New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey is urging the state legislature and health officials to create a program that would provide clean needles to drug users, the Associated Press reported Sept. 1.
Health Commissioner Clifton Lacy has been working with legislators and expects a plan in the upcoming weeks. "It's our intent to have this legislation crafted, moved through the legislature, and to Governor McGreevey by the end of his tenure," Lacy said.
Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex), chairman of the New Jersey Senate Health Committee, said a number of details still needed to be resolved. "We are trying to fashion a health policy through legislation that will begin to stem the tide of the HIV/AIDS crisis in New Jersey," said Vitale, a longtime supporter of needle-exchange programs.
The proposal being drafted would give municipalities the authority to offer a needle-exchange program in their town.
New Jersey has 62,752 reported cases of HIV, the fifth-highest total in the United States. About a third of the cases were a result of shared needles.