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Orozco, Norma <br />From: Lugo, Milly <br />Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2019 9:21 AM <br />To: eComment <br />Subject: March 19 Agenda Item 85A: DRAFT A RESOLUTION SUPPORTING SENATE BILL 689 <br />Honorable Council Members: <br />I am a librarian at the Santa Ana Public Library. From 2016 to 2018 a Needle Exchange <br />Program operated weekly in the Civic Center Plaza where the library is located. Recently <br />a needle exchange program was scheduled to be established again in Santa Ana (where <br />I work) and in Orange (where I live). <br />I have witnessed that, as proposed, the Needle Exchange Program had disastrous <br />effects in my neighborhood and my community. Programs like these, as well intentioned <br />as they may be, have an extremely harmful and long-lasting negative impact when <br />implemented without local input and control. I am writing to express my support for SB <br />689 which simply aims to give local control of needle exchange programs. I believe this <br />is vital to the efficacy of such programs. This bill will allow local municipalities to build <br />wrap around services and an entire continuum of care in conjunction with the needle <br />exchanges. It will allow the municipalities to set aside funding for treatment programs <br />for addiction, mental health services, disease prevention, education and many other <br />resources that are so desperately needed. <br />The State Department currently controlling needle exchanges does not have the benefit <br />of intimately knowing what each individual municipality needs, what the demographics <br />are, where things are located, such as schools and after school programs where children <br />are playing. Although needle exchange may be an asset to some, putting the public <br />safety of children at risk is not beneficial. The harm to the many far outweighs the <br />service to the few. Local municipalities should be able to work in collaboration with <br />service providers and residents to determine how they can best make needle exchanges <br />work within their jurisdiction. <br />Please accept this email as my statement of support for drafting a resolution supporting <br />SB 689. <br />Thank you, <br />M[[[y C. Lugo -Rios <br />Sr. Librarian <br />Santa Ana Public Library <br />26 Civic Center Plaza <br />Santa Ana, CA 92701 <br /> <br /> <br />1 <br />