As Overdoses Soar, This State’s Largest Needle Exchange Is Being Evicted

Syringe-access sites have been proven to reduce opioid overdoses and curb disease. New Jersey is about to shut down its biggest one.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — The tattoo etched on Norman Rivera’s left shoulder looked as fresh as it was plain: “R.I.P. Martha.” Martha, his wife of seven years and partner of 30, died recently of cancer, he said, derailing his fragile recovery from a drug addiction that had dogged him half his life. Four days clean, he walked into Oasis, New Jersey’s largest needle-exchange program, which operates from a squat brick building on an Atlantic City side street, a few blocks from two casinos and the carnival rides that jut out over the ocean on the Steel Pier.