TRENTON -- Five of the 12 eligible cities have applied to the state Department of Health and Senior Services to begin pilot needle exchange programs. Up to six municipalities could receive permission to start needle exchange programs -- hoped to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS and other diseases among intravenous drug users -- provided they exceed certain statistics: 350 residents with HIV/AIDS and a prevalence rate attributable to drug use of more than 300 per 100,000 residents. Of the 12 cities that meet the criteria, Camden and Atlantic City, which have long sought exchange programs, applied, along with Newark, Paterson and Trenton. Asbury Park, New Brunswick, Plainfield, East Orange, Elizabeth, Irvington and Jersey City did not. [continues 617 words]
TRENTON -- Five of the 12 eligible cities have applied to the state Department of Health and Senior Services to begin pilot needle exchange programs. Up to six municipalities could receive permission to start needle exchange programs -- hoped to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS and other diseases among intravenous drug users -- provided they exceed certain statistics: 350 residents with HIV/AIDS and a prevalence rate attributable to drug use of more than 300 per 100,000 residents. Of the 12 cities that meet the criteria, Camden and Atlantic City, which have long sought exchange programs, applied, along with Newark, Paterson and Trenton. Asbury Park, New Brunswick, Plainfield, East Orange, Elizabeth, Irvington and Jersey City did not. [continues 516 words]
TRENTON -- Cities would be allowed to set up programs giving drug addicts access to clean needles under a measure passed by the Legislature yesterday that has the support of Gov. Jon S. Corzine. Both the Senate and Assembly approved the measure, which allows up to six New Jersey communities to set up clean-needle-exchange programs and provides $10 million of state funding for drug-abuse-treatment programs. The measure passed 23-16 in the Senate and 49-27 with four abstentions in the Assembly, where the debate was not nearly as fierce or lengthy. [continues 310 words]
TRENTON -- Cities would be allowed to set up programs giving drug addicts access to clean needles under a measure passed by the Legislature Monday that has the support of Gov. Corzine. Both the Senate and Assembly approved the measure, which allows up to six New Jersey communities -- not yet identified -- to set up clean needle exchange programs and provides $10 million of state funding for drug abuse treatment programs. The measure passed 23 to 16 in the Senate and 49 to 27, with four abstentions, in the Assembly, where the debate was not nearly as fierce or long. [continues 301 words]
Trenton -- Following a long and controversial route, two bills that would give intravenous drug users access to clean needles may be approved by the Senate health committee next week. The Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee will meet Monday to consider a pair of bills that would allow anyone to buy syringes without a prescription and allow municipalities to set up needle exchange programs. Needle exchange has been pushed by state lawmakers for more than a decade but hasn't been able to get through the Legislature, leaving New Jersey as the only state without a program despite the support of Gov. Jon S. Corzine, Senate President Richard J. Codey, D-West Orange, and Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts, D-Camden. [continues 251 words]
TRENTON -- Before he was a famous TV personality, Montel Williams had a career in the Navy and started an anti-drug program for children. So Williams choked up Thursday while testifying before the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee about how only marijuana -- not prescribed painkillers -- have helped ease the pain multiple sclerosis has dealt him since 1999. "I'm not only the poster child for MS around the world; I'm the poster child for pot," Williams said. "What angers me so much is that all people consider me a dopehead when all I want to do is wake up in the morning and go to work without pain." [continues 507 words]
