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Funding Shortage Forces NJ Needle Exchange Program To Turn Away Addicts

PATERSON, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Addicts are being turned away from a clean needle exchange program in New Jersey because the supply has run dry.

Since 2008, the Well of Hope center in Paterson, New Jersey has handed out 150,000 clean needles a year to addicts.

For two months, the program has had no clean syringes to distribute because of cuts in federal funds and private donations running out.

"It's been 2 months since we've ran out. We don't have a steady flow of them coming in because we cannot use any of our money that we're given to buy them," the center's prevention program manager Nicole Engle told 1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck. "It breaks my heart."

Critics say the program enables drug use, but Engle said Well of Hope saves lives.

"For people to look down upon someone for drug use or substance use, whatever it is, it's really wrong because at the end of the day they're still human, they still have feelings, and they still should be treated with respect," Engle said.

Without the clean needles, Engle fears cases of AIDS and Hepatitis C are going to spike.

"You're putting yourself at risk for abscesses if you reuse your syringe, you're putting yourself at risk for infection if you share," Engle said.

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