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Distribution

Latest twists with needle distribution

And with one 7-0 vote for one thing and another 4-3 vote for something else, the Chico City Council settled business on needle distribution Tuesday night.

At least, for the time being. We suspect this story is a long way from being over, as evidenced by the wide range of emotions at the meeting — and, especially, because there’s an election coming up.

Long story short, depending how the voting goes in November, there could be an entirely different resolution for the subject in a few months. Which is good, because there should be.

We’ve been against the state-approved needle access program in Chico from its beginning. While fully recognizing the benefits espoused by both Northern Valley Harm Reduction Coalition and Butte County Public Health — most notably a reduction in the risk of disease for intravenous drug users — we didn’t think that outweighed the bigger picture, which was an increased risk of exposure to the entire community (and neighboring communities) as well as environmental damage to both public and private property in the area.

Eventually, that’s what got it shut down. The state, which had recently lost a similar lawsuit in Orange County, appeared all-too-eager to settle a lawsuit filed by a group of local businesses and residents complaining that the program failed “to satisfy even the most basic requirements of an environmental impact review,” according to the group’s attorney, Rob Berry.

From there, many Chicoans — eager to make sure a similar program didn’t return in the future — let the city council know they wanted an outright ban on needle distribution in Chico, just as many neighboring cities and towns had already done.

That item was on the agenda Tuesday night. It was prefaced by several minutes of political theater that were so Chico, it probably belonged on a billboard somewhere.

First, Berry, who has informed the city of the potential of another lawsuit alleging it is not protecting its parks and lands, had been promised 10 minutes to speak by Mayor Ann Schwab on the needle program. But, after some people objected that Berry shouldn’t get 10 minutes while other speakers from the floor got only three, the council voted 5-2 to limit Berry to three minutes. And then, citing the existing “other speakers wait outside during coronavirus” policy, they wouldn’t let Berry stay in the room to listen to NVHRC’s presentation. Reaction to these moves fell along the predictable lines.

The vote ended up being 4-3 against banning needle distribution in Chico. Schwab joined councilors Sean Morgan and Kasey Reynolds with “yes” votes.

On the other hand, the council did take a step toward better managing needle waste should there be another distribution here in the future — and this time, it was Randall Stone who led the way.

We dinged Stone a few weeks back in this space for his candidate statement saying he had “fought hard to restrict needle distributions and mandating used needles are not dumped into our creeks and streams” in Chico. We didn’t agree with that assessment, especially for the period the distributions were actually taking place. However, he did ask city staff to produce a report on approaches to needle waste management, which he pointed out he had also asked for in 2018 from Internal Affairs. (So, as promised at the time, we applaud him for this move.)

Tuesday, Stone’s motion for staff to come forward with a report on managing needle waste passed 7-0, marking one of the few times the council had agreed unanimously on a hot-button topic.

On this topic, we also wonder if it might be the last time. As it stands, NVHRC or any other group could get needle distribution started up here again if it completes the required environmental review program (which, we’d hope, would include a more logical place to host the distribution). And depending what the council does with its report on managing needle waste, there is likely to be another, even more-hotly contested debate out it.

But … there’s a good chance it’ll be another council that makes that decision.

Stone, who voted against banning distribution Tuesday, is up for re-election. So is Morgan, who voted for it. Schwab (voted yes), also running, is in the same newly formed district as Karl Ory, who voted no but isn’t seeking re-election. And then there’s District 7, where candidates Rich Ober (supports pro-harm reduction programs, according to his webpage) and Deepika Tandon (anti-needle access, according to hers) appear to have opposing views on the topic.

Check back after the Nov. 3 election. The results should provide a clear picture of what the future of needle access programs — if any — will look like in Chico.

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