Los Angeles County’s needle distribution program has reduced, but not eliminated, operations in Reed Park following a reduction in the number of homeless people who are utilizing the services.
County Supervisor Lindsay Horvath met with stakeholders about the situation in October including representatives from the Police Department, city government and St. Monica’s church to talk about strategies for a safe and healthy park.
"County and City Departments, in partnership with law enforcement, are aligned on a strategy to ‘take back Reed Park,’ ensuring it is a recreational community space that offers a safe and healthy environment and is welcoming to all,” said Horvath. “I am committed to staying engaged with the City about how we best work together to keep the park safe and bring back opportunities for arts, culture, and recreation. I visit the park whenever I am in Santa Monica and believe that through the City’s safe and clean efforts, as well as park activation, we will create a better experience for all Santa Monicans to enjoy their community park on the edge of Downtown.”
The meeting covered law enforcement response, programming and park activation plans in progress, and opportunities for partnership to ensure a safe and welcoming experience for all at Reed Park.
The County’s Department of Public Health-Substance Abuse and Control Bureau also attended the meeting and said outreach teams have reduced park-based harm reduction services given reduced numbers of people experiencing homelessness in the parks.
“Our LA County contracted harm reduction syringe service provider services the City of Santa Monica, including Reed Park and involving other housing and social service partners, each Friday,” said a statement provided by the department. “The time spent in each location depends upon the needs of the people in each outreach location, and we provide community-based harm reduction syringe services based on where people who benefit from these services physically are. Over the past two months, we have seen fewer numbers of individuals in Reed Park receiving services (reductions from an average of fifteen individuals served per week to more recently six per week) that indicates a reduction of people experiencing homelessness residing in the park. Accordingly, the supplies distributed has reduced proportionally; on October 25 we collected and distributed a total of ten syringes. The LA County supported harm reduction syringe services program continues to operate on a weekly basis serving the community of Santa Monica.”
The department said the County’s overdose crisis is the worst in history and that the county is increasing efforts to fight the epidemic.
“It is also our priority to strengthen our partnerships with community groups, leaders and residents so that we can hear and address their concerns,” said the statement. “The harm reduction syringe services in Santa Monica are part of our community-centered harm reduction response, and last year, for the first time in ten years, the LA County’s overdose deaths did not increase. For an epidemic that has been getting worse every year, this is a step in the right direction.”
The Santa Monica Police Department said its officers have seen an anecdotal decrease in homelessness in the park.
Lieutenant Erika R. Aklufi said the department has added extra patrols to the park, held moring roll calls for officers in the park and stationed park officers at the location on a daily basis. They have also initiated specific investigations into drug sales in the park in recent months.
“All of those things are part of our strategy to make sure it’s activated with people and with a police presence and to make people feel secure using it and to assist in efforts to get more residents and people that want to enjoy the facilities to come down,” she said. “That’s been our strategy. It’s great if we can align that with what the County is doing, that would be the ideal scenario and we’re grateful if they want to support what it is we’re doing.”
Aklufi said Santa Monica’s brief, but increasingly chilly weather, also moves people out of the park on a seasonal basis.
The needle program has been a source of controversy for years.
In September of 2022, in an open letter to Los Angeles County officials, then Mayor Sue Himmelrich called for a halt to the program and “immediately [move] this program to a service rich environment (preferably indoors) where individuals in need of substance abuse, mental health, and other services can coordinate and work directly with service providers.”
The program has moved locations and changed tactics but remains an outdoor distribution program operated by Los Angeles County in Santa Monica city parks. Some advocates have claimed the program is illegal (and the subject of a lawsuit) and local criticism has claimed the distribution makes the park unsafe and/or unsanitary.
Santa Monica’s local leadership, including the City Attorney and City Manager have long maintained the program is outside Santa Monica’s control. For the last four years, the Council has been split over support for the efforts but most of the critics (Councilmembers Phil Brock, Oscar de la Torre and Christine Parra) will be leaving the dais.
The Department of Public Health strongly defended the program at large and in specific to Santa Monica.
“Evidence shows that harm reduction measures like syringe service programs and distributing safer use supplies save lives, do not increase drug use and are cost saving,” said the statement. “Evidence-based harm reduction services include connections to medical, mental health, substance use treatment services, peer engagement, distribution of the opioid overdose reversal medication naloxone, distribution of fentanyl and xylazine test strips, infectious disease testing, syringe services programs, and more. In fact, people using harm reduction services are five times more likely to participate in drug treatment and three times more likely to reduce or stop injecting than those who have never accessed harm reduction services.”
More information about harm reduction programs are posted at http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/sapc/public/harm-reduction and http://www.cdc.gov/syringe-services-programs/php/safety-effectiveness.html. Information reflecting the reduction in overdose rates is posted via http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/sapc/public/data-reports-and-briefs.htm
