Drug users need clean needles

When a community of intravenous drug users has no access to clean, sterile syringes HIV, Hepatitis and other blood borne pathogens will spread like wildfire (i.e.: New Jersey) On the other hand, if "IDUs" have access to sterile syringes, the spread of disease is greatly reduced (i.e.: the rest of the country).

Nationally, drug use accounts for 25 percent of new HIV infections, but in New Jersey this number is over 50 percent, according to the 2002 New Jersey HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report. There is a clear correlation between syringe access and HIV transmission rates. It is not coincidence that New Jersey is the most restrictive state in terms of syringe access and the most dangerous state in terms of female HIV transmission.

Why is it that New Jersey has implemented every roadblock possible to keep IDUs from getting clean syringes? The short answer is that the state wanted to look tough on crime and, like the rest of the country, it bought the whole "War on Drugs" thing hook line and sinker.

At times it can be nice to play pretend and ignore reality, but in terms of effective policy decisions we have to take off the blinders. I do not support intravenous drug use. I would prefer that heroin, cocaine, crystal meth, etc. did not exist. I would prefer even more that the conditions leading to the abuse of such substances did not exist. But they do, and we have to appreciate the facts.

There is an important difference between being tough on crime and being tough on drugs, though. Unfortunately in this country because we have declared drug use "criminal," we have more people in jail than all of Europe combined. In fact we incarcerate a greater percentage of our own people than any other country in the world. Two million folks in jail! Half of the offenses related to drugs, most of them nonviolent. And of course, the majority of these inmates are low-income and nonwhite because they are targeted by our arcane drug laws. If you do not think this is draining the economy (and morally revolting) I would like to know why. We should be tough on crime and we should be tough on drug abuse — but the two are not synonymous.

Substance addiction is a disease and should be approached within the realm of public health. Much can be done to reduce the consequences of drug abuse without encouraging more use or initiating new users. A harm reduction approach — one that meets people where they are and focuses on progress instead of ultimatums — is key.

Blocking access to clean needles will not keep IDUs from shooting up. It will keep them from shooting up safely. Current users throughout New Jersey now scavenge for discarded needles, share with other users, and some buy black market needles for $5 (or more) on the street. It is important to point out that needle exchange programs — "NEPs" — and syringe access do not increase drug use. The Princeton-based Dogwood Center reports that six federally commissioned studies, two surgeon generals (under Bush I and Clinton), and every major health establishment to review the issue have concurred: syringe access does not increase drug use.

Making sure that IDUs can buy clean syringes from pharmacies or exchange dirty ones for clean ones at professionally run and monitored programs helps to reduce the spread of disease without increasing drug use. It is a no-brainer. A 1997 study in the internationally eminent medical journal The Lancet found that cities with needle exchange decrease HIV transmission rates, and that cities without them watch as transmission rates continue to increase. There really is no need for confusion — syringe access saves lives, saves money and does not increase drug use.

Fortunately, it looks like New Jersey may join the rest of the country in entering the 21st century after all. State Assembly Bill A3645 (which you can find online at http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/) will take syringes off the list of prohibited paraphernalia, thus allowing the purchase and possession of a syringe without a prescription. This bill will come up for a vote in the next few months and with its passage (or possible non-passage), New Jersey will seal its fate. New Jersey politicians need to hear how important this vote is and they need to learn the facts.

In 1996 a bill was introduced that would have established needle exchange programs in this state. If implemented statewide, New Jersey would have saved over 2,400 lives, over $600 million, and reduced the number of drug users, drug related crimes and dirty needles on the streets. However the bill was not passed, these people are dead or dying, the money is gone, and things are a mess. Now the state gets another chance.

A person with HIV costs over $200,000 in lifetime medical care. A clean syringe costs 8 cents. As the Drug Policy Alliance says, "The math is simple. So is the solution."

Robin Williams is a Wilson School major from Greenboro, N.C.