Needle exchange starting in N.J.

ATLANTIC CITY - Bobby Jones, a self-described heroin addict, had never been to the Oasis Drop-In Center on Tennessee Avenue before.

But last month, when word on the street spread that the social service agency was offering drug users salvation in the form of the state's first legal needle-exchange program, Jones was among those lined up at the former union hall waiting for clean syringes.

Outside of an authorized needle-exchange program, possessing hypodermic syringes without a prescription is illegal.

With intravenous drug users and their sexual partners contracting AIDS at a growing rate, health advocates say that providing clean needles nationwide - no questions asked - could help save hundreds of millions of dollars in medical costs and prevent the spread of the disease to thousands of people in the drug-using community and beyond.

"Maybe this is a start to getting me on the right path again," said Jones, 43, who lives on the street and in Atlantic City homeless shelters.

"I know I've been going the wrong way in my life, but I need to stay as healthy as I can while I make my way to getting things right," he said.

Oasis, where Jones has obtained needles since Nov. 27, is run by the South Jersey AIDS Alliance, which offers free HIV testing and counseling, drug-treatment referrals, AIDS education and other services.

Needle-exchange programs remain controversial. Critics say they appear to condone, or even promote, illegal drug use. In public health circles, however, they are considered invaluable in preventing transmission of hepatitis and HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

New Jersey became the nation's last state to institute a needle-exchange program when Gov. Corzine signed the measure into law last year, according to Roseanne Scotti, director of the Drug Policy Alliance of New Jersey.

Camden is scheduled to begin its program next month, with Newark and Paterson to follow this winter, Scotti said.

The need is great, she said. New Jersey ranks fifth in the nation in total number of reported adult HIV cases, third in pediatric HIV cases. And it has the highest proportion of women infected with HIV in the nation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Proponents of New Jersey's exchange program say an estimated 45 percent of all new HIV cases reported in the state involve infection caused by drug users sharing contaminated syringes.