Neighborhood group opposes new attempt at Santa Cruz County needle distribution program

The long-standing battle between a Santa Cruz residents group and a harm-reduction coalition is heating up again, with the neighborhood association encouraging residents to oppose the possible new state approval of a syringe-distribution program almost a year after winning a lawsuit to shut the program down. 

The Harm Reduction Coalition of Santa Cruz County (HRC) filed a new application to the state to approve a countywide needle and pipe distribution program. The latest application identifies three distribution locations: the Pajaro River levee in Watsonville, the Harvey West neighborhood in Santa Cruz and “home” delivery to encampments across the county, according to the statement by the Grant Park Neighborhood Association Advocates. 

The nonprofit HRC, which focuses on reducing harm associated with drug use, had been granted authorization by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) for its needle-distribution program in 2020. The program delivered clean syringes to users around the county. 

The Grant Park Neighborhood Association sued the state in 2020, alleging that the organization’s needle-exchange program posed a serious threat to the health and safety of Santa Cruz County residents. The lawsuit also alleged that the CDPH failed to consult with local law enforcement and reduced the public comment period to 45 days from 90 days. The neighborhood association is made up of residents living in the area between Ocean and Market streets.  

A Sacramento Superior Court judge ordered the CDPH to rescind its authorization of the mobile syringe-distribution program in November 2023, saying CDPH didn’t follow its own guidelines calling for the comment period and that an applicant may “engage in a period of interactive, back-and-forth consultation with local law enforcement agencies to balance public safety concerns with public health benefits.” 

“This latest application is essentially the same as the first and does nothing to remedy the public safety impacts that the group caused for years,” said Brad Angell, director of the Grant Park Neighborhood Association. 

The neighborhood association believes that the HRC’s program is a duplicate of the county’s syringe-exchange program, according to its statement. The county program provides more accountability and oversight than the HRC program, said Angell. 

In September, the HRC began to seek public comment on the new countywide program. The “low-barrier, evidence-based Mobile Outreach Program” would distribute Narcan and sterile syringes, in addition to assisting with wound care to reduce overdose deaths and illness among drug users. 

The program would expand on the organization’s existing services, such as safe syringe disposal and cleanup efforts and no-cost overdose response, plus prevention training and harm reduction workshops. 

The battle over Santa Cruz’s mobile syringe-delivery program has drawn interest from across the state, with Butte County and the California Police Chiefs Association signing on to the neighborhood group’s previous lawsuit. 

The HRC’s syringe-exchange program has faced additional hurdles because the county runs its own needle-exchange program, which operates differently. The county’s program operates at two fixed locations, at the Santa Cruz Health Center on Emeline Avenue for 12 hours a week and the Watsonville Health Center on Freedom Boulevard for six hours a week. The HRC’s mobile distribution program had a home delivery program that operated on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, with a phone number users could contact. 

The HRC lost its public funding during the county budget process in 2022, after the board of supervisors deemed the program unnecessary because it was similar to the county’s own syringe exchange program, which the board wanted to prioritize. 

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