Commentary: Needle exchange would create public safety risk on Costa Mesa’s Westside

There has been a recent proposal by the Orange County Needle Exchange Program to implement a needle distribution program in Costa Mesa at 17th Street and Whittier Avenue. I understand the desire to help people, and I could not agree more that people with substance abuse and a variety of other issues need help, but a needle distribution program on Costa Mesa’s Westside is not the solution.

The safety of all of us, including our children and our first-responders, must be a priority.

There are too many unanswered questions that the exchange program has failed to address, and as a husband, parent of three small children, and a retired Orange County deputy sheriff, I want answers.

I see no reason for their plan to include a distribution rate of 20 to 1, where 20 needles are given out to each person who brings in one needle.

I see no reason why it needs to be right in front of residential homes and near two schools, one just four-tenths of a mile from the site.

They have not provided any assurance that all needles will be accounted for, not to mention the condoms and lube abscess kits they want to pass out as well. Their desire to set up a hotline to report found needles even points to the fact that they will not recover all of the needles. Apparently, they want you or your children to find them and report them.

This same group was kicked out of Santa Ana after it was found that their program led to an increase in the number of discarded syringes in the Civic Center area.

We have initiated legal action against the OC Needle Exchange Program and have passed an emergency ordinance. We also need to keep the public pressure on and to keep awareness of this issue high. For now, OCNEP has stated that they have delayed their projected start date until September.

Our Westside does not need any more of this. My wife and I, like other families, are raising our three young children here on the Westside.

Costa Mesa has a network for homeless solutions in place for those who truly want help up and out of homelessness. How about instead of a mobile needle distribution program, this group sends their mobile van to help people up and out of drug addiction instead of enabling them?

Or, since this is a UC Irvine project, why don’t they put it at UCI? The users will find them there just as easy as any place in Costa Mesa.

You may say to me: Don’t make this political. Well, you know what, this is political. Some people support these decisions and some do not. And if you are quiet on this in November, please enjoy the needles.

Costa Mesa Mayor Pro Tem Allan Mansoor is a candidate for City Council.