A yearlong legal battle over a needle exchange program in Atlantic City is over the Oasis harm reduction Center will stay open and its future is now protected after a settlement was reached with the city declaring the city council's recent ordinance to remove the needle exchange from town null and void a senior political correspondent David Cruz reports it's seen as a major victory for harm reduction Advocates Statewide this is what we need this is what we need more of this is what works and so everyone in New Jersey is better off because of this decision Jenna Mellor of the New Jersey harm reduction Coalition is among the many Advocates calling the settlement of the years old suit with the city of Atlantic City a gamechanger for those suffering from drug use disorders their families and the people who dedicated themselves to helping them this is a chronic health condition that deserves chronic uh or long-term health support support and so people everyone in New Jersey is better off when people struggling with their drug use have safe evidence-based places to get support the South Jersey AIDS Alliance had filed suit in 2021 after the city council tried to shut down Oasis a harm reduction Center HRC that offers clean needle exchanges and other services but Georgett Shelton of the alliance which runs the center said the parties were worked together on a settlement which the city approved in late January and a judge okayed last week she said the result will mean more HRCs across the state 30 sites overall and that's between um fixed sites so like Oasis which you know people come to us mobile sites and then also mail delivery Shelton says Oasis sees just over a thousand clients a day a clear indication that the need remains High there have already been over 250 suspected overdoses in the state this year but Advocates note that New Jersey is one of the few States showing a reduction in 2023 over the previous year which they attribute to service providers like Oasis we not only provide a harm reduction Center that gives out Narcan and syringes we also have case management for folks who are HIV positive we have nursing services for HIV testing hepatitis C and STI testing the city's hand was forced when the legislature passed a law in 2022 that gave the state authority to determine whether and where hrc's can open officials in Atlantic City say they've contended all along that their opposition to Oasis was more about the need to share the burden of providing Services councilman Kaleem Shabazz says expanding the number of sites ad spreading them around is welcome I hope that that happens sooner rather than later because as an elected official I see the problems uh that the drug uh situation brings on our families on our cities on our communities so we need that sooner rather than later our position is is that Atlantic City should not be the only help Point uh because it's not just an Atlantic City problem it's a state problem in fact it's a national problem and New Jersey has taken one step towards becoming part of the solution even if it took a couple of years to get pointed in the right direction I'm David Cruz NJ Spotlight [Music] news