BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2495
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 5, 2016
Counsel: David Billingsley
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer, Sr., Chair
AB
2495 (Eggman) - As Amended March 30, 2016
SUMMARY: Decriminalizes conduct connected to use and operation
of an adult public health or medical intervention facility that
is permitted by state or local health departments and intended
to reduce death, disability, or injury due to the use of
controlled substances. Specifically, this bill:
1)Allows state or local health departments to authorize the
establishment and operation of an adult public health program
intended to reduce death, disease, or injury due to the use
and administration of controlled substances.
2)States that such public health program includes, but is not
limited to, supervised consumption services where adults may
consume preobtained controlled substances under the
supervision of staff in a safe and hygienic facility.
3)Specifies that at a minimum these programs shall provide
substance use disorder treatment either directly or through
referral.
4)Provides that any person or entity, including, but not limited
to, property owners, managers, employees, volunteers, and
clients or participants, involved in the operation or
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utilization of such an adult public health or medical
intervention program shall not be arrested, charged, or
prosecuted for specified drug related offenses, or have his or
her property subject to forfeiture, or otherwise be penalized
solely for actions or conduct allowed by state or local health
departments.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Provides that the possession of cocaine, cocaine base, heroin,
opium, and other specified controlled substances listed in the
controlled substance schedule, unless upon the prescription of
a physician, dentist, podiatrist, or veterinarian licensed to
practice in this state, shall be punished by imprisonment in a
county jail for not more than one year, except at specified.
(Health and Saf. Code, § 11350(a).)
2)Makes the possession of methamphetamine and other specified
controlled substances listed in the controlled substance
schedule, unless upon the prescription of a physician,
dentist, podiatrist, or veterinarian licensed to practice in
this state, punishable by imprisonment in a county for a term
not to exceed one year, except as specified. (Health and Saf.
Code, § 11377(a).)
3)States that any person who has under his or her management or
control any building, room, space, or enclosure, either as an
owner, lessee, agent, employee, or mortgagee, who knowingly
rents, leases, or makes available for use, with or without
compensation, the building, room, space, or enclosure for the
purpose of unlawfully manufacturing, storing, or distributing
any controlled substance for sale or distribution can be
punished by imprisonment in the county jail up to three years
(Health & Saf. Code, § 11366.5, subd. (a).)
4)Specifies that any person who utilizes a building, room,
space, or enclosure specifically designed to suppress law
enforcement entry in order to sell, manufacture, or possess
for sale any amount of drugs, as specified, shall be punished
by imprisonment in the county jail for three, four, or five
years. (Health & Saf. Code, § 11366.6.)
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5)Provides that until January 1, 2021, as a public health
measure intended to prevent the transmission of HIV, viral
hepatitis, and other bloodborne diseases among persons who use
syringes and hypodermic needles, and to prevent subsequent
infection of sexual partners, newborn children, or other
persons, the possession solely for personal use of hypodermic
needles or syringes if acquired from a physician, pharmacist,
hypodermic needle and syringe exchange program, or any other
source that is authorized by law to provide sterile syringes
or hypodermic needles without a prescription shall not be
criminalized. (Health & Saf. Code, § 11364, subd. (c).)
6)Specifies that notwithstanding any other provision of law and
until January 1, 2021, as a public health measure intended to
prevent the transmission of HIV, viral hepatitis, and other
bloodborne diseases among persons who use syringes and
hypodermic needles, and to prevent subsequent infection of
sexual partners, newborn children, or other persons, a
physician or pharmacist may, without a prescription or a
permit, furnish hypodermic needles and syringes for human use
to a person 18 years of age or older, and a person 18 years of
age or older may, without a prescription or license, obtain
hypodermic needles and syringes solely for personal use from a
physician or pharmacist. (Business & Prof. Code, § 4145.5,
subd. (b).)
7)Classifies controlled substances in five schedules according
to their danger and potential for abuse. Schedule I
controlled substances have the greatest restrictions and
penalties, including prohibiting the prescribing of a Schedule
I controlled substance. (Health & Saf. Code, §§ 11054 to
11058.)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS:
1)Author's Statement: According to the author, "Across the
United States, heroin and opiate use and overdose is on the
rise. Legislation in many states, including California, has
improved access to sterile needles; broadened the use
life-saving drug naloxone, which reverses the impact of opiate
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overdose; and continued the utilization of drug courts and
drug diversion programs. However, with 125 Americans dying
every day, and California hospitals treating one overdose
every 45 minutes, we must continue to look for innovative
strategies for addressing this epidemic.
"This bill would extend the harm reduction strategies we are
already using in California, by enabling Local Health
Jurisdictions to authorize programs to provide medical
supervision to consumers of pre-obtained drugs, in order to
save lives, connect individuals with vital services like
detoxification and housing, and reduce public nuisance and
potentially hazardous litter. Research has shown these
programs reduce overdose mortality, public injection, litter
from drug use, and public nuisance all while increasing
access to treatment, safe use behaviors, and entrance into
detoxification services. In a single year the Canadian safe
consumption facility made more than 2,000 referrals to
community-based services: 37% were for addictions counseling,
12% for detoxification, 16% for community health centers, 4%
for methadone maintenance therapy, and 3% for long-term
recovery houses. The research shows no increase in the number
of people who use drugs, drug trafficking and consumption
crimes, or relapse rates. A simulation of the population of
Vancouver suggests that their program has contributed to the
prevention of 1191 HIV infections and 54 hepatitis C virus
infections, and saved over 1300 years of life and $14
million."
2)Supervised Injection Facilities and Drug Consumption Rooms:
This bill would allow state or local health departments to
authorize public health programs such as supervised injection
facilities and drug consumption rooms. Supervised injection
facilities and drug consumption rooms are professionally
supervised healthcare facilities where drug users can consume
drugs in safer conditions. One of their primary goals is to
reduce morbidity and mortality by providing a safe environment
for more hygienic drug use and by training clients in safer
drug use. The drug consumption room seeks to attract
hard-to-reach populations of drug users, especially
marginalised groups and those who use drugs on the streets or
in other risky and unhygienic conditions. At the same time,
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they seek to reduce drug use in public and improve public
amenity in areas surrounding urban drug markets. A further aim
is to promote access to social, health and drug treatment
facilities.
( http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/Safe_Injection#sthash.jb2AsCAE
.dpbs )
3)Increasing Opioid and Heroin Overdoses in California: An
August 17, 2015 article in the Sacramento Bee discussed the
increase California hospitals have been seeing in opioid and
heroin overdoses.
"California hospitals treated more than 11,500 patients
suffering an opioid or heroin overdose in 2013, new state
figures show. That's roughly one overdose every 45 minutes.
It's also up more than 50 percent from 2006.
". . . Opioid overdoses resulting in ER visits and
hospitalizations increased steadily nearly every year from
2006 to 2013, according to the Office of Statewide Health
Planning and Development. Opioid deaths peaked in 2010 and
have dropped slightly in following years, according to the
California Department of Public Health.
( http://www.sacbee.com/siteservices/databases/article31324532.h
tm )
4)California Allows Sale of Hypodermic Needles: California has
allowed the sale of hypodermic needles and syringes for a
number of years. SB 1159 (Vasconcellos), Chapter 608,
Statutes of 2004, established a five-year pilot program to
allow California pharmacies, when authorized by a local
government, to sell up to 10 syringes to adults without a
prescription. Within several years there were hundreds of
pharmacies, reaching a total of 650 by the suspension of the
pilot. The pilot was suspended when statewide sales were
authorized by SB 41 (Yee), Chapter 738, Statutes of 2011. SB
41 also required the Department of Public Health (DPH) to
evaluate the results of the pilot project.
In July 2010, DPH published an evaluation of the pilot. The
report had a number of findings. Among the most relevant were
that an increased number of intravenous drug users (IDUs)
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reported using pharmacies as a source of their syringes. The
availability of these sterile syringes seemed to impact
behavior. A significantly lower portion of IDUs reported
sharing of syringes and there was no evidence of increased
unsafe discard of used hypodermic needles or syringes was
observed in the Disease Prevention Demonstration Projects
(DPDP). DPH reported that the level of injection of illegal
drugs decreased among publicly funded HIV testing clients.
The report also found that drug related crime remained stable
in the jurisdictions that authorized DPDPs. Nevertheless, DPH
concluded that the program appeared to be having the desired
effect of augmenting access to sterile syringes.
There are a host of studies both domestically and
internationally that provide evidence that provision of
sterile hypodermic needles and syringes reduces HIV
transmission. Public health experts, including the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, have identified access to
sterile syringes as one component of a comprehensive HIV
prevention strategy designed to reduce HIV transmission among
IDUs. In the last 10 years, a number of national
organizations have endorsed deregulation to allow IDUs to
purchase and possess syringes and needles without a
prescription, including the American Medical Association, the
American Pharmaceutical Association, the NABP, the National
Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors, and the
Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
5)If This Bill Becomes Law, the Conduct Allowed would Still be
Criminal Under Federal Law: State authorization does not
nullify federal drug laws. As a result state authorization
for drug consumption rooms would not prevent them from being
shut down by federal law enforcement agencies. Likewise, state
authorization does not provide immunity from federal criminal
proceedings, if federal law enforcement was inclined to pursue
them.
21 U.S.C. 844 and 21 U.S.C. 856 are two federal laws which
prohibit behavior related to activity at a drug consumption
room.
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21 U.S.C. 844 prohibits possession of drugs.
21 U.S.C 856 prohibits:
(a) knowingly open, lease, rent, use, or maintain any place,
whether permanently or temporarily, for the purpose of
manufacturing, distributing, or using any controlled
substance;
(b) manage or control any place, whether permanently or
temporarily, either as an owner, lessee, agent, employee,
occupant, or mortgagee, and knowingly and intentionally rent,
lease, profit from, or make available for use, with or without
compensation, the place for the purpose of unlawfully
manufacturing, storing, distributing, or using a controlled
substance.
Those sections would criminalize the behavior of both the
clients using the facilities and the owners or operators of
the facilities.
California already has existing law which is in conflict with
federal drug law. California authorized medical marijuana in
1996 when Prop 215 was passed. Prop 215 was, and continues
to be, in conflict with federal drug law.
6)Argument in Support: According to National Association of
Social Workers, California Chapter, "Supervised Consumption
Services (SCS) have been utilized in Vancouver, Sydney and
nearly 100 other locations around the world to reduce overdoes
death and injury, decrease public health concerns like
discarded syringes and public injection, reduce the
transmission of infectious diseases, and provide entry to
treatment for this most marginalized group. This bill removes
certain legal barriers to the implementation and operation of
public health and medical intervention programs intended to
reduce death, disability, or injury due to the use of
controlled substances."
7)Argument in Opposition: According to The California Police
Chiefs Association, "As currently written, AB 2495 fails to
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provide for minimum regulations for supervised injection sites
(SIS), such as hours of operation, resources for recovery,
data collection, specialized training for employees, minimum
safety requirements, and local authority over the zoning of
SISs. Furthermore, AB 2495 does not require any evaluation or
analysis of the impat of SISs on public health and safety.
The SIS located in Vancouver frequently referenced by the
proponents of this model was developed in 2002 as a focused
research project. Unfortunately, nothing in AB 2495 requires
the study of the impacts of an SIS in California.
"Lastly, AB 2495 will put California law enforcement in the
inappropriate position of enforcing a state law at odds with
federal law. While the federal government has opined on the
issue of state marijuana laws diverging from federal law,
there has been no indication that the federal government will
take a hands off approach surrounding SISs."
8)Prior Legislation:
a) SB 41 (Yee), Chapter 738, Statutes of 2011, authorized a
county or city to authorize a licensed pharmacist to sell
or furnish 10 or fewer hypodermic needles or syringes to a
person 18 or older for human use without a prescription.
b) SB 1159 (Vasconcellos), Chapter 608, Statutes of 2004,
established a five-year pilot program to allow California
pharmacies, when authorized by a local government, to sell
up to 10 syringes to adults without a prescription.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Aids Project Los Angeles
A New Path
Asian American Drug Abuse Program
California Hepatitis Alliance
Centerforce
Harvey Millk LGBT Democratic Club
Homeless Health Care Los Angeles
Homeless Youth Alliance
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Humboldt Area Center for Harm Reduction
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
Los Angeles Community Health Project
National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter
Needle Exchange Emergency Distribution
San Francisco AIDS Foundation
San Francisco Hepatitis C Task Force
S.T.O.P. Hepatitis Task-Force
Tarzana Treatment Centers
Opposition
Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs
California Association of Code Enforcement Officers
California College and University Police chiefs Association
California Police Chiefs Association
California Narcotic Officers' Association
California State Sheriffs' Association
Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Association
Los Angeles Police Protective League
Riverside Sheriffs Association
Analysis Prepared
by: David Billingsley / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744