Atlantic
City has become the first New Jersey municipality to challenge
the state's ban on needle-exchange programs; city-council members
recently approved an ordinance to distribute free syringes to intravenous-drug
users, the Associated Press reported June 16.
The ordinance allows Atlantic City health officials to distribute clean needles
to drug users in an effort to curb the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C. "This is
the moral, human, and correct thing to do," said City Council President Craig
Callaway.
The program could be in operation this fall. State Attorney General Peter Harvey
said he would review the city's plans before deciding whether to stop the needle
giveaway.
"Our office has serious concerns about any policy or practice which facilitates
or encourages drug use, particularly heroin or cocaine," Harvey said. "We should
be focused upon extracting men and women from drug addiction, and making resources
available for regional drug-treatment programs, particularly for people who don't
have health insurance."
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