Lewiston residents have gathered enough signatures to put a referendum question on the ballot to impose stricter rules on the city’s syringe service programs after former city councilor and current Independent state Senate candidate Eryn “Ryn” Soule was stuck with a discarded needle in April.
“Shall the Syringe Service Program ordinance be amended to mandate a strict 1:1 needle exchange with a 20-syringe daily limit per person, require each provider to operate from a fixed location, and prohibit all mobile exchange units,” says the proposed referendum language.
After she was stuck with a needle while taking out the trash at a Lewiston property, Soule and her husband, Marcel Leclair, decided to take action and began collecting signatures to put a referendum on the ballot.
On Tuesday, they announced the success of their initiative and showed that they had gathered 966 signatures verified by the city clerk, more than the 941 required to place the referendum on the ballot.
Currently, syringe service providers can hand out 100 syringes per encounter with a drug user, a policy that leads to rapidly increasing numbers of needles in the city. Under the proposed referendum, the providers would only be permitted to hand out a syringe when a drug user turns one in, with a 20-syringe per-person daily maximum.
The proposal would also prohibit mobile units from distributing syringes and require the providers to operate out of a fixed location, though current ordinances already prohibit mobile providers.
The proposed referendum will now go to the city’s attorneys for review, and will then move on to the City Council, which can decide either to enact the proposal or send it to voters.
The official language that will appear on the ballot, assuming the council does not simply enact the policy, has not yet been determined.
Lewiston has a distressing track record with syringe service providers. Last year, a provider, the Church of Safe Injection, was shut down, and its building was condemned after several thousand needles and human feces were found scattered across its basement floor.
“This is the most extreme case of needle negligence that I’ve seen in the city so far,” said building inspector Travis Tardif, speaking to WMTW. “I’ve seen the unsanitary conditions and the squatters, but nothing like that with the needles.”
