Council set to OK mobile syringe exchange program
The Eureka City Council is slated to approve the Humboldt Area Center for Harm Reduction’s operations plan for a mobile syringe exchange program during the council’s meeting on Jan. 19.
According to a staff report prepared by Eureka City Manager Miles Slattery, “Staff have reviewed the plan and determined that it meets the guidelines of the Resolution with the exception of two of the proposed locations. The proposed Hilfiker and (Humboldt Waste Management Authority) locations are not suitable due to a conflict with the ESHA guidelines.”
As noted in HACHR’s operations plan, the or
ganization will provide mobile access to syringe services as well as food, hygiene, safer sex supplies, fentanyl test kits and overdose prevention supplies under the Samoa Bridge and around the corner from free meal served at St. Vincent de Paul on First Street.
“We request the ability to add more sites or change sites out, as needed,” the plan noted.
“We are more than willing to look at alternate locations and are in discussion with (the city manager) as to possible locations that will work better,” HACHR executive director Lasara Firefox Allen told the Times-Standard on Wednesday.
There will be two syringe exchange technicians present on any outreach effort and will “monitor conduct of participants and de-escalate any conflict that may arise and protect HACHR participants and employees from ‘concerned community members’,” HACHR said. Both technicians will also retrieve syringe litter found in the vicinity of any mobile location.
HACHR will abide by the contested credit cap of 100 syringes being retrieved off credit, “though we categorically oppose said cap as it is not based on harm reduction best practices.”
HACHR said it will also abide by the city’s 1:1 exchange rate “with the understanding that this is implemented for the purpose of ‘optics’ and community relations since there is no scientific proof that this measure reduces syringe litter.”
Allen previously criticized the city’s strict 1:1 protocol of syringe distribution as opposed to the needs-based methodologies supported and recommended by the CDC and CDPH, she said.
“We are categorically opposed to such restrictive measures as they are not based on harm reduction best practices, the recommendations of the CDC, or recommendations offered by the CDPH Office of AIDS,” the plan stated. “We especially abhor this requirement in a pandemic which is causing vast access issues for our program participants. This policy further requires people to violate the COVID-19-related stay-at-home order in an effort to get access.”
Allen noted that Humboldt County operates a syringe exchange program through the North Coast AIDS Program but is not bound to a 1:1 exchange.
“These recommendations are harm reduction best practices. HACHR would obviously prefer to be working from best practices and hopes to join the county program in needsbased services as soon as possible,” Allen said.
The council was criticized last month for its decision to repeal and replace its ordinance on syringe exchange programs, which effectively barred HACHR from operating its program. Allen said “participation in services has been reduced to a slow crawl” since the council’s decision.
“The impact of this is that folks will be, and are, reusing, and in some cases, sharing equipment. This will almost assuredly result in the transmission of blood-borne pathogens including HIV, Hepatitis C, and syphilis,” Allen said. “Reuse of equipment will likely also result in cases of MRSA and other staph infections and abscesses, all of which may result in sepsis. These may cause an impact on the emergency services in the area, in addition to costing people their health and maybe even their lives.”
The amended resolution approved by the council on Jan. 5 provides a temporary framework for mobile syringe exchange services within city limits under the local emergency ordinance initiated by the coronavirus pandemic, and includes provisions of the draft ordinance currently under California Environmental Quality Act review.
Slattery told the council he is optimistic there will be an ordinance ready for the council’s approval sometime in March.
“Unlike other meetings, the discussion on this topic will be held strictly to the plan and whether it meets the requirements of the resolution put forth by the council,” Eureka City Mayor Susan Seaman said in an email to the Times-Standard on Thursday. “Council has made their opinions known about the necessity and the challenges that have come from syringe exchange programs and HACHR as a provider. Since the need for these emergency services in the midst of a pandemic has been deemed a priority by council, my hope is that the city and HACHR come to an agreement about it so that people can again receive those services and we can move on to some of the many other topics important to the business of the city.”
Reached by email on Thursday morning, Councilmember Kati Moulton said she was “looking forward to when the city of Eureka has a comprehensive ordinance in place around the operation of syringe exchange programs. Looking at them on a case by case basis like this is an extraordinary measure necessitated by the circumstance of the pandemic.”
Allen agreed and said HACHR will continue to work with the city toward a solution that meets everyone’s needs.
“Perhaps not always absolutely easily, but I recognize that we are all doing our best to make sure everyone in the community is cared for,” she said.
HACHR will sponsor a community clean-up day starting at the HACHR parking lot at 1522 Third St. on Jan. 30 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Allen said HACHR will provide trash bags and sharps containers, as well as snacks and warm drinks and asks participants to bring gloves and to wear a mask.