Needle Exchange:
“NEEDLE EXCHANGE PROGAMS BAD PUBLIC POLICY”

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By Len Deo, President of the New Jersey Family Policy Council and a member of the Governor’s Advisory Council on AIDS.

As a member of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Aids, I strongly disagree with the Star Ledger editorial “Hurry on Needle Exchange” (Jan. 11, 2001). Giving drug addicts clean needles in hope that they will discontinue using dirty needles is flawed policy.

Other states that are attempting these needle exchange programs (NEPs) are seeing mixed results, with some communities seeing increased use of intravenous drugs and a corresponding increase in the AIDS infection rate. Further, studies that use intravenous drug users as a sampling for testing, undoubtedly stretch statistical analyses beyond any reliable cohort.

It is common sense to know that once on a drug high, addicts will continue to share used needles, and will often sell clean syringes to raise money for their addictions. That is like pouring gasoline on a fire you wish to extinguish. The decriminalization of drug paraphernalia that NEP clients use condones and enables the behavior of drug addicts, who bring their associated dangerous activities (crime, prostitution), to neighborhoods where NEPs are located.

The goal of our state should be to invest precious state funds into a program that will provide holistic results – like rehabilitation, reduction in drug use and associated crime and sexual risk behaviors, while discouraging the use of heroin and intravenous drugs. Results of the National Institute on Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study showed participants in outpatient methadone treatment reduced heroin use by 70 percent, illegal activity by 57 percent, and increased full-time work by 24 percent .

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