Harm reduction: Needle exchange effort
It was 1980, and President Reagan (and Nancy) had introduced harm acceleration nationally through the War on Drugs. “Harm acceleration”? you ask. You remember those slick ads: “Just Say No!” and drug interdiction drama off the coast of Florida. Another foolish American war.
Here are the distinctive losses during that war: Criminalization of drug users, excessive levels of imprisonment, the death penalty with direct impact on the vulnerable, poor” and particularly the Black population in the inner city…. (wikipedia). Our prisons were suddenly full of crack smokers and marijuana workers.
Fast forward to 2021, where the harm reducers come in a different stripe. “Give me your dirty needles, and I’ll give you a clean one!” What? That’s lunacy; why do we have respectable folks giving out clean needles to intravenous drug users? It’s the real war to save humans ravaged by addiction.
Here’s an ex-junkie, MCAVN’S Keith Rider, now a human services professional hustling to save the lives of addicts on the street by giving out clean needles: “it’s the personal touch….simple harm reduction; it makes it safer and it won’t spread disease. You come into the building and we are engaged; we have a relationship! I’m that caring individual who has been through addiction. I’m fresh off the streets where I was an addict, homeless, a criminal; and now I’m ready to meet you as a caring professional. We build a relationship, hesitant and suspicious at first; but at some point, you come in and say: ‘I’ve been clean for 10-14 days, and ready for residential.’ It starts with ‘how you doing today, anything we can help you with on this, and be sure to bring those needles back in the red containers (we need them back!).’ “We are grass-roots people and been through recovery. If I don’t know you, Patty knows you or Joe knows you. Our staff know and serve the people on the street in Mendocino County.”
Keith is 45 and began working for Redwood Community Services as an emergency worker in 2018, after decades of addiction, homelessness and crime.
“I was in my fourthfifth month in the Mendocino County Jail after doing some stupid shit facing the state penitentuary for 12 years; and out of the blue had a visit from my ex-wife and 8-year-old daughter. I hadn’t engaged with any family for years, and here’s my ex-wife cowering angrily in a corner and my 8-year-old daughter said to me on the jail phone: “Dad, don’t give up.” I called my mom for the first time in three years; then was sober three-four months and asked to be referred to drug court. So, I did residential treatment at 40 years old.” And so Keith dug into the carnage of his life: “my Dad dying, my marriage break-up, drug addiction, homelessness, my friends’ suicide.”
His heroes risked this shaky recovering felon working as a crisis worker at Redwood Community Services: Sarah Livingston, Carmen Harris, Jeannie Napp, Tony Marsh. “I got a lot of mentoring and on-the-job training, and then Libby Guthrie started an outreach program, and asked me to coordinate it. My recovery is a pretty solid thing.”
And then there is Judy Popowski, business manager, and rock-solid MCAVN board member. “Obama was elected in 2008, and I had been a coder in the computer industry for 35 years, and got to know some folks at MCAVN; our family got super poor and I applied for the job.” Judy has been board president, gets the contracts drawn up and monitors them; and according to Rider is the final voice on any major decision around here.
“I’ve been very fortunate and it’s time I gave back,” says Judy P. “MCAVN has a remarkable mission. I agree with it totally. Anybody can come here; we are wide open to all. We serve the entire homeless population and those with serious mental illness. We have more grants because of Covid and have an ongoing Medi-cal program through Redwood Quality Management. We have 65 in mental health programs and about 250300 through outreach in the needle exchange effort. Leggett to Gualala. I’d like people to understand how important this work is. If nobody did it, the drug problems and homelessness would skyrocket.”
These folks like their jobs and are fighting the real wars day-to-day. Bless them!
See Keith and Judy at MCAVN on Clara Avenue and if you missed the annual Event of the Heart, you can always send $100 or more to MCAVN at 148 Clara Ave., Ukiah.