President Hardin, esteemed members of City Council, and fellow community members. Thank you for granting me an opportunity to speak before you tonight on harm reduction strategies for a healthier West Side through our compassionate client center and trauma responsive approach via 1DivineLine2Health Hilltop Drop-In Center. We are on frontlines serving those affected by human and drug trafficking. We serve their children and caregivers. An issue of immense importance to our city is the need to implement and advance effective harm reduction strategies as a cornerstone of our public health response towards substance use disorders. This is a subject that is often difficult to discuss but it is critical to the health, safety, and dignity of residents.
My concern is that Sanctuary Night (SN) or Collective Drop-In Center is not an exemplary model of harm reduction. It affects our image in the community. Their practices are above the law. They breach city and county contracts by illegally operating an “unsafe injection site.” They threatened the public health and safety by improperly discarding biohazardous waste like syringes and drug paraphernalia. Furthermore, they allow drug dealers to set up shops outside their doors. They reinforce trauma bonding between the women and drug dealers. Both the workers and drug dealers are poverty pimps, capitalizing from their clients suffering.
Compare Columbus police data between SN and our Drop-In Center. The crime and overdose rate are drastically different. The safety of clients, neighbors, healthcare providers, business owners, and street outreach programs like 1DL2H are jeopardized. The increase of rape, murder, felonious assaults, and other types of delinquencies from their site to Herbert’s Market is alarming. SN lost the fight to the drug dealers by the lack of boundaries from the start.
According to the Federal Law 21 USC § 856 “the crack house statute makes it a felony to knowingly open, lease, rent, use, or maintain any property for the purpose of manufacturing, distributing, or using controlled substances. This law allows the Justice Department to hold property owners accountable if they intentionally permit their premises to be used for drug-related activities.” So, the City Attorney office and city leaders are also accountable and responsible for financially supporting their efforts. So why do trap houses get shut down and SN is still operating as a glorified trap house? Even being hit with a $2,500 sanction by Judge Stephanie Mingo there is evidence today the facility allows men to enter and sell drugs to the women. The evidence gathered is through collaborative efforts by neighbors and a small nonprofit, SecUrban Living that works effortlessly with CPD to keep us safe from all the danger lurking on the West Side.
Ohio has not legalized Supervised Consumption Sites: Sometimes called safe injection sites, these facilities allow individuals to use substances under the supervision of trained health professionals, providing immediate assistance in case of overdose and reducing the risk of public drug use. SN has hired a phlebotomist and allowing women to do drugs inside the facility is illegal. Healthcare providers can perform their own blood drawings and take their specimens with them. There are protocols for handling blood.
As a pioneer of the first full-time Drop-In Center in our city in 2021, I know first-hand the effects of substance use and addiction realities. The effect on countless individuals and families in our community. Since 2017 the 1DL2H Hilltop Drop-In Center has served a total of 9,884 human trafficking victims. Our Love Bug Street Outreach has reached 13,449 lives, covering the four corners of Columbus. Thanks to city and community funding, our Hilltop Drop-In Center capacity increased to serve vulnerable families with the multipurpose room addition. We provide a sexual health, and general medicine clinic and a safe syringe exchange program. We distribute Narcan and on the streets. We provide basic needs and sober living in our two safe houses. We are not perfect, yet we treat people with compassion and dignity. 1DL2H still has a heartbeat on the frontlines.
I am here to inform you that harm reduction is a safe, practical, evidence-based approach. It seeks to minimize the negative health, social, and legal impacts associated with substance use, without necessarily requiring cessation. Rather than a one-size-fits-all solution, harm reduction meets people where they are, offering a pathway to improved health and well-being. I asked on Saturday one of the human trafficking survivors in recovery to share with you a message:
‘My name Kiara Curry Honors my two big brothers, my nephew Chris, and my niece Danelle all Curry’s except my nephew ALL MURDERED BY DRUGS! What does Harm Reduction mean? HARM REDUCTION, is a PROVEN educational pathway to less overdoses & also recovery.’
Kiara gave me a recall that sometimes overdoses are accidental and intentional. Drug dealers can be charged with felony murder which implies intent to commit the underlying felony, while involuntary manslaughter often involves unintentional death. So where does operating an illegally safe injection site fall? As it contributes to an increase in fatal overdoses. We do not mix genders because there are dangerous men who are murderers, drug dealers, and 2nd and 3rd tier sexual offenders. I know men need help. Considering the evidence and the urgent needs of our community, I respectfully recommend gender specific Drop-In Centers.
In July 2024, thanks to a United Way grant we incorporated a music, art, and dance pilot monthly program. We also had children attend a 5-day camp program in Butler County this summer. By the way, our funding ended on June 30th. Our children thrived by having a healthy meal and fun. We became an advocate and respite for grandmothers and relatives raising children impacted by human trafficking and the opiate crisis. We established healthy boundaries and rules of engagement and rewarded them for quoting and practicing them. Our program increased their mental and physical well-being. Our simple approach taught healthy coping mechanisms. Research shows laughter rejuvenates the mind, body, spirit and increases positive emotions by the release of feel-good neurotransmitters that boost the immune system. Laughter is the best medicine and not a cliché, it is a remedy for life stressors.
In conclusion, let us seize this opportunity to lead with empathy and common sense by investing in harm reduction strategies that are committed to the health, safety, and dignity of every resident. Please consider our request to build a duplex for pregnant women in recovery, install a safety fence at our Hilltop Butterfly Garden for our kids to safely play, and have our parking lot asphalt replaced.
Remember this…LOVE always protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres. Most importantly love never fails. This is the type of love 1DL2H uses in their harm reduction strategies that save and attract folks to us. Thank you for your time, attention, and dedication to our city.
