The
Needle
II:
Federal
Lawsuits
in
New
York
City
and
Connecticut
Challenge
Police
Harassment
of
Needle
Exchange
Programs
12/22/00
Needle exchange program (NEP) supporters in New York City and Bridgeport, Connecticut, have gone to federal court to block police harassment and arrests of NEP participants. In both cases, police have arrested people holding used syringes because they contained minute amounts of illegal drugs. Police charge them under drug paraphernalia laws. In Bridgeport, US District
Judge Janet Hall late last month issued a temporary restraining order barring
police from arresting needle exchange program participant who possess as
many as 30 syringes, the maximum amount allowed under state law.
In papers filed with the court, the plaintiffs describe a pattern of harassment. They allege that Bridgeport police "regularly stop Exchange Program participants after they leave the program van," then "confiscate or destroy" the clean needles and tear up the participant's identification card. In arguments before Judge Hall on December 15th, Graham Boyd argued that when the Connecticut legislature in 1992 revised state law to allow over-the-counter syringe sales, its clear intent was to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C by allowing injection drug users access to unused syringes. "What else can they be intended for?" asked Boyd, the ACLU's Drug Policy Litigation Project director. "If you make a person subject to arrest for possessing a needle with drug residue, then you've defeated the purpose of the statute." Following that logic, Boyd then asked Judge Hall to not only extend the temporary restraining order, but to expand it to bar Bridgeport police from arresting anyone -- not just registered program participants -- on drug paraphernalia charges for having a needle containing drug residues. Bridgeport Associate City Attorney Barbara Brazzel-Massaro disagreed. She told the court, "The law doesn't say needles with narcotic substances in them are now decriminalized." But even Brazzel-Massaro conceded that NEPs could not function if police arrested persons for possession of dirty needles. They have to have dirty ones to turn in for clean ones, she noted. Judge Hall told the court she hoped to rule by January 1st. In the meantime, the order barring Bridgeport police from arresting program members remains in effect. Meanwhile, in New York City, the Urban Justice Center in late November filed a lawsuit in US District Court for the Southern District of New York against the city, the police commissioner, and 11 police officers. The suit alleges that police arrested, detained, and prosecuted a registered member of a city NEP. Corrine Carey, director of the Urban Justice Institute's Harm Reduction Project, is one of the lawyers on the case. "It's the same old story," she told DRCNet. "The guy was walking down the street, was recognized as a drug user, and was searched. He volunteered that he had a used syringe. He showed them his membership card. They charged him with drug paraphernalia for the syringe and possession for the drug residue." "The cops should not have charged him," Carey pronounced. "It's absurd to enforce syringe possession laws. People are carrying small numbers of syringes to protect themselves and their communities from HIV." What made this case even more egregious, said Carey, was that the plaintiff was in compliance with NEP participation guidelines. "The law says if you're a registered member, you're in lawful possession." Carey said attorneys will meet in conference with US District Court Judge Robert Sweet on January 16th. Sweet has in the past spoken out for drug policy reform.
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