Student activists to lobby for N.J. needle exchange program

A University activist program is gearing up to put pressure on New Jersey legislature to adopt a new bill that would increase drug users' access to sterile syringes. Ten students from Needle Exchange Today — a program under the Princeton Justice Project — will approach the Trenton City Council today about this bill which they claim would reduce HIV/AIDS and other disease infection.

Needle exchange programs (NEPs) aim to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS by providing clean needles to intravenous drug users. Needle infection has rapidly become a means of spreading infection, said Robin Williams '04, co-director of Needle Exchange Today, or NEXT.

Sterilized needles are considered drug paraphernalia and cannot be distributed without a prescription in New Jersey.

NEPs aim to provide drug users with access to clean needles because dirty needles, which are often shared, can spread disease.

In upcoming weeks, NEXT will campaign to unite municipalities in support of a bill that would bring needle exchange programs to New Jersey, one of six states without this program.

"We have tangible goals that will have a direct impact on the state," Williams said.

For the past couple of weeks, the campaign has been recruiting and preparing students to make presentations about NEPs in front of city councils.

Students have been learning by acting out possible scenarios, said Bill Potter '68, a local lawyer assisting the campaign.

NEXT delivered its first presentation Nov. 12 to the Princeton Borough Council. The council asked the Princeton Alcohol and Drug Alliance to review the information before they decide whether to support the initiative.

Williams attributed growing support of the bill to the growing HIV/AIDS problem, which he said has been particularly devastating in New Jersey.

In addition, there has been renewed support from the government, he said. Former Gov. Christie Whitman "shut the doors on NEPs," he said, but the current administration under Gov. James McGreevey, has been more receptive to a syringe access bill.

NEP legislation is controversial for many reasons. People who oppose it often maintain that the programs encourage and support drug use.

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"I think generally NEPs are for people who are in disbelief about the AIDS epidemic," said Evan Baehr '05, vice president of the College Republicans. "There are other more effective programs countering AIDS."

He challenged the efficiency of the programs, and questioned how providing needles to drug users would stop them from continuing to share needles.

"[NEPs] are the first step, and the wrong step the government should be taking," Baehr said about stopping disease infection.

Proponents of the program have decisively different views.

"Decades of research shows that NEPs don't increase drug use," Williams said. "Where do you draw the line to protect public health?"

NEXT will continue going to municipalities to show its support for bringing NEPs to New Jersey. "Hopefully there will be new legislation introduced in the upcoming weeks," Potter said.