The Times, Trenton, NJ
Copyright 2002: TheTimes

March 23, 2002

To the Editor:
The Times is to be congratulated for its March 17 front article on needle exchange (“Bridge toward prevention”).  When it comes to preventing AIDS among injecting drug users, needle exchange programs are essential.  But New Jersey has focused too much on the question of publicly funded needle exchanges.  We also need to eliminate the law that requires pharmacists to have a doctor's prescription before they can sell syringes.  New Jersey is one of only six states that require a prescription to purchase syringes.  Changing this law will make privately funded needle exchanges legal also. 

And what sense does it make to encourage people who inject drugs to use a sterile needle with each injection when, at the same time, we are arresting them for owning a syringe?  New Jersey needs to remove needles and related drug paraphernalia from New Jersey's drug paraphernalia law. With one of the highest drug-related AIDS rates in the nation, New Jersey can ill afford to ignore the scientifically based advice on AIDS prevention being given us by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Medical Association.
Dawn Day

Princeton Township
The writer is director, Dogwood Center