Residents raise concerns about proposed needle exchange program in Seven Corners

The NovaSalud staff.

The handful of local residents who attended a community meeting
on a proposed comprehensive harm reduction program in Seven Corners raised
concerns that it would attract drug addicts hanging around the area. 

A key part of the program is a needle exchange initiative
that would be managed by NovaSalud in a medical office building at 2946 Sleepy
Hollow Road. Heroin and opioid addicts would be able to drop off dirty needles
and exchange them for new ones.

That raised alarm bells among community members who fear the
program would draw addicts and drug dealers to a residential neighborhood
close to Bailey’s Upper Elementary School.

A comprehensive approach

NovaSalud already provides such services as testing for HIV,
hepatitis C, hepatitis B, and sexually transmitted diseases and referrals to
mental health services, substance abuse treatment, and overdose treatment and
education.    

Those services will continue to be NovaSalud’s main focus,
said Executive Director Hugo Delgado. “We are saving lives,” he said.

No public funds would be used for the needle exchange
program; NovaSalud is applying for funds from nonprofit sources.

Fairfax County would not administer the program. Its role
would be limited to analyzing data and trends, evaluating whether the program
is successful in reducing overdoses, and reaching out to law enforcement and
the community to get ahead of any problems, said Rene Najera, substance use and
mental health program manager in the Health Department’s Division of Epidemiology.

The county police department approved a security plan for
the program, Delgado noted. There are security cameras around the building.
Clients will be required to show an ID and sign in and out and will be prohibited
from shooting up on the premises.

While most existing clients are from the surrounding area, others
come from farther afield, such as Woodbridge and Manassas, he said.

This would be the only needle exchange program in Fairfax
County, Najera said, although the Chris Atwood Foundation is developing a
similar program using a mobile unit.

Positive results

Needle exchange programs are not new, Najera said. The first
one was started in New Haven, Conn., in 1986. Today there are nearly 200
programs in 36 states. Many of them are part of comprehensive programs that
also provide healthcare, food assistance, job referrals, and other assistance. 

Research shows comprehensive harm reduction programs are not
only effective in getting drug users into rehab but also offer other
benefits, Najera said. They have been found to reduce HIV and hepatitis cases,
reduce burglaries and break-ins, increase employment, cut healthcare costs, and
decrease reliance on public services.

“There is no evidence that comprehensive harm reduction and
needle exchange programs lead to recruitment of new drug users,” added
epidemiologist Jennifer Brophy with the Fairfax County Health Department.

Drug abuse increasing

Getting drug users into a place where they can learn about
treatment options could help reduce the county’s drug abuse problem.

“We had a tremendous increase in fatal overdoes in the Fairfax
Health District,” Najera said. (The district includes the cities of Fairfax and
Falls Church as well as Fairfax County.)

Related story: Community invited to learn about new needle exchange program in Seven Corners

Opioid use, especially fentanyl, is by far responsible for
the most overdoses and deaths. It’s cheap and easily acquired on the dark, web
and it’s profitable for dealers, he said.

Najera cited some troubling trends from the Fairfax Health
District:

• There were 61 fatal drug overdoses in 2007. After peaking at
  132 in 2017, the numbers declined, then rose to 124 in 2020.
• The number of visits to emergency departments for nonfatal
  opioid overdoses soared from just 10 in 2010 to 272 in 2020. Most of those cases involved people age 18-24.
• Beginning in 2015, the number of fatal overdoses due to opioids
  began to skyrocket, while fatal overdoses from heroin and prescription opioids
  began to decline.

The county doesn’t have data on the total number of drug
abusers or such cases are concentrated in certain areas, Najera said. However,
there is an assumption that drug use is tied to poverty and inequities.

“I applaud your efforts to try and help these people. I don’t
want it in my neighborhood,” said one resident summing up the feelings expressed at the meeting.

“We need to listen to the concerns of the public,” Najera said. “People
here say it’s going to attract a certain undesirable clientele and pose a risk
to the community.”

The additional community meetings that had been scheduled for
this week had been canceled due to low registrations. Instead, Najera plans to personally
reach out to everyone who had signed up.

“We have an opioid epidemic. We have to address it. We have
to listen to the community and reach a happy medium,” he said. “We need to talk
about this more and make sure everyone is as comfortable as they’re going to
get. It should not be a source of friction.”