HACHR Responds to City of Eureka’s Letter of Opposition to Their Re-authorization
Information from a Facebook post by HACHR:
HACHR response to City of Eureka Press Release 8/12/20
We are extremely disappointed at the recent statement released by the City of Eureka opposing Humboldt Area Center for Harm Reduction’s (HACHR) state reauthorization. We look forward to speaking with City officials about their concerns. HACHR has been transparent with local officials and we welcome community members to collaborate in seeking solutions to the complex issues of substance use and the health and wellbeing of all people.
HACHR is an important community resource. We offer a large array of services including syringe exchange, overdose prevention, HIV and Hepatitis C testing, Medication Assisted Treatment for opioid use, case management, wound care, PPE and other COVID related prevention, food, clothes, community education, and connecting participants to important resources such as primary care, housing, veterans services, and mental health services. We partner with multiple local, state, and national organizations to ensure that our policies and practices are in alignment with the most current standards of care. In addition, we adhere to evidence based harm reduction practices supported by the California Department of Public Health, the Center for Disease Control, and the World Health Organization.
We would like to directly address some of the accusations included in the statement released by the City of Eureka.
- HACHR has a zero tolerance policy for drug use or selling on HACHR property. All people accessing services at HACHR are made aware of this policy and sign an agreement to adhere to this policy.
- HACHR does not promote methamphetamine or any other substance use. HACHR recognizes that people use drugs and follows harm reduction principles and practices by meeting people where they are at. We do not enable drug use; we enable health and well-being through nationally recognized harm reduction interventions. Safe smoking kits are an evidence based harm reduction tool.
- HACHR takes syringe litter very seriously and has always had syringe clean up as a part of our work. We have a dedicated staff person who picks up improperly discarded syringes and builds relationships with local businesses and community members who have syringe litter concerns. Proper syringe disposal education is a key part of the services we provide.
HACHR is committed to the entirety our amazing community, including people who use drugs, people experiencing houselessness, and other marginalized people. To this end, we keep an open door policy, welcoming anyone who needs services or wants to learn more about us. We continue to proactively reach out to address community concerns and are committed to engaging in productive dialogue.
Sincerely,
Lasara Firefox Allen, Executive Director
Sarah Kerr, Board chair
Andrew Reynolds, Board member
Ashlie Crews, Board member
Thomas Ewing, Board member
Glen Hays, Board member
Tia Baratelle, Board member
Jarrett Nicholson, Board member
Jessica Smith, Board memberHealth. Choice. Voice. The Humboldt Area Center for Harm Reduction is committed to building stronger, healthier communities by co-creating spaces that foster dignity, equity, and choice
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Howq exactly is harm reduced when we all have to dodge needles on the beach and in town? Gtfo of here
Until the total destruction of the meth labs, coca plants, China’s fentenal , and heroin poppies, this shit will continue, all to the detriment of our children and people. These substances are Satan’s tools to destroy our souls. Spraying the poppy fields in Afghanistan, and other countries in the middle east would be first, then hit every meth lab here and in Mexico and other countries. At the same time, open every container from China, and the countries China uses to bypass their suspicious drug imports. Instead of letting people caught with 8 pounds of heroin walk, they must be imprisoned, their property confiscated, bank accounts drained and used for restitution to businesses and communities. They should be punished by long prison terms but in self sustained prisons so they do not cost the taxpayer money.
This is laughable. It is because of your inability to work cohesively and inability to be transparent with the City that they are not willing to back your play anymore. Your response is so full of crap. I’m appalled you would have the nerve to respond this way. You all were caught in the act and yet you still cling to the same old bull. You don’t back your play HACHR! You have lied. You have been manipulative. You have not adhered to the rules and guidelines for operating your program. You have been a malignancy to this community. You were caught red handed and yet you still cling to the same ridiculous vitriol. I’m glad you finally got caught. Needle exchange may be a good thing for a community. I don’t negate that. But your version of needle exchange isn’t what it is suppose to be. I mean come on, selling drugs, giving out pipes, letting people shoot up inside!!! What a joke. Say goodbye now and go quietly into that good night
You should of put a deposit on those needles… say $5. Somebody would have picked up all those five dollar bills laying around.
i have seen junkies walk around all day with a winco bag full of CRVs in Eureka and McK. I would say 10 cent would work. I lived in a State with no redemption and containers were everywhere. We vacationed in a neighboring State that had 5 cent redemption and i would search all day as a kid to get penny candy, it was alot of work because i wasn’t the only one doing it.
These facilities have been proven to reduce disease and new ones are popping up all over the US due to the heroin epidemic.
Total BS. HACHR has never shown any sign of taking responsibility for the needle litter they created by their irresponsible “exchange” program. They seem to give out needles like they are candy. I say they are simply enabling druggies to become worse druggies, commit more crimes and require nothing but a greedy hand demanding free needles. I say send this whole group packing.
So…people are supposed to believe what they wrote when one of the signers is one of the ones that was smoking meth in the office? Addicts aren’t honest. when it comes to their addiction. There are many was to promote harm reduction without promoting drug use. Unfortunately they can’t seem to differentiate between those two things. A drug addict signing an agreement is their argument for why it can’t be happening there? Seriously? Good concept, bad practice. Time for them to go. We can agree to work with another agency that will actually abide by the law and follow the rules.
Too little, too late, HACHR. Let the next agency take over and do it right..
Social services like handing out needles make the community far safer than draconian measures like having police officers. Every clean needle handed out is a life saved, what do the police do? Show up when some drug addict is in your house naked stealing your tv with a machete?
If you get a free needle from HACHR, you can use it to defend yourself. Win, win.
Free needles will always be litter. Eureka is a trash can / sharps box for junkies thanks to HCAHR. An exchange could have worked. 💩
Get rid of these idiots. I’m so sick of seeing needles everywhere. “Addiction is tough” no going to work is tough, being an adult is tough. I was an addict at 16 and luckily my parents sent me away For 3 years. I learned my lesson, fell back in the hole and pulled myself out. I’ve been working since and I’m in my 30’s. It’s not easy to actually have to do something in life. Give me free shit, oh wait they only give the ones that do nothing everything.
This response sounds like a boiler plate response. How can anyone take the response seriously when they issued the same claims under Brandy Wilson’s reign. Her exit statement was not that of a fustrated administrator, it was just a profanity laced hate filled rambling reminding people that she only cared about “her clients” and could care less about the Eureka community. The city council members bought into her lies and arrogance allowing her to place HACHR above the community concerns. When she left Eureka I hoped HACHR would change and work openly with the community concerns. But then again these were all of Brandy’s “good old boys”, so nothing changed. We needed something to change to improve the conditions in Eureka, but the current state of HACHR isn’t it. If the addicts won’t respect themselves, how can you demand respect from the community. Normalizing drug use is not the answer if it comes with theft, mental unstability, and disrespect of the community’s rights to safety and property.
Very good. Excellent response. Thank you
i have to wonder, how much money did EPD spend on the investigation? and i remember how EPD has had to settle so many brutality and wrongful death settlements, which come out of the city fund, and how those settlements have driven the city’s insurance premiums up. probably why 44% of the city’s budget goes to EPD.
so i wonder, how many people could have been put into treatment and provided with support services with all of that money? what has EPD accomplished with the millions of dollars they cost us?
furthermore, of course EPD will be able to eventually find some drug users around HACHR that would be willing to ignore the rules and avoid staff attempts to keep folks from breaking those rules.
gimme a few minutes walking around downtown and i’ll find somebody to sell me heroin. it’s not difficult. this is a hatchet job.
“….and i remember how EPD has had to settle so many brutality and wrongful death settlements,…”
How many and for how much? Please provide sources.
It’s evident that EPD had a very easy time finding drug users around HACHR breaking the “rules,” in a manner so obvious that HACHR would have to be blind not to notice. It happens because HACHR doesn’t care.
The notion of, “HACHR doesn’t care” is a straight out oximoron. The facility and staff are literally there most days of the week busting ass to feed, cloth, and assist people with essential services. The potencial selfish acts of few who are struggeling during these uncertain times, does not represent a whole organizaitons.
We need to keep all bodies accountable, and progress and get better. We cant do that by dismanteling years of trust builidng and networking.
Real “Harm Reduction” would come from handing out drugs to addicts, in a safe form, like pills or a nasal spray, and, by giving these people a safe space to live and take the drugs, in an environment where health services could be administered, counseling, rehab, detox, job placement etc.
An evolved approach would reduce harm to the community as well as harm to the addict.
An arm of government needs to be created, which would be concerned with buying up the world’s drug supplies and distributing the drugs in pure form to the users. The costs to society would be reduced, and, a great deal of cost would be saved in healthcare, law enforcement and communities everywhere. When the money is removed from the drug trade, the real problem could be approached in a new way.
Blocking the development of agencies concerned with limiting the spread of diseases like Hepatitis and HIV, is like prohibiting evolution itself! Resistance to Harm Reduction by reactionary individuals, churches, and provincial local governments, will result in increased costs, increased exposure to disease, and in the end, exacerbation of the drug problem. These folks will continue their mission, without sanction of government, if necessary…
Please support the mission of this organization, and attempt to create an environment of change.
PROHIBITION HAS NEVER WORKED
NOT ONCE
NOT EVER
Nor has handing out “free” needles.
so you didnt know that anyone can purchase needles
Gotta love how HACHR uses buzzwords like “equity” and “marginalized people,” to imply that standards and accountability are somehow evil. Of course standards and accountability are discriminatory – against those who are too self-absorbed and irresponsible to abide by them.
Do you believe mental illness and substance abuse come before or after homelessness? Could it be both?
Your point is not inccorect just incomplete.
See the other side and share your insights of those suffering to find adequate support while struggeling with food/shelter insecuirty.
For all those who are loosing hope for a successfull needle exchange that HACHR is, lets first speak about the issue at large and facts that address the legiticmacy of these claims.
The issue at hand is policing. Yes, there is a need for adequate policing, and this should look like an alternative policing that gets drug users involved in their community and envolved with one another. Instead the city of Eureka partnered with EPD to snoop around the facility without no other intention but to shift the blame to a nonprofit that has done the heavy lifting when it comes to harm reductions. The problem with addicitons is the stigma and sterotypes that come with it. Proventing collective efforts and partnerships that insures that people dont simply die out in the streets of Eurkea. Why are we supporting this type of investment in tax payer dollar? Why not be supportive and guiding in the fighting battle which really is an opioid crisis?
Those suffering do not trust the county, let alone lawenforcment, and this is for good reason. There is an economy in offering adequate support to this populations, oppertunities for those who have expirenced this pain, and hardship to give back to those struggeling to get back on there feet. Essentially promoting hope, guidance and support.
There is an issue at large and there is not need to shift the blame here. Whatever video evidence that EPD has is not representative of the work that goes on in HACHR, but it is representative of how the City or Eurkea has treated the opioid crisis, therefore creating a narrative that takes away evene more responsability the city needs to own up too. 44% of the citis budget goes to EPD and to what? Lerk around the buliding, to craft a well rounded and locally supported story that puts front line workes in more stress during these tought times. Its fucking COVID. Help the cuase dont dissmanlte the trusting support that has helped save lives.
Below is a chart of those suffering from homelessness nationally. To catch the eye.