CAMDEN, N.J. (CBS) – New Jersey Legislators in the Senate’s Health and Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee have approved a measure proposed by State Senator Joe Vitale that would permit the sale of hypodermic needles in Garden State pharmacies without a prescription if passed by the full Senate

Cooper University Hospital emergency physician Dr. Anthony Mazzarelli is an attorney and bioethicist.

”I believe that people should have access to clean syringes because the same kind of data that we use to decide what kind of medications people take, that same process has studied this fairly extensively and that process has found that clean needles are the best way to stop the spread of HIV and do not encourage the use of drugs,” said Mazzerelli who would also prefer to see needle exchange programs instead.

”You have contact with the population that is using heroin and you can do HIV testing and risk reduction education. Just walking into a pharmacy, you don’t have the benefits of needle exchange programs.”

Mazzerelli would like to see these programs other than in the city.

Reported by, Michelle Durham, KYW Newsradio