Commentary: Proposed needle exchange program is a poor fit for Costa Mesa neighborhood

In early 2016, the Orange County Needle Exchange Program began providing free syringes to drug users in Santa Ana under a permit issued by the California Department of Public Health.

Since OCNEP ran its program from a table in the Orange County Civic Center outside Santa Ana City Hall, the city also had jurisdiction over the program.

The stated goal was to help control the spread of AIDS, hepatitis and other diseases by reducing reuse of hypodermic needles. If a user turned in one needle, he or she would receive 21 clean ones. The more needles turned in, the more needles distributed.

What could possibly go wrong?

Under California law, any needle-exchange program must provide for the safe recovery and disposal of used syringes and sharps waste from all of its participants.

How did this work out?

By late 2017, the Santa Ana Civic Center was infested with discarded needles. Needles on the sidewalks. Needles in the planters. Needles in the public bathrooms. There were even needles left in library books.

Public employees and other members of the public were pricked due to the profusion of discarded needles. Citing the numerous problems, Santa Ana revoked permission for OCNEP to operate in the Civic Center.

Meanwhile, oblivious to local problems, the state renewed OCNEP’s permission to operate.

Now OCNEP wants to operate a mobile needle exchange, avoiding local land use authority. The needle exchange would operate in Santa Ana, Orange and in Costa Mesa between 16th and 18th streets, from Monrovia west to the Costa Mesa city limit.

An OCNEP board member was quoted as saying the area chosen is light industrial and away from residential areas. Has anyone from OCNEP even driven the area? Did they even take five minutes to look at a Google aerial?

If they had, they would have seen an area with numerous single-family homes, apartments and several mobile home parks, largely occupied by seniors. They would have seen Whittier Elementary School, just north of 18th.

I obtained a copy of OCNEP’s application from CDPH under a Public Records Act request. OCNEP ignored any of these sensitive uses in their application to operate. Where asked to list any homeowner or neighborhood groups in the area, OCNEP listed only one association — in Newport Beach! They failed to identify any association for California Seabreeze, the new Lighthouse development or any association of mobile home owners.

In their application, OCNEP states, “Positive community relationships are a key component of our program.”

Yet, they failed to even contact Costa Mesa City Hall, let alone reach out to any residents in the area. We learned of this application from an article in TimesOC.

If OCNEP has made so little effort to learn about Costa Mesa, if OCNEP has made so little effort to reach out to Costa Mesa residents, how can it be trusted to run a good program without detriment to our community? The fact is, it can’t.

OCNEP claims to have “incorporated suggestions and concerns of community members.” But it doesn’t acknowledge that Costa Mesa community members exist. How can we share our suggestions and concerns if OCNEP fails to contact us?

Please share your concerns by contacting the California Department of Public Health at SEPApplication@cdph.ca.gov. All comments on this application must be received by 11:59 p.m. June 25.

SANDRA L. GENIS is the mayor of Costa Mesa.