Should the City of Denver allow needle exchange programs — where people who inject drugs can trade dirty syringes for clean ones — near schools and daycares? And should the city allow more than just three to operate here?
Those are questions that two Denver City Council members raised at a meeting this week. Their goal: Change a restrictive local law from 1997.
Councilmember Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez pointed to decades of research showing that harm reduction programs, including syringe exchanges, improve public health. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that the programs are safe, effective and money-saving. The programs don’t increase illegal drug use or crime, and they reduce the spread of hepatitis, HIV and other infections, per the CDC.
But opponents often argue that syringe exchange programs implicitly support drug use, and some council members are concerned that changes will primarily result in syringe exchanges opening in low-income neighborhoods.
Denver has three needle exchanges, but it could have more
The debate highlights tensions in Denver over whether to address the drug crisis through harm reduction and public health or policing and prison.
The city and state government have both grown more supportive of programs like syringe exchanges. Denver recently debuted 20 billboards promoting the philosophy.
And for the last decade-plus, state law has allowed cities to largely set their own policies on needle exchanges. But Denver has still kept some restrictions on the book .
Denver currently sets a maximum of three syringe exchanges for the entire city, and it has already reached that limit. That is preventing local hospitals from potentially operating syringe exchanges, which would otherwise be allowed by state law, advocates said.
Additionally, the law prohibits any new exchanges from operating within 1,000 feet of schools and childcare centers. Denver is one of just three large cities that have location restrictions, according to Councilmember Sarah Parady. And it's the only large city that has a distance restriction from schools and daycares.
Parady described the city’s current law as a bureaucratic bottleneck. Denver has grown mightily since 1997, Parady said, and the three existing programs just aren’t enough.
“We’re pretty out of step,” Parady said.
Despite the restrictions, Denver has the most syringe exchanges of any Colorado city, according to a list from the state health department. The concept has faced fierce pushback in other cities like Pueblo, where local leaders voted to ban them outright.
What would the proposed Denver needle exchange rules actually change?
The changes would make it easier for new syringe exchanges to operate near schools and daycare centers.
But in one sense, it’s not a big change from the current situation. All three of Denver’s existing syringe exchange programs already operate within 1,000 feet of schools or daycare centers. They are allowed to do so under exceptions to the current laws.
The nonprofit Harm Reduction Action Center rents the old Le Central building at 112 E. 8th Ave. in the Golden Triangle. The Colorado Health Network’s Access Point is at 6260 E Colfax Ave. in the Montclair neighborhood.
The third program, Vivent Health’s Lifepoint, is mobile. Health care workers drive to encampments and other sites around the city. There’s an exemption from the 1,000-foot buffer for that program, too.
Gonzales-Gutierrez and Parady said that Denver Public Schools officials had reached out to schools near the existing syringe exchange programs.
“No issues were cited from those schools,” Gonzales-Gutierrez said. Denverite reached out to DPS for comment.
Here’s why the debate about Denver harm reduction matters now:
While some programs have gotten exceptions from the rules, they can still make it difficult to set up a new Denver needle exchange.
Harm Reduction Action Center Executive Director Lisa Raville said her program, the largest in the city, wanted to buy the building it currently rents. But the nonprofit is $10 million short of the purchase price.
“We’ve been priced out of the area,” Raville said.
The Harm Reduction Action Center, which serves around 4,000 people a year, has worked with a real-estate agent to buy a new home. But all the feasible sites were too close to daycares and schools.
The restrictions cover large swaths of the city. People selling properties near schools have refused to consider offers from HRAC, Raville said.
Finding a fix is urgent for the 22-year-old nonprofit. The Denver Opioid Abatement Council gave the center a grant to purchase a new building, which must be spent by the end of 2025.
Raville fears that if the law doesn’t change, her group will lose that opportunity and its current site.
Some council members had big questions.
Councilmember Flor Alvidrez fears the programs will gravitate to more affordable property in low-income parts of the city, adding to those communities’ issues.
Councilmember Kevin Flynn raised questions about where the HRAC’s new building would go. Raville said she had no clue. She has quit looking until the law changes, though she would not want to operate in a residential area, she said.
And Councilmember Diana Romero Campbell wondered about the effect of raising the cap. How many groups want to open an exchange, she asked?
“There aren't people beating the door down trying to run public health programs,” Parady said. “There are good providers that we kind of know about. I hope some of our hospitals might take us up on that. But it's not like we're opening the floodgates to something that's for profit.”
Before the move goes to a vote in the coming weeks, Parady and Gonzales-Gutierrez plan to set up one-on-one meetings with council members to address their questions and concerns.
Editor's note: This story was updated on Oct. 30, 2024, to clarify that Denver is the only city with distance restrictions from schools and daycares and just one of three with location-based restrictions.
