2013 New Jersey Revised Statutes
Title 26 - HEALTH AND VITAL STATISTICS
Section 26:5C-26 - Findings, declarations relative to sterile syringe access programs.

26:5C-26 Findings, declarations relative to sterile syringe access programs.

2. The Legislature finds and declares that:

a.New Jersey, in comparison with other states nationwide, has the highest rate of cumulative AIDS cases among women, the third highest rate of cumulative pediatric AIDS cases, the fifth highest adult HIV rate, and a rate of injection-related HIV infection that is almost twice the national average;

b.About one in every three persons living with HIV or AIDS is female;

c.More than a million people in the United States are frequent intravenous drug users at a cost to society in health care, lost productivity, accidents and crime of more than $50 billion annually;

d.Sterile syringe access programs have been proven effective in reducing the spread of HIV, hepatitis C and other bloodborne pathogens without increasing drug abuse or other adverse social impacts; yet New Jersey remains the only State nationwide that provides no access to sterile syringes in order to prevent the spread of disease;

e.Every scientific, medical and professional agency or organization that has studied this issue, including the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Medical Association, the American Public Health Association, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Institutes of Health Consensus Panel, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the United States Conference of Mayors, has found sterile syringe access programs to be effective in reducing the transmission of HIV; and

f.Sterile syringe access programs are designed to prevent the spread of HIV, hepatitis C and other bloodborne pathogens, and to provide a bridge to drug abuse treatment and other social services for drug users; and it is in the public interest to encourage the development of such programs in this State in accordance with statutory guidelines designed to ensure the safety of consumers who use these programs, the health care workers who operate them, and the members of the general public.

L.2006, c.99, s.2.