A crowd of approximately 100 people gathered at Christine Emerson Reed Park on Tuesday afternoon to protest against the free needle distribution program in Downtown Santa Monica. Organized by the Santa Monica Coalition, the crowd assembled after a notice was distributed and posted online about a week or so ago.
The essence of the discussion revolves around a program whereby every week in the centrally located Reed Park, a transit van from the Venice Family Clinic distributes clean syringes, Narcan and fentanyl testing kits to anyone suffering from drug addiction.
The program operates in a number of parks in Santa Monica, but a significant cause of concern among critics is that St. Monica’s school is directly opposite Reed Park, which incorporates publicly accessible basketball and tennis courts. Opponents of the current program say it not only affects the residents of the immediate area, but also young children who attend the nearby school.
Critics claim the program enables the continued use of drugs, draws more homeless to the city and makes parks unsafe, but researchers have linked syringe programs with a roughly 50% reduction in HIV and hepatitis C.
However, the source of this contention is that Los Angeles County originally initiated the program — without any consultation or input whatsoever from the City of Santa Monica — in a number of parks during the pandemic, including Palisades Park, Reed Park and Tongva Park.
Following an overdose death of a homeless person found in Palisades Park in July, 2022, 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" in a unanimous open letter sent to Los Angeles County officials in September of that year.
However, the program has remained in operation. Local officials have not been consulted nor do they have authority over the program prompting a lawsuit from Downtown property owner John Alle’s over the legality of the program.
Santa Monica City Council had a heated debate regarding this just a few weeks ago and was divided on the best course of action. Ultimately, in a 4-3 decision, Councilmembers Christina Parra, Oscar de la Torre, Vice Mayor Lana Negrete and Mayor Phil Brock all voted to prepare and return a resolution expressing the City’s disapproval of the County’s implementation of the program. And those four councilmembers were all present at Reed Park on Tuesday morning.
Regarding that significant, seldom-seen and stubborn split, Brock said, "I have several council members who were never gung ho on providing the public safety that our residents want, need and deserve … All four of the councilmembers who were against the continuation of this program in our parks and near our schools … grew up in this community. I think that’s one big difference. We know how this community can be … The fact that a block of councilmembers have a different view, that’s absolutely their right. It’s their right to disagree. I don’t think it’s their right to lessen the safety of all of our residents."
Jessica Rogers, who asked to be credited as Co-Founder of the Santa Monica Coalition, encouraged the crowd to chant slogans like "Gleam, Gleam, don’t let us down, fire this clown" and "David White has got to go, needles in the park, we say no" referring to City Manager David White. And in fact, criticism of White’s ability and usefulness appeared to be an unmistakable, unifying theme.
Gleam Davis is one of three councilmembers who have voiced support for the current iteration of the program alongside Jesse Zwick and Caroline Torosis.
Professional-looking pre-prepared signs had slogans written on them, including "No More Needles In Our Parks, No More Crime After Dark" and "Public Safety Is A Human Right" and "Make Santa Monica Safe."
"I think it’s unfortunate that a lot of issues today are becoming bipartisan issues, when they’re just common sense issues," Negrete told the Daily Press, adding, "We put people in political groups or teams in order to get something through, right now there’s four of us, which is the majority that believed that this isn’t the time, place or manner to distribute needles or practice harm reduction, and that the syringe exchange program is not being done effectively here."
The disagreement comes from two conflicting theories, the first is that homeless addicts should receive treatment in the park because that’s where they are. The second is that the program in fact attracts them to the park and should be moved to a more secure location.
During the impassioned City Council meeting three weeks ago, Councilmember Zwick said it was a symptom, not a cause of the problem.
"People don’t come to Reed Park for the one hour per week in which needles are distributed," he said. "Reduction comes to the park because that’s where the people who need harm reduction are. If we put it somewhere where no one was, no one would get help."
That said, no one gathered in the park on Tuesday said they wanted to deny treatment to addicts. They just vehemently don’t want it to be in Reed Park or any other park in the City of Santa Monica.
"People who live here want a different approach," De la Torre said. "We want our parks to be for recreation and for children to enjoy, not for people to be doing drugs … We want to change the approach. We support the needle exchange, if it’s done in an indoor facility, in a clinic, for example, where people can receive other services and counseling, so that they can get off the drugs. Giving needles out in the park sends the wrong message, especially when we have a crisis [and] an epidemic of overdose deaths."
+ + + UPDATE + + +
Following publication of this story, the Venice Family Clinic reached out to the Daily Press and offered a statement, in which they reiterated that the Clinic "believe[s] everyone deserves access to quality health care regardless of their past or present circumstance" adding, "Venice Family Clinic utilizes the harm reduction model as just one piece of the many services we provide to over 45,000 people from the Santa Monica Mountains through the South Bay." However, the statement did not mention any comment on the location where these services might be provided.
The Daily Press also reached out to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health in which they too remarked on their continuing commitment to "saving lives and protecting public health and safety through community-based overdose prevention efforts and offering a comprehensive continuum of services to those struggling with a substance use disorder that includes substance use prevention, harm reduction, and treatment and recovery services." However, the statement also did not include any comment on, or reference to, the location where these services might be provided.
