Safer Substance Use Saves Lives

Improving fentanyl overdose outcomes is just one facet of DAP Health’s New Harm Reduction Program

DAP Health Harm Reduction Supervisor Neil Gussardo and his colleagues also distribute opioid overdose treatments proven effective: injectable naloxone and the nasal spray Narcan. Persons who overdose cannot typically self-administer such aids, so the products are provided to fellow users who can come to the rescue should need be. Proper training for administering overdose therapy is given as well.

While some feel the program enables drug abuse, Gussardo counters that, by reducing disease transmission, the program is saving society a considerable amount of money and time spent treating people infected with HIV or hep C.

Proponents understand the program also lessens the current fentanyl overdose epidemic. The drug is a legally prescribed painkiller that in the last 10 years has become a widely used street drug up to 50 times stronger than heroine and 100 times stronger than morphine. It’s often added to other drugs due to its extreme potency, which makes substances cheaper, more powerful, more addictive, and much more dangerous.

The number of overdose deaths involving fentanyl countrywide increased from 1,615 in 2012 to more than 71,000 in 2021. According to the California Department of Public Health, there were 408 overdose deaths involving fentanyl in 2021 in Riverside County. Statistics for 2022 are not yet available. It’s been reported to Gussardo that participants have used either naloxone or Narcan provided by DAP Health to reverse 104 overdoses from September through January. “That’s 104 lives saved,” he marvels.

The majority of those in DAP Health’s Harm Reduction Program, Gussardo reveals, are unhoused. Twice a week, his team drives its van to churches on the western end of the Coachella Valley, linking arms with local nonprofit Well in the Desert, an organization that provides hot meals five days a week for working poor, persons without homes, and others.

The road to recovery from substance abuse is not only long, but also one pockmarked with potentially lethal pitfalls. That’s why, last year, DAP Health instituted its Harm Reduction Program (overseen by Director of Community Health and Sexual Wellness C.J. Tobe) to make drug use safer for locals unprepared for abstinence.

Specifically, the team provides drug use paraphernalia such as fresh syringes, test strips to determine if a more dangerous synthetic opioid like fentanyl is mixed in with other substances, cookers to help convert drugs in solid form to liquid, and clean pipes, glass bubble bowls, pipe extensions, and foil used in smoking opiates.

Gussardo is quick to add that he and his colleagues neither provide counseling nor encourage users to enter recovery. Also, a relatively new initiative involves the Harm Reduction team establishing a presence on Palm Springs’ Arenas Road, where a number of gay bars are located, so as to extend its services to gay men who use crystal meth — and potentially share syringes — in sexual situations.

Anyone interested in receiving clean supplies is encouraged to visit DAP Health’s Harm Reduction team in the field. Call 760.323.2118, Extension 504, to inquire about schedules and locations.