr. Robert Heimer, an associate professor at the Yale School of
Medicine and a board member of the Chai Project in New Brunswick joins
me in this letter.

Roseanne Scotti,

Director, New Jersey Drug Policy Project,

Trenton