Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts, Jr.

ASSEMBLY PANEL CLEARS ROBERTS
NEEDLE EXCHANGE MEASURE
Speaker Says Action Necessary to Combat Rising HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C Rates

(TRENTON) -- The Assembly Appropriations Committee today approved bipartisan legislation Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr. sponsored to allow needle exchange pilot programs in six cities across New Jersey.The proposed law would enable the state to join the other 49 state that have embraced more progressive syringe-access laws in an effort to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS and other bloodborne diseases.

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

"New Jersey stands at the top of the list of states struggling to control the spread of HIV/AIDS, yet our syringe-access laws are completely out of step with the times," said Roberts. "Today's committee action could be a turning point that may allow this state to do a better job of saving lives. This is a positive development that could put New Jersey back into the mainstream of other states that have approved clean needle exchanges and other strategies to reduce the transmission of AIDS among drug addicts, their partners and children."

According to statistics from the Kaiser Family Foundation, New Jersey alarmingly ranks among the top five states in three categories: number of residents living with HIV/AIDS, annual number of new HIV/AIDS cases, and rate of infections among women. The use of dirty needles among intravenous drug users is cited as a leading cause of the spread of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C in New Jersey.

The measure (A-1852) -- the “Bloodborne Disease Harm Reduction Act� -- would allow six municipalities to voluntarily establish state-regulated needle-exchange programs through which intravenous drug users could turn in dirty needles and acquire new sterile syringes. The measure appropriates $10 million for the pilot program.

The bipartisan measure also is sponsored Assemblymembers Frank Blee, Reed Gusciora, Wilfredo Caraballo, Peter Barnes, and Alfred Steele.

Roberts noted how the Massachusetts Legislature and the State of Delaware took action this past summer to make sterile syringes more readily available to their citizens. He said New Jersey now stands as the last state in the nation that blocks all access to clean syringes other than through a doctor-issued prescription.

Roberts said New Jersey's dubious distinction as the lone state holdout on improving its syringe access laws is causing the state to squander health care dollars while exacerbating disease infection rates and premature deaths of women and children.

Roberts advanced bipartisan legislation to modernize New Jersey's syringe access laws in the previous 2004-05 legislative session, but his bills were not enacted before the term expired. He applauded Governor Jon S. Corzine's advocacy for syringe access, noting that "Governor Corzine's support not only has been laudatory, but it is absolutely necessary if there is going to be any prospects for changing our syringe access laws."

The bill was released 8 - 4 with one abstention. Roberts said he would post the measure for a floor vote as soon as possible.

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FOR RELEASE:
December 4, 2006

CONTACT:
Speaker Roberts
Derek Roseman
(609) 292-7065