In New Jersey, one of the few states that has refused to supply clean needles to heroin addicts, the majority of new AIDS cases result not from sex but from sharing needles.

To Joseph F. Vitale, a Democrat from Woodbridge who sponsored the unsuccessful bill in the Senate, New Jersey is dancing on the edge of public health disaster. "You have thousands of people who use needles regularly, and they share them with their friends," Mr. Vitale said. "In the end, what happens is the spread of AIDS has reached critical levels."

The Health Department estimates that nearly half of the state's intravenous drug abusers are already infected with H.I.V. and even more with the potentially deadly hepatitis C.

New Jersey has the 5th highest AIDS rate in the country. It is the only state where the drug use is the predominant cause of the disease. As long the state's citizens continue to elects legislators with beliefs like this one about needle laws, it's likely not going to change:

Some think it is wrong for the Legislature to take action that condones illegal drug use and are uncomfortable with the message that such a messure would send. "I don't believe the government should encourage illegal behavior and I believe that is what this law would do," said Assemblyman Michael J. Doherty, a Republican from Warren County.

[Title of post from Neil Young's song, The Needle and the Damage Done]