LAKE COUNTY ? Lake County Sheriff Rodney Mitchell said he wants to join the discussion as the Lake County Board of Supervisors considers how to operate a legal syringe exchange program. The board will consider forming a work group to address questions Mitchell will raise at a Tuesday meeting.
The board of supervisors authorized a legal needle exchange program Feb. 25 under two laws that protect government organizations and employees from prosecution for giving the needles to injection drug users during planned exchange. Possession of a hypodermic syringe is otherwise a misdemeanor under California law.
Assembly Bill 547, signed into law Jan. 1, 2006, removed a provision under a 2000 law that protected needle exchange organizers as long as a state of health emergency was declared first.
“I have some operational questions that a working group may be able to explore as the county”s policy and ordinance is developed. My thought is that we might want to have a multi-disciplinary approach to identify any obstacles or problems that may arise before the program is implemented,” Mitchell said.
Supervisor Rob Brown will present the discussion item.
“In order to implement the program and have it be done right, we need to include law enforcement,” Brown said. “In order for this thing to work, the sheriff or other law enforcement needs to know exactly how we”re going to implement it and where it will affect them.”
Supervisor Anthony Farrington called law enforcement buy-in “paramount” to the exchange.
“The sheriff in Mendocino County, as I understand, has an agreement that they don”t police and patrol the locations, and they leave the clients alone. I would like to see the same understanding here. I would like to see a written MOU (memorandum of understanding) in place. If not, you can”t have the program. If people are being arrested for going there with needles, the traffic is going to go down to zero right away,” Farrington said.
“We can”t ask the sheriff not to arrest somebody,” Brown said. “Those responsible to make sure things go well should be involved, including the DA.”
Mitchell said his request for the work group is not an attempt to re-open the discussion about whether or not to have the exchange.
“I”m only recommending that representatives from different disciplines work to assure that he board”s policy and ordinance is implemented as seamlessly as possible,” Mitchell said.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com
