December 2004

Needle Exchange in the News Nationally

As one of his final acts, resigning New Jersey Governor James McGreevey signed an executive order allowing up to three cities that meet specific requirements to establish needle-exchange programs to curb disease among injection drug users. The order declares a state of emergency until December 31, 2005. Opponents have bottled up legislation in the state Senate that would have authorized such initiatives; they were passed by the New Jersey House in October. New Jersey is one of only four states that require a prescription for needle purchases and one of only two states that bans needle-exchange programs.

“In a very real way, this program will be able to take hold in communities that want it, where lawmakers have supported it, and where we can measure its effectiveness,” said state Senator Joseph Vitale, a sponsor of the stalled bills. Health officials in Camden and Atlantic City, according to the New York Times, “praised the governor for giving them the chance to carry out programs that they have been clamoring for.”

In New York, the borough of Queens will launch its first needle-exchange program in December; it will allow users to exchange an unlimited number of used needles for clean ones. The program will be run out of the AIDS Center of Queens County. Its executive director, Philip Glotzer, said the program “deals with people where they’re at, not where society wants them to be.” Needle-exchange programs have long been operating in the other New York boroughs.