Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts, Jr.

ROBERTS PLANS ASSEMBLY FLOOR ACTION
ON NEEDLE EXCHANGES BEFORE YEAR'S END
Speaker: New Jersey's Holdout Status on Syringe Access Is a National Embarrassment

(TRENTON) -- Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr. today applauded the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee's release of legislation to allow needle exchange pilot programs in six cities and vowed that the Assembly would also take action on the syringe-access issue before the end of the year.
FOR RELEASE: October, 12, 2006\
CONTACT: Press office 609-292-7065

ROBERTS PLANS ASSEMBLY FLOOR ACTION
ON NEEDLE EXCHANGES BEFORE YEAR'S END
Speaker: New Jersey's Holdout Status on Syringe Access Is a National Embarrassment

(TRENTON) -- Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr. today applauded the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee's release of legislation to allow needle exchange pilot programs in six cities and vowed that the Assembly would also take action on the syringe-access issue before the end of the year.

Roberts (D-Camden) has been a leading voice for modernized syringe access laws in New Jersey and continues to be a moving force behind two Assembly bills that would allow municipalities to have needle exchange programs and permit consumers to purchase syringes without a doctor's prescription.

"New Jersey is behind the national curve with its syringe access laws and there is no getting around the fact that the prohibition is major contributing factor to the state's HIV/AIDS problem," said Roberts.

Roberts noted a Kaiser Family Foundation study that found 44 percent of AIDS cases in the state resulted from the sharing of contaminated needles by drug users. The Kaiser study lists the national rate as 24 percent.

Roberts said the Senate committee action is a positive development for all of the health-care advocates and concerned citizens who have sought more enlightened syringe-access policies.

"It's an embarrassment that we are behind every other state on this issue," said Roberts. "Our outdated approach is costing lives and wasting valuable health care resources."

While encouraged by today's Senate committee action, Roberts expressed disappointment that some individuals who have sought to position themselves as independent- and progressive-minded policy makers were going to such extremes as filing lawsuits in an effort to keep New Jersey as the last state to reform its syringe access laws.

Roberts noted that the Assembly approved syringe access legislation with bipartisan support during the 2004-05 legislative session.

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