PUEBLO — A Tuesday court hearing will decide the future of Pueblo’s needle exchange programs following the city council’s controversial May 13 decision to ban them from operating.
The May vote officially went into effect after the mayor signed the ordinance on May 16. For the next two weeks, Pueblo’s two needle exchange programs ceased operations.
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On June 6, a successful ACLU of Colorado lawsuit granted a temporary restraining order against the ban.
At that point, Pueblo’s two needle exchange programs, Access Point and the Southern Colorado Harm Reduction Association (SCHRA), began their syringe service operations once again.
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But during that brief period when the needle exchange programs were banned, the SCHRA has made claims to KOAA that overdose deaths and hazardous needle sharing occurred.
“We did hear some self-reporting of people in the two weeks that we were closed that they were sharing needles, and they were reusing needles, which can be extremely dangerous,” said Jude Solano, the co-founder and CEO of SCHRA. “We also had a reported three deaths from overdose in that timeframe. So it's been very impactful, and very difficult.”
Research has widely shown the benefits of needle exchange programs in helping prevent the spread of infectious diseases like HIV and Hepatitis C, reducing overdose deaths, leading drug users to seek treatment, and lowering the amount of improperly discarded syringes.
Despite overwhelming public comment in support of the two needle exchange programs, including from several medical professionals, the city council pushed forward with the ban.
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In a statement sent to KOAA, another employee at SCHRA reiterated Jude Solano’s claims of dangerous and deadly ramifications caused by city council’s vote.
"During the two weeks we were closed for the [syringe service program], we came across several clients who came into the center really upset and shaken up,” said Erica Otero, lead peer support specialist at SCHRA. “A lot of clients stated they were having to save a lot of their friends…at least a handful of different people overdosed. [And] a total of 12 people who had to re-use or share [needles].”
Otero said other SCHRA clients reported quitting “cold turkey” due to no access to clean syringes, leading to withdrawal sickness.
Pueblo County Coroner Brian Cotter confirmed there were two overdose deaths that occurred in Pueblo between May 13 and June 6. A third overdose death occurred on June 10, days after the ban was lifted due to the ACLU lawsuit.
A KOAA records request for the autopsy reports confirmed the three deaths.
Though they appear to line up with the timeline when Pueblo’s needle exchange ban was in effect, the deaths can’t be proven as conclusively caused by the ban.
Solano said SCHRA uses confidential identifiers instead of actual names for their program. As a result, she could not confirm whether or not the names of the overdose deaths were regular clients of SCHRA.
As for the ACLU lawsuit, Tuesday’s court hearing could lead to either a permanent injunction against the ban or the judge could allow it to take effect. The case could also move forward to trial.
The hearing is scheduled for 1:30 PM in Pueblo. The City of Pueblo had no comment due to pending litigation.
Email Senior Reporter Brett Forrest at brett.forrest@koaa.com. Follow @brettforrestTVon X and Brett Forrest News on Facebook.
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