Session Urges New Jersey Government to Act to Prevent the Spread of HIV/AIDS Among New Jerseyeans Who Inject Drugs

Last summer the Mission Committee decided it was time to study the problem of the spread of HIV/AIDS among injecting drug users in New Jersey. This occurred in the context of the considerable discussion going on in the New Jersey legislature about instituting needle exchange in our state.

Needle exchange programs offer injecting drug users an opportunity to exchange their used needles for sterile ones, thus preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS among injecting drug users, their sexual partners, and newborn children. Here in New Jersey, the Governorâ??s Advisory Council of HIV/AIDS and Related Blood-Borne Pathogens, the Medical Society of New Jersey, and other state-wide professional health associations have all supported legal needle access as have our national public health leaders including the American Medical Association, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Academy of Science and Institute of Medicine.

Needle access programs have been shown to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS without increasing injection drug use. A recent study found that cities with such programs report a 29 percent decrease in the spread of HIV/AIDS among their intravenous drug using population and that cities without such programs report a 5 percent increase in the incidence of HIV/AIDS.

New Jersey has the fourth highest AIDS mortality rate of any state in the nation with more than half of the cases stemming from injection use. New Jersey is one of only two states without any legal access to sterile needles.

Considering all these facts, the Mission Committee drafted a resolution calling upon the Acting Governor of New Jersey, Richard H. Codey, and the members of the Legislature of New Jersey to enact legislation making legal the use and distribution of clean needles to deter and retard the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The resolution, brought forth with the unanimous support of the Mission Committee, was passed unanimously by the Session.

Questions and comments on the topic are welcomed by the staff and Tom Charles, Bob Duncan, and John Thurber (co-chairs of the Mission Committee).