Legal Syringe Exchanges Begin Operation In New Jersey

The first legal syringe exchanges in the state of New Jersey began operation recently.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on Jan. 30, 2008 ("Getting Out the Word on Needle Exchange") that "In the two weeks since it launched, only seven people have signed up for the Camden Area Health and Education Center syringe-exchange program, in a city with more than its share of intravenous drug users. Camden County ranks among the top in the state for drug abusers, with 1,516 heroin and opiate users alone seeking help in 2006, according to the New Jersey Substance Abuse Monitoring System. The state had more than 22,053 people who sought treatment for heroin abuse that year. The city of Camden ranks ninth among New Jersey municipalities for residents infected with HIV/AIDS, which is commonly transmitted among intravenous drug users by sharing needles. As of June 30, 2005, there were 1,384 cases in the city, according to the New Jersey Division of HIV/AIDS Services. Newark leads the state with 12,720. Camden's is the second syringe-exchange program to open in New Jersey since passage of legislation last year aimed at reducing the spread of blood-borne diseases among intravenous drug users. The state was the last in the country to legalize needle exchanges. Philadelphia already offers the service."

According to the Inquirer, "In Atlantic City, a needle exchange opened in a drop-in HIV counseling center in November and has already registered 170 people in a state-mandated database. Exchanges are also set to open in Paterson and Newark. Part of the Atlantic City program's allure is that it is run by an established treatment facility. That exchanges are made indoors and there are free coffee and doughnuts doesn't hurt, either. In Camden, the service is run out of a van and offers only the warm hearts of workers and fresh needles."

The Inquirer noted that "In Camden, the program has drawn much less scrutiny than a proposal to move a methadone clinic from near Cooper University Hospital to a site just a few hundred yards from the needle-exchange van. On Monday, members of Camden's Sacred Heart Church gathered to oppose the relocation of the Parkside Recovery Methadone Clinic. But they had little to say about the exchange. 'The exchange is run very well and can save lives,' said Msgr. Michael Doyle of Sacred Heart, who has been in Camden for 40 years. 'This is where the drug people are,' he said, explaining that the exchange saves lives, but that he believed methadone clinics perpetuate addiction. He said he thought that moving the methadone clinic would concentrate the problems of all of Camden County in an area of the city that has struggled for years to remake itself."