The Latest on Harm Reduction Initiatives in Los Angeles County

Care packages distributed in Los Angeles County by the Department of Public Health to help combat the overdose epidemic.

Los Angeles County is currently experiencing the worst overdose crisis in history. The spike in opioid-related deaths in recent years has been a major concern for citizens and business owners.  The Los Angeles Department of Public Health works towards aiding this issue through harm reduction services. 

Brian Hurley, an addiction psychiatrist and a medical director in Los Angeles County’s Bureau of Substance Abuse Prevention and Control explained the harm reduction services, obstacles and goals of these services. 

The department has many hopes for the future in overcoming these obstacles. Hurley stated, “harm reduction services have been historically underfunded. In terms of staff, budgets and getting these services to scale- the city has very big hospital systems, smaller mental health clinics, and even smaller addiction treatment programs.”

Hurley explained that the department is trying to address this issue and has successfully “increased the investment of harm reduction services over ten-fold in the past two years.” The main challenge is investing those resources into a system that hasn’t been built to do so at such a large scale. Some of these resources include the proper workforce, and hiring managers to develop policies and staff.    

In Hurley’s opinion, the department needs “a larger harm reduction system that can work with hospitals, clinics and treatment programs. Thus far, Los Angeles County’s harm reduction programs and treatment programs are too far apart.” Hence, the department hopes to build up its harm reduction programs so that they are to scale. This would allow for treatment and harm reduction programs to build a better continuum of services for people who struggle with addiction.

The role of the department, Hurley stated, “is to fund the spectrum of prevention, harm reduction, and treatment services that helps to educate the public about substance use and promote positive youth engagement.” The department also engages people who are interested in treatment approaches for addressing their substance abuse disorders. 

These harm reduction services are facilitated through contracts with community-based organizations around Los Angeles County. Such services include the main source for naloxone, a number of street-based outreach services to work with people experiencing homelessness who may use drugs, and distributing fentanyl test strips and supplies.

Furthermore, Hurley believed that the department’s most dominant marker of success within this last year is how many lives were saved, “last year, the harm reduction initiative saved over 3,500 lives through reverse overdoses with naloxone.” These lives saved and overdoses reversed have an important impact on public health.
The department’s health-first strategy to help those suffering from substance abuse is aimed at providing these people with the services they need rather than punishment. However, Hurley said, “an obstacle for the department has been that many communities in the county are in opposition with this method which makes bringing these harm reduction services to scale more challenging.”

Hurley believes substance use has been seen as a criminal or carceral issue. However, with incarceration, the risk of overdose heightens which increases the death rate. This solution does not make a difference in the issues of homelessness, and people leave incarceration with more medical issues.