PASSAIC'S NEEDLE EXCHANGE PROGRAMS GET COLD SHOULDER

PASSAIC -- It's a good example of how an urban myth can get in the
way of rational policymaking.

Last week, the Passaic City Council stymied a proposal that would
have paved the way for the Passaic Alliance, the city's only free
health care and outreach center, to establish a sterile syringe
access program, commonly known as a needle exchange.

"My concern is we might be opening up a Pandora's Box, people coming
from all over getting clean syringes," said Councilman Gerry
Fernandez at a council session. "I am leery (of) doing something
that's going to bring a lot of undesirable people into the city."

Councilman Chaim Munk echoed Fernandez, when he asked: "By putting
this out there, are we attracting people into Passaic, obviously
these people are not law-abiding citizens, like a magnet?"

Such comments came from local politicians, despite an onslaught of
social science evidence from the World Health Organization and
Centers for Disease Control that shows needle exchange programs do
not promote drug use, or encourage first-time users, or increase
crime. On the contrary, research suggests needle exchange programs
help address public health threats such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis,
both of which can be spread through dirty needles. And according to
Passaic Alliance Director Thomas Fischetti, such programs help
recruit intravenous drug users into treatment programs.

"It's been demonstrated that more people get into treatment, it has
slowed down the spread of HIV/AIDS and there are less discarded
syringes around the parks and streets," Fischetti said.

He added that legalizing needles is also safer for cops because it
reduces the chances of getting stuck by a hidden syringe during a
drug arrest, because it makes people less fearful about possession.

The rhetoric at Passaic City Hall represents a glimpse of what has
been years of political backlash against the very idea of needle
exchanges in New Jersey. In 2005, Paterson Mayor Jose "Joey" Torres,
said that although the city's health officer and the county's HIV
planning council favored needle exchanges, he decided not to apply
for a state pilot needle exchange program because he was unsure of
public opinion.

"As a policymaker, I do understand the argument that was made by our
health-care professionals," Torres said at the time. "I will not do
it without taking it to the public."

Passaic's rejection comes in the wake of the passage of New Jersey's
landmark legislation to inaugurate six needle exchange pilot programs
in New Jersey cities last December.

At one time, New Jersey was the only state without a needle exchange
program or that did not allow syringes to be sold without a
prescription. For 13 years, advocates of needle exchanges battled
state lawmakers who held similar convictions about the relationship
of needle exchange programs and drug-related criminal activity, as
the HIV/AIDS public health crisis mounted.

By 2005, as one of his last acts in office, former Gov. James E.
McGreevey signed an executive order permitting the state Department
of Health and Senior Services to set up needle exchanges in three
municipalities -- reigniting the debate over whether to adopt
permanent legislation.

In a September letter to the state Legislature urging passage of the
bill, Dr. Fred M. Jacobs, commissioner of the Department of Health
and Senior Services, wrote it would "unconscionable" not to adopt the
legislation after considering the public health facts.

As of 2005, New Jersey had the fifth highest number of cumulative
AIDS and HIV cases nationwide -- about 67,155 cases, of which 41
percent came from sharing needles, according to the Department of
Health and Senior Services.

"The people who have this opinion, I don't doubt their sincerity,"
said Jacobs in a phone interview. "But their concerns are not
substantiated by data. There is no hard evidence that (needle
exchange) promotes drug use and crime."

Fischetti told the Passaic council last week that adopting an
enabling ordinance would allow the alliance to apply for funding from
the state to operate an existing program that serves 98 city
intravenous drug users infected with HIV or AIDS.