Opinion | Needle exchange programs need to stay

Gracie Fleischman, Opinions Editor

Throughout this year’s contentious California midterm elections, there aren’t many policies that potential local voters can agree upon. But what almost all of the people running for public office in Orange County can agree on is this: needle exchange programs (NEPs) are bad.

NEPs are community-based programs that provide sterile needles and syringes, as well as the disposal of used ones, for free. They are also an effective method of HIV and AIDS prevention and can help reduce the risk of hepatitis C, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

NEPs usually offer STD testing, HIV and hepatitis C treatment, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) services, testing to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission and many other mental and sexual health resources.

Orange County’s first and only NEP was shut down in January 2018 after the city of Santa Ana denied its permit, despite being endorsed by the California Department of Public Health. In 2016, Santa Ana had the highest rates of HIV in the county, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency. What was city officials’ reason for shutting down the program? They claimed it created “needle debris everywhere,” with needles found in the city’s public library,  according to the Santa Ana Needle Exchange’s website.

But with the highest rate of infection in Orange County, Santa Ana city officials should be wise enough to know a good program when they see one. If you look at the research, NEPs work.

In other states like New York, these programs are nothing new. In fact, they’ve been in place for almost 25 years. In 2014, the state released a report showing that NEPs led to a dramatic drop in HIV/AIDS, almost completely eradicating transmission through contaminated needles.

Besides helping people in need, NEPs also save taxpayers a lot of money. Just $1 invested in a NEP saves at least $6 in costs associated with HIV. The total cost of these infections costs the U.S. more than $1 billion every year, according to a 2014 report.

What is frustrating is that Orange County can’t recognize the importance of these programs. Just this month, Orange’s city council voted to prohibit any type of NEP in the city because it qualifies as a “public nuisance.” But city council members say that their goals for Orange are to “enhance and promote quality of life in the community,” and “support and enhance attractive, diverse living environments.”

What better way to promote a high quality of life in Orange than by reducing HIV and risk of infections like hepatitis C? Maybe the idea of providing a place where addicts can find help doesn’t fit into the quaint and wholesome narrative the city wants to follow.

Almost 14,000 needles were found near the now-empty homeless encampment along the Santa Ana River Trail.

If Santa Ana and the nearby city of Orange had a trustworthy NEP for homeless people to dispose of their used needles, this type of dangerous waste could be eliminated. Although NEPs may not be the Orange City Council’s idea of an “attractive, diverse living environment,” these programs could help clean up the city.

Orange County is going to find itself lagging behind the rest of California and states like New York if politicians don’t approve the permits for NEPs. By declaring NEPs a public nuisance, Orange is shows its citizens that it values the aesthetics of the city over compassion for people in need.

Correction: A previous version of this column incorrectly stated that the city of Santa Ana had released no photos of needle debris on city property. This information has been corrected.