*** Please help keep safe needle exchange alive! A request for support. ***

[pinto]

As you know, the latest California budget has decimated many health care programs.

Since 2007, The San Luis Obispo Syringe Exchange Program (SLOSEP) has operated safe, legal needle exchange on the Central Coast.

Our goals have remained clear from day one - Reduce blood borne infections among injectors, provide safe disposal of used syringes, increase HIV / Hepatitis C testing and make referrals to local drug treatment programs.

We support a “harm reduction” approach to injection drug use - Harm reduction meets users "where they're at" to minimize the negative consequences of drug use. It includes promoting a range of options - from safer use, to managed use, to abstinence.

SLOSEP (locally, we go by “SLO Bangers”) is truly a grass roots operation.

In 2010 we expect our team of twelve dedicated volunteers to put in 400 hours and log 6,000 miles to staff three exchange sites.
One paid administrator, working 6 hours a week, helps make it all happen. 52 weeks a year, rain or shine.

Our clients run the gamut of illicit drug use - long time opiate addicts, weekend meth shooters, steroid injectors, etc. – street people, middle class working folks, and professionals. All have one thing in common – the risk of acquiring HIV, Hep C or other infections due to their needle use.

To date, we have recovered 20,000 used syringes for safe disposal and distributed 18,000 sterile syringes.

As you know, the latest California budget has decimated many health care programs.

State funding for HIV prevention work here was cut from $111,000 to $0. Yep, that’s a zero.
10% of those funds went to support SLOSEP / SLO Bangers.

We are working to make up the short fall and keep syringe exchange alive. Any donation you can afford, whatever the size, will help us stay in operation.

Thanks all ~ pinto


SLOSEP
c/o Pacific Pride Foundation
126 East Haley Street, Suite A-11
Santa Barbara, CA 93101

Donations are tax deductible. Please note “SLOSEP”. Thanks

Required disclaimer: The administrators of Democratic Underground have given permission for one discussion thread on this topic. The administrators of Democratic Underground make no claims regarding the legitimacy or illegitimacy of this fundraising effort. Permission was granted by Skinner on 9/16/09, and the moderators have been notified.

[EFerrari]

1. Wow. Great work, pinto!

[pinto]

2. Thanks.

It's a great local program. Just real "community based" stuff. And the volunteers are as diverse as the clients. Former users, health care professionals, friends and family, students. And, there's always *chocolate* available. Little known aside - chocolate helps defer opiate cravings so clients go home to shoot up, not stop off on the way...harm reduction.

[EFerrari]

15. Kick

[pinto]

3. Blatant kick.

[Danger Mouse]

4. This is a good cause.

[proud patriot]

5. k and r

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

6. K & R

[blondeatlast]

7. Do you know if they can accept donations of syringes?

I have an entire box of syringes and if I use more than one package in my whole life I will be shocked (I wear an insulin pump and have the syringes only for malfunctions and emergencies)

I will send a $$$ donation and offer a kick; I am 100% pro-needle exchange.

[pinto]

9. Yes, they'll take *unopened* packs of sterile syringes. Thanks!

Mark clearly "for donation", and don't leave yourself short.

[Libertas1776]

8. I really

wish people wouldn't feel the need, or rather feel an addiction, to resort to injecting themselves with illicit drugs and opiates. In a perfect world, it wouldn't happen. However, this is the real world and I fully support this initiative as an example of pragmatic appropriateness. Better to have these people shooting up in a clean, sterile, and safe environment instead of having an epidemic of infected addicts. I would hope, along the way somebody or something will try and convince them to enter some kind of rehab or seek some kind of help. This exchange is merely a bandage to a larger, more complex problem that needs to be addressed. Of course, we have been trying to address this problem for decades, but to no avail. But, like I said in the mean time, this is a good thing.

[pinto]

11. Yeah, this is a real world, public health approach to a big issue.

We realize our limitations on the individual level and our role in the larger public health level.

Yet, harm reduction *also* means injectors, our clients, may well be alive and kicking to move on from their use when they can choose to make those changes for themselves.

Thanks for your comments.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

10. K+R

[BlooInBloo]

12. As distasteful as it seems to help perpetuate the addictions...

It does seem to be the best we can easily do to mitigate the harm at the moment.

Will donate next paycheck.

[krispos42]

13. K&R n/t

[Heidi]

14. Recommended.

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. K & R

for life saving stuff.

[The empressof all]

17. K & R

[pinto]

18. Kick.

Thanks for taking a look and considering this all.

[TexasObserver]

19. Recommend

[pinto]

20. Program info here - slosep.net

As of 9/1, we have pulled back to our "home" site in SLO. Supplies (syringes, tourniquets, cookers, cottons, alcohol wipes, antibiotic ointment, etc.) are the primary limitation on the exchange at this point.

One last kick to request your support. Thanks again for your consideration.

http://www.slosep.net

[mdmc]

21. ..