INJECTION CENTER FOR DRUG USERS? TASK FORCE FINDS LITTLE SUPPORT

Mayor Ed Lee has so far set an eat-your-vegetables agenda for the
year with balancing the budget, pension reform and job creation
topping his to-do list. But this is San Francisco, and while
(organic, locally grown) broccoli and spinach are important, we need
a little spice.

One mouth-watering proposal (for political columnists, anyway) is
back on the table: a legal, city-funded center where intravenous drug
users can get needles and shoot up without consequence.

The idea comes from the city's Hepatitis C Task Force, created by
then-Mayor Gavin Newsom in 2009 in response to growing concern over
the 12,000 San Franciscans infected by the disease, most of whom have
no idea of their status.

The 30 members - including doctors, public health officials,
advocates and hepatitis C patients - have just released their
recommendations. Among them is opening the nation's first legal
injection drug center, an idea unanimously backed by the task force.

Supporters say it would help stop the spread of hepatitis C and HIV,
prevent deaths from overdoses and keep dirty needles off the streets.
A facility in Vancouver, British Columbia, has shown those upbeat results.

The same idea was promoted in 2007, but no politician would touch it.

Dr. Brad Hare, a task force member, associate professor of medicine
at UCSF and doctor in the HIV clinic at San Francisco General
Hospital, said San Francisco has always been at the forefront of
adopting controversial policies to stop the spread of infectious
diseases. Take needle exchange programs or the distribution of
condoms in jails and schools.

"Something like an injection facility is a logical next step in
helping those who are using injection drugs do so in a safe way," he
said. "As a health care provider, it's not about judging the
behavior, it's about protecting health."

The task force is setting up meetings with supervisors and the mayor
to discuss their recommendations, which also include milder ideas
like a dedicated staffer in the health department to work on hep C
issues and a public awareness campaign.

So are they likely to get any further with the injection center idea
than last time around? After all, there's a new director of the
Department of Public Health, Barbara Garcia.

"There are many recommendations in the hep C report that we believe
are more important than a new injection center," she said.

There's also a new mayor.

"The mayor agrees with his health director and does not support this
particular recommendation," said Tony Winnicker, Lee's departing spokesman.

There's a new supervisor in District Six, home to the Tenderloin,
which has the city's highest number of intravenous drug users.
Supervisor Jane Kim even wrote on a candidate survey by the San
Francisco Drug Users' Union (yes, even drug users have a union here)
that she supports the idea, according to the task force.

"At this point in time, I don't see us doing anything. Not even
touching this issue. For a long time," her legislative aide said in a
voice mail.

Guess we'll just have to wait for the spice.

By the numbers

$55 New penalty for Municipal Transportation Agency workers who park
in MTA spaces without an $80 monthly permit

$138,000 Salary of Christine Falvey, new spokeswoman for the mayor

Quote of the week

"Phone books are a 20th century tool that doesn't meet the business
or environmental needs of the 21st century."

Supervisor David Chiu, who wants to ban the unsolicited distribution
of the Yellow Pages