Whitman,
AIDS
Council
Still
at
Odds
Over
Needle
Exchange
9/11/98
The New Jersey Governor's Council on AIDS has hit a brick wall in their attempts to persuade Governor Christine Todd Whitman to consider needle exchange programs as a way to help alleviate the state's growing AIDS epidemic. The Council announced Wednesday the temporary suspension of its focus on the legalization of needle exchange for drug addicts, following Chairman David Troast's receipt of an unsolicited letter from the Governor reiterating her absolute opposition to such programs. Troast stated his plan to form a panel to respond to the Governor's letter and consider whether the Council should back away from the issue of needle exchange more permanently. The Governor's Council on AIDS first gained public attention in 1996, when they openly opposed Governor Whitman's stance against needle exchange. Since that time, they have continued to advocate needle exchange programs to Whitman, but with no measurable success. New Jersey has the third highest statewide AIDS infection rate in the country, and half of those cases can be attributed to injection drug use. However, the state's laws against the possession and distribution of syringes remain unusually strict, and needle exchange activists operating illegally have been arrested, tried, and convicted in New Jersey courts. In her August 5th letter to Troast, Governor Whitman restated her unwavering refusal to support the use of needle exchange programs as HIV prevention. She cited her concerns that the programs "seem" to encourage illegal drug use and "send the wrong message to our children" as the major causes for her opposition. She also encouraged the Council to focus instead on slowing the spread of AIDS among minority females and teenagers. (It may be worthwhile to note that the Centers for Disease Control lists the number one cause of AIDS for minority women as "injection drug use".) New Jersey activist Diana McCague, director of the Chai Project in New Brunswick, wasn't surprised to hear of Whitman's latest unwillingness to consider needle exchange. "I used to get really upset and agitated to hear the inflexibility coming out of the Governor's Office. Now there isn't much to do but shake your head. Once again, Governor Whitman is showing that she has no idea what the lives of regular people in New Jersey are like." Members of the New Jersey legislature are pressing on in their attempts to bring a bill legalizing needle exchange through the chambers. Michelle Jaker, a legislative aide for Sen. Joseph Vitale, cosponsor of one of the bills, admitted that the Governor's continued opposition "certainly makes it more difficult" to get such legislation passed. "We're hoping to bring about more awareness of the issue by having this bill in the Senate," she said Thursday. Meanwhile the Governor's Council is undecided as to how to proceed following this latest setback. Riki Jacobs, a member of the Council and the executive director of the Hyacinth AIDS Foundation in New Brunswick, recognized the apparent irreconcilable nature of Governor Whitman's opinions but wondered, "If we stop talking about this, does this mean we can't discuss any issues that might be controversial or politically unfavorable?" Jacobs said she felt the Council would continue to advocate needle exchange, despite the Governor's apparent resolve against it. Chai Project director McCague had a different suggestion for the Council. "I think they ought to resign," she stated Thursday. "What are they there for? They're handpicked by the Governor to inform and advise her on AIDS issues. If she's going to refuse to listen to their advice over and over, they aren't being allowed to do what they were brought together for." "Governor Whitman is again exposing her ignorance and total lack of compassion. For fear of being labeled soft on drugs, she's more than willing to sacrifice drug users, their families and their communities to the AIDS epidemic."
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