The Harm Reduction Institute has withdrawn its application to distribute thousands of needles in the community.
SANTA ANA, Calif. – The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) informed City of Santa Ana officials on Monday, Nov. 25, that the Harm Reduction Institute (HRI) had withdrawn its application from the Office of AIDS to operate a needle distribution program in Santa Ana. According to CDPH, HRI plans to continue to provide harm reduction and social services for people who use drugs in Santa Ana, but those services will not include providing needles, syringes or smoking supplies.
“This is a victory for our families, our children, our businesses and our City employees,” Mayor Valerie Amezcua said. “Thanks to the unified opposition and hard work of the Santa Ana City Council, the City Manager’s Office and City staff, and many other local elected officials, we were able to do something that few cities have when faced with similar needle program proposals – ensure that the health and safety of our community comes first.”
In its application, HRI stated it planned to deliver approximately 300,000 needles annually throughout the city, but only planned to collect 60%, leaving 120,000 used needles unaccounted for in Santa Ana’s parks, sidewalks, and other public areas.
HRI first filed an application to operate a needle distribution in January 2023, which CDPH initially approved. However, CDPH later rescinded the approval after the City protested that more consultation was needed, the Orange County Health Officer wrote a letter of concern, and other elected officials voiced their opposition. This included the Office of State Senator Tom Umberg and the Office of Assemblymember Avelino Valencia, whose advocacy to CDPH on behalf of the City of Santa Ana helped yield this result.
Then in December 2023, HRI filed a second application, which led to a unanimous resolution of the Santa Ana City Council opposing the needle program and months of meetings between CDPH and City officials.
“City staff worked tirelessly to address the inadequacies of the proposed needle distribution and the negative impacts it could have on our community,” City Manager Alvaro Nuñez said. “Thanks to the legal expertise of our City Attorney’s Office, the Santa Ana Police Department’s consistent questioning of outdated data guiding CDPH policies and practices, and the time and effort by executive staff from numerous other departments, we prevailed.”
City staff and the Santa Ana community were well aware of the negative impacts a needle distribution program could have. From 2016 to 2018, a needle distribution program operated in Santa Ana, resulting in thousands of used, discarded and uncollected needles in the Civic Center, neighborhoods, the library and the senior center.
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