Will Trump kill programs that help drug users? L.A. harm reduction groups await fate

Samson Tafolo’s final count read 119.

In 45 minutes he pulled a van full of mini water bottles, marijuana cigarettes and miscellaneous sanitation products, surrounded by Skid Row, distributed the supplies and kept everyone he provided on the usual route.

Tafolo and other leaders in the sidewalk program, headquartered with several blocks of hazard reduction nonprofits, conducting tours several times a week. He said counting has become a high-risk part of the work as these figures are reported in grant applications.

As the political climate changed, their funds suddenly fell into danger.

The sidewalk project is one of several groups that provide resources for homeless people, including some supplies specifically targeting drug users, such as sterile syringes. While advocates make a living by saving lives during the opioid epidemic, the plans remain controversial, with critics saying they will exacerbate addiction.

Leaders of similar groups across the state fear Trump administration’s recent commitments Trim federal spending and Reduce redundancy in government agencies Their work will have a profound impact.

“It’s just a panic,” Tavlow said of the uncertain future under Trump. “It keeps us on our toes.”

Federal health officials explain On Friday, this cuts efforts to prevent HIV, a key component of many hazard reduction programs, which are already under the sport.

“This is definitely a different level of threat than normal people,” said Elly Jalayer, Director of Injury Reduction at Bienestar Human Services.

Jalayer said the Los Angeles County Department of Health has been prestigious for its ongoing support for the injury reduction program, but the federal funding flow is even more volatile.

In San Francisco, Mayor Daniel Lurie Commitment to reorganize the city’s homeless services And carefully study the efficacy of city-funded nonprofits, including the effectiveness of providing supplies to drug users.

“Only distribute things without responsibility – these days are over,” Lurie said in a press conference.

Soma Snakeoil, co-founder and executive director of the nonprofit, said last year the sidewalk project was granted for questions about its syringe service program. According to an impact analysis by third-party research firms, the program managed more than 267,000 sterile syringes in 2023 and collected more than 53,000 syringes from the Skid Row and MacArthur Park areas.

“When you consistently show the way you succeed, you imagine you’ll get a refund,” Snakeoil said. “But they say they’re heading in a different direction.”

Snakeoil said this shift often means more emphasis on treatment and reduces damage. She and others warn that the zoom syringe program could have serious public health consequences.

Federal officials told Wall Street Journal Earlier this month, the Department of Health and Human Services was considering moving the Centers for Disease Control’s HIV prevention measures under another agency, or eliminating the department altogether.

Both steps will restore decades of progress and “destructive for us to end the HIV epidemic,” said Timothy Zembek, program manager for the HIV Services nonprofit.

If the CDC stops participating, local officials are making overall cuts to research and prevention efforts.

Cheryl Barrit, executive director of the Los Angeles County HIV Commission, said her commissioner, 33% of whom live in HIV, was nervous.

“What deep anxiety and concerns are people about life in the near future,” Barritt said.

Procedures for providing syringe cleaning to intravenous drug users have been shown to prevent the spread of hepatitis and other blood-borne pathogens. But Barritt said it seems that decisions are now made at the federal level “seemingly lacking analysis and lack of community input and lack of partnerships with stakeholders of experts in the field.”

The Department of Health and Human Services did not answer the New York Times request.

Government leaders believe the disconnect between improving public health outcomes and what local communities really need is to bring Snakeoil and her sidewalk project co-founder Stacey Dee within the scope of her work.

Snakeoil said the group was originally formed as an art and music program. She and Dee realize that “we are the right people because of our drug use experience, we are the right people.”

Many employees on the sidewalk also shared this life experience.

One of the main hits to reduce damage is that it enables and encourages illegal drug use. But some people’s sidewalk staff turned their lives around and they wanted them to be served as theirs when they were on the street.

Crush Herring, who heads the Sidewalk Community Ambassador Program, has sold drugs in the past and resided on Skid Row. He stopped trading when he was born in 2006 and has since painted murals on his old selling points.

One Wednesday in late March, when Herring was doing neighborhoods with his team, he stopped in each block to say hello to old friends by.

“We are like a lighthouse,” he said. “When you step on water, you need a lighthouse.”

As the herring emits supplies, he directs the new recipient to the reversing site on Stanford Avenue on the sidewalk, a refurbished garage space where unwelcome community members can eat, rest and shop for overdose reversal drug naloxone, clean syringes and Sharp containers, and other first aid and sanitary supplies.

There, the regular Michelle Ortiz of the sidewalk loads on juices, oatmeal and underwear.

She said HIV-positive Ortiz has lived on Skid Row for more than a decade. At that time, she was attacked and even gave birth to a birth on the street.

Last year, the sidewalk helped Ortiz enter Weingart Residential Tower She said. She still uses drugs occasionally – “I won’t lie to you” – but less than before, and now she’s taking drugs for HIV.

Without sidewalks, Ortiz said, “I won’t be here – that would be different.”

Despite the proof of people like Ortiz, the trend seems to be against reducing harm. Last year, the Trump administration is ready to implement a comprehensive change, which has imposed tougher penalties on certain drug crimes.

Snakeoil noted that almost “every aspect of our work is on the list of banned terms”, with the Trump administration reportedly already having hundreds of terms Instruct federal employees to avoid.

Snakeoil said some nonprofits are scrambling to change their organizational language to get federal funding, while others flee to the private sector.

For Snakeoil, it’s hard to see the way forward, especially when Trump and California officials spark public interest in tough crime strategies.

“A lot of people have lost patience,” said Sebastian Perez, a state affairs expert at APLA Health & Wellness.

As the death of Prop 36 shows, Perez said: “I think the public is more willing to be punitive now.”

But drug policy researchers have long been strong on drug users rather than an evidence-based approach.

Peter Davidson, a professor at the University of California, San Diego, studied the efficacy of so-called overdose prevention sites that use drugs under the supervision of workers and medical professionals who reduce hazards.

“We give them criminal records, so it’s hard for them to have legal jobs and be part of the legal economy, and with it all the unstable things, it’s hard for us to get them to get housing,” Davidson said. “Then, we hope they can somehow successfully exit with the drug.”

Meanwhile, studies have shown that those who use syringe exchange programs are More likely to enter treatmentHe said.

Those on Skid Row continue to worry that they will lose the only good thing they see nearby.

“I’m afraid Trump wants to shut down all of this,” resident Alvaro Rodriguez said while queuing up on the sidewalk.

As he walked away, Rodriguez clutched a pair of worn-out works books—in which the business plan took himself and his neighbors off the streets.