Denver drug users, advocates decry overdose, ask for injection center

A vial of Narcan, the opioid antidote.Photo byPharmacy ImagesonUnsplash

Former drug users and advocates for people who use drugs asked the Denver City Council Monday to act and open a safe injection center for drug users.

Several people spoke during the public comment period. The council adopted a proclamation supporting drug users later in the meeting. Kevin Flynn was absent.

Flynn said he did not attend the meeeting so he would not have to vote against the proclamation. "I had an irreconcilable conflict with one of the statements in the proclamation, which would have prevented me from voting 'aye' on it. One of the sections asserted the council’s 'prioritizing… overdose prevention sites.' I do not support this failed policy. If those three words were not in the proclamation, I would have attended the meeting and voted aye. But I could not vote aye in supporting something I firmly oppose, not could I dishonor the memory of so many precious lives lost to drug overdose, something I mourn and grieve as part of our community, by voting nay. Instead, I chose to leave the meeting after the 3:30 session and not attend the later session."

Flynn opposes overdose prevention centers

In 2018, Flynn was the only council member to vote against a proposed safe injection site, also known as overdose prevention centers. The center never opened because the state legislature still hasn't allowed it. "No single vote in my 9-plus year tenure so far has drawn more thanks from the public for me that that vote," Flynn said in an email. "For more then three months afterward, there was no a single day go by when someone did not call, email or – unbelievably – hop in their car and drive down to my office in Bear Valley to shake my hand and thank me for my vote. For the first month or so, there were dozens of such calls, emails and visits. I was stunned by how deeply people felt this pilot program would be a poor choice for Denver and for its people who use drugs. I think the track record for supervised drug injection sites is mixed with good and bad outcomes, and for me, the outcomes fall more heavily on the bad side. It would be a terrible mistake for Denver to go this route."

Denver is all too familiar with drug overdose deaths. Last year, 598 people in Denver died of a drug overdose, according to the Medical Examiner’s Office.

“We need you to act now, please,” Betsy Craft told the council. “Stop the war on drugs, end the war on drugs.”

Keeping people alive

Rica Rodriguez said it is the goal of harm reduction workers to minimize damage to drug users. They do this by offering them healthcare when needed and even getting them into substance abuse treatment. They also avoid contracting diseases by using clean needles provided by the harm reduction centers or smoking drugs with pipes provided by the centers instead of injecting them. “If we can’t keep people alive, they never have a chance to recover,” Rodriguez said.

Denverites see the epidemic of addiction on its streets. In some parts of town, it is difficult to tell whether the people lying on the sidewalk are alive or dead, many are in such states of inebriation.

But if it were not for Harm Reduction Action Center, or HRAC, even more people in the Mile-High City would die of overdose. The organization provides Narcan, the opioid antidote, to people who use drugs and those who interact with them. Narcan revives people who use opioids like fentanyl every day. HRAC educates people who use drugs about not using alone. But unfortunately, the overdoses continue. So far this year there have been 254 deaths, including 88 homeless people, HRAC stated in its August newsletter.

Council decries drug arrests

At Monday’s meeting, the council adopted a proclamation recognizing HRAC and Overdose Grief Awareness Day Saturday, Aug. 31. “Over the last 53 plus years of the racist and classist war on drugs, drug overdose deaths have increased significantly in many parts of the world, including Denver, and continue to worsen,” the proclamation reads. “Overdose Grief Day and the Denver City Council denounces the criminalization and incarceration of people who use drugs. Overdose Grief Day hopes to publicly challenge the stigma associated with drug use and overdose. Overdose Grief Day sends a strong message to current and former people who use drugs that their lives are valued…”