CHARLESTON, W.Va. — An overwhelming majority of those Charleston first responders that responded to a survey on harm reduction services did not give favorable feedback for them, but the chair of the city council’s Public Safety Committee said the turnout was disappointing.
136 employees of the Charleston Police Department, Charleston Fire Department, Charleston Refuse Department and Charleston Public Grounds Department completed the survey after it was sent out to 409 workers.
The results were released this week and showed 86.7% saying the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department’s program was not good for the city and just more than 83% saying they believe it led to an increase in crime.
“I am not sure it’s fair to say that that is completely representative of the groups of people we were trying to get input from,” Keeley Steele, Ward 10 Councilmember and chair of the Public Safety Committee told 580-WCHS.
“I think the information is valuable but I do not think it is more valuable than what the CDC is telling us, what the bureau of public health is telling us and what our HIV rates are telling us.”
Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the head of HIV prevention for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, spoke virtually to county and city health leaders in February and called the county’s HIV outbreak one of the most concerning in the United States. It was during a presentation that spotlighted the emergence of HIV among persons who inject drugs beginning in 2017 with a Kanawha County cluster forming between 2018 and 2019.
The Kanawha-Charleston Health Department (KCHD) operated a needle program that was shut down in 2018.
Steele told 580-WCHS that the council is taking up the issue from all angles and a handful of committee members wanted the survey. She stated she was one of the committee members that did not feel the survey was important.
“That is not because I do not care about what city employees feel or how they feel about this situation. I just felt that we could have gotten that input in a different manner,” she said.
VIEW: The complete survey results
An amendment to the city’s current ordinance on needle exchange has been debated for several months by the city council. Syringe service programs would need a West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources certification to operate.
Other survey results of respondents included 89.71% believed needle programs increase the likelihood of an accidental needle prick for the public at large, refuse employees or first responders performing their job duties and 89.71% believed that needle programs increase syringe litter throughout the community.
Between 80 and 91% of respondents also believed that needle programs result in an increase in the number of intravenous drug users coming into the city of Charleston from outside areas, believe participants in a needle program should be required to meet with a medical professional during each visit to the program, do not believe additional needs programs are needed in the city of Charleston, and believe participants in a needle exchange program should be required to return their used needles to receive new ones.
State Senator Eric J. Tarr (R – Putnam, 04), Finance Committee Chair, appeared on Tuesday’s 580-LIVE on 580-WCHS and said the results from the Charleston survey should be taken seriously because they come from the front lines.
“Nearly 90 or above 90 percent say the needle exchanges are a bad thing for Charleston and place the public employees at risk, they bring crime to the city. The people telling that, these are the heroes in our community. There is no way we should ignore that survey,” he said.
Tarr is the lead sponsor of Senate Bill 334, which passed the state Senate last week, and would establish a licensing requirement for syringe exchange programs, require a majority of county commissioners to approve a program and require a one-to-one exchange of needles. In addition, the county sheriff would also have to give his approval.
MetroNews’ Hoppy Kercheval wrote recently in a column that Tarr had “previously tried to outlaw needle exchanges over concerns about dirty needle litter. However, he said on Talkline this week that he cannot get the votes for that, so the next best option is to license and tightly regulate the exchanges.”
Tarr said Tuesday the bill is much needed, as it currently sits in the House Health and Human Resources Committee.
“When somebody is accessing a well-ran comprehensive needle exchange program, you’re going to see better disease control and you’re going see better access to services. This bill is going to say it has to be associated with a comprehensive harm reduction program,” Tarr said.
Steele said the committee will further discuss its city bill at its next meeting on March 30. She also plans to keep an eye on SB 334.