RE: Proposed Ordinance NO. NS-XXX amending the Santa Ana Municipal Code (Health and Sanitation) prohibiting syringe exchange programs in the City of Santa Ana

Abstract

The continuing crisis of opioid-related harm poses a threat to the health and lives of thousands of individuals with Substance Use Disorder (SUD). To ensure that these risks are mitigated in Santa Ana, we urge the Santa Ana City Council to reject the proposed ordinance adding article XV Syringe exchange programs (SEPs) to chapter 18 of the Santa Ana Municipal code.

The primary concern of the City Council relates to discarded syringes in the community. We share this concern. The solution, however, is not to ban SEPs; rather, the City should draw on best available evidence to address this community challenge, including the deployment of syringe services in a way that have helped other jurisdictions effectively reduce syringe litter. This proposed ordinance would aggravate the very problem it is purporting to solve.

Further, the proposed ordinance is not just bad public health policy; it may also be bad law. Should the City Council move forward with this ordinance, it might expose Santa Ana taxpayers to litigation on several fronts, including claims for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (RA), and the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. In recent years, courts have struck down numerous local ordinances targeting SUD treatment facilities and their clients as discriminatory under the ADA and the RA; similar analysis is applicable to syringe exchange programs.

Keywords: Substance Use Disorder, SUD, Santa Ana