New Jersey pride runs deep, even for former residents. As a New Jersey expat living in DC, I still feel a little surge of satisfaction every time my home state does something right - even if it's a long time coming.

New Jersey is finally prioritizing its residents' heath and safety and moving forward with a syringe access program that will help prevent the spread of HIV and provide beneficiaries of the program with referrals to treatment and other social services that can mean the difference between life and death for many drug users.

With Jersey City, a community with one of the highest HIV/AIDS rates in the country, becoming the fifth NJ city to offer access to clean syringes, the state is now one step closer to fully implementing a six-city syringe access pilot program.

The five needle exchange facilities serve over 3,000 people and have sprung up just in the year and a half since the implementation process for the pilot program began. However, for years New Jersey legislators resisted any kind of syringe exchange program, even as most other states instituted their own programs.

This recent success comes after a long battle in the state legislature that dates back to 1992, when the first syringe access bill was introduced in New Jersey. DPA became involved in the effort to pass needle exchange legislation there in 2002, and in 2006, the state legislature passed a bill authorizing the pilot program now in progress. Since then, DPA has provided guidance and technical support to the resulting facilities to ensure that they are serving people as effectively as possible.

Once a sixth city is chosen to host a facility and the pilot program is completed, the next step is to amend the 2006 law to allow needle exchange programs statewide.

I hope New Jersey's progress serves as a wake up call to Congress that the federal government is out of touch on syringe exchange. With a majority of states offering some kind of needle exchange program, it's clear that these programs are making a positive impact in local communities around the country. But Congress has yet to lift a ban on federal funding for syringe access. It's time for Congress to end the funding freeze on a proven disease prevention method.