SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)— Supporters of a plan to hand
out clean crack pipes to San Francisco drug users say they’re not swayed by
city opposition and plan to hand them out anyway.
Activists claim that such a program would have many
of the same benefits of needle exchanges, essentially connecting users with
services that could help them turn their lives around.
The city of San Francisco hands out 2.7 million
clean needles a year to IV drug users. Advocates said clean glass pipes to
crack users could also cut HIV and Hepatitis C cases.
Laura Thomas of the HIV Prevention and Planning
Council has made a formal recommendation to the city’s health department.
“It may seem counter-intuitive, but it’s a great
program. Once you can get people into your program, make them feel respected,
taken care of them, they’re more likely to want to come back and want to get on
HIV meds,” Thomas said.
Last week’s report set of a flurry of opposition
sentiment from government officials, including the mayor’s office. Mayor Ed Lee
was first with a statement, via an email from his spokesperson, Christine
Falvey:
“Mayor Lee is not aware of this exploration and is not supportive.
There are many other HIV interventions that could and should be explored before
ever considering this.”
However Isaac Jackson, a Tenderloin resident and
founder of what he calls a “tiny” drug user advocate group called the Urban
Survivors Network told the San Francisco Examiner “we decided that we would just
begin doing it.”
Jackson said his group plans to hand out 25 to 50
clean pipes at an exchange event in march. That would violate both state and
federal drug paraphernalia laws. It’s not clear if those laws would be enforced
in this case.
Advocates said needle exchange faced similar controversy
when it got started but was accepted after supporters pressed forward anyway.
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