NJ Needle Exchange Program Gains Support From Gov. Murphy

TRENTON, NJ — Gov. Phil Murphy recently took a step toward combating the opioid crisis in announcing support for a bill that would increase access to sterile needle exchange services across the Garden State.

S-3009, the bill that could land on Murphy’s desk this fall, would allow the state Department of Health to independently establish harm reduction centers in New Jersey.

The state now boasts seven harm reduction centers, sites that serve to distribute clean needles to intravenous drug users, provide public health information and connect people who are struggling with addiction to treatment.

"As we experience a rise in drug use and overdose deaths nationally and in New Jersey due to the pandemic, we must confront this public health issue head on by securing access to sterile needle exchange services in our state," said Acting Governor Sheila Oliver, who serves as Commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs. "I call on our legislators to prioritize this issue and send a bill to the Governor's desk to sign as soon as possible when they reconvene this fall so that we can keep people out of harm's way and continue to work toward addressing infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS in New Jersey."

State Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex), Sen. Vin Gopal (D-Monmouth), Sen. Nia Gill (D-Essex/Passaic) and Sen. Patrick Diegnan (D-Middlesex) were the primary sponsors of the bill.

Murphy’s support of S-3009 comes one month after the Atlantic City Council voted to eliminate the city’s needle exchange program, a decision that is expected to take effect this fall.

Under the bill, municipal authority will not be able to shutter syringe exchange programs, further strengthening the availability of public health services for people in need of services.

“There has never been a more important time to embrace harm reduction,” said Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli. “There is a lot of misunderstanding among the public about harm reduction and unfortunately it deepens the stigma that prevents vulnerable individuals from accessing critical, life-saving health services. A legislative solution is the only one that can preserve access to these services throughout the state, bring New Jersey in line with national best practices, and make strides towards the Murphy Administration’s goal to end the HIV epidemic and opioid crisis.”

Earlier this year, Murphy drew attention to the recent increase in drug use and opioid-related deaths due to the pandemic. In New Jersey, overdose deaths jumped to 2,841 in 2020, up from 2,811 in 2019, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

Harm reduction centers provide life-saving services to individuals at risk of overdose and have been proven effective in reducing the spread of blood-borne diseases like HIV, AIDS and hepatitis C.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, individuals who utilize syringe access programs are five times more likely to enter drug treatment and three times more likely to stop using drugs than those who don’t use the programs.

“New Jersey's syringe access services are a public health success story. We've dramatically reduced new infections from injection drug use, distributed thousands upon thousands of doses of lifesaving medicine to reverse overdoses, and made our communities safer and healthier,” said Carol Harney, CEO of the South Jersey AIDS Alliance. “That Atlantic City is on the verge of closing a highly successful syringe access program in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and overdose crisis, which could fuel a new HIV and Hepatitis C crisis, should be a wake-up call to policymakers to change restrictive, outdated legislation."