Correspondence - Item 27 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Santa Ana, in direct response to the City's repeated requests in 2017 and 2018 that any syringe program be run out of a physician's office. At the City Council meeting on September 1, 2020, Councilmember Solorio publicly stated that syringe exchange programs should be operated at medical offices so that there could be more oversight. Despite this rhetoric, on September 15, 2020, the City passed an ordinance banning Health and Safety Code syringe services programs, and resolved to pursue other enforcement action against HRI, as HRI's operation was not authorized pursuant to the health and safety code. Despite heeding the City's demand and doing exactly what Councilmember Solorio had asked for, the City still shut down HRI's operations in January 2022. Contrary to the City's claims that HRI has refused to discuss its operations with City officials, the City has turned down HRI's invitation to discuss HRI's operation. In October 2022, HRI emailed the entire Santa Ana City Council asking to discuss our plan to apply to CDPH. We ultimately met with Councilmember David Penaloza and Assistant City Manager Steven Mendoza to discuss the application. When HRI asked about the City's opposition to HRI's medical office location, we were told that its centralized location was a problematic because it drew people from one area of the city to the other. In direct response to the City's concern, HRI proposed switching to a home delivery system, but were told to take our program to another City. We view this suggestion as unreasonable given that the City has consistently had the highest rate of HIV transmission in Orange County since at least 2013 (according to publicly available data from the Orange County Healthcare Agency). Santa Ana is in desperate need of an SSP to address its position as the epicenter of the HIV epidemic in Orange County. As an HIV prevention agency, we must go to where the need is greatest. Lastly, the City's complaint that the CDPH has not yet engaged in the mandatory consultation process pursuant to the Health and Safety Code is false and misleading. HRI is aware of the CDPH's current efforts to schedule consultation meetings with local law enforcement and the Orange County Public Health Officer, and that talks regarding the consultation phase have been going on since HRI applied in December 2023. Despite CDPH's offer to consult with the City since January, the City has consistently dragged its feet and has made no effort to engage in good faith discussions with CDPH officials. HRI has an excellent track record in the community. We continue to work collaboratively with several Santa Ana based organizations and are open to good faith, productive dialogue with concerned citizens and stakeholders. We provide naloxone and naloxone training to community organizations both in Santa Ana and across the county. We ran a successful syringe services program in the City for 18 months. We attempted to dialogue with the City regarding our CDPH application when we were first working on it in the fall of 2022. Based on the City's recalcitrant and dismissive attitude, we have come to believe the City is only interested in shutting down our operation in order to appease a small but vocal minority who are opposed to our life-saving operation. Sincerely, Carol Newark, Ph.D. Executive Director Harm Reduction Institute Mahan Naeim, MD Chairman, Board of Directors Harm Reduction Institute Haden Oliphant, MD Vice Chairman, Board of Directors