I read that OnPoint requires about $4.5 million a year to operate around the clock. How difficult or easy is it to get the financing you need?
very Difficult. We’ve kept it afloat through fundraising, having the support of a number of amazing individuals and a few foundations. The part of our business that is seen as an illegal component is note of drug abuse. Once people are used, we only provide basic harm reduction services. Observation is just a small part of our job.
Is this note illegal because of the federal “crack house law”?
Yes.
Has any progress been made towards repealing this law?
Everyone is waiting for the results of the Safehouse lawsuit. A Safehouse win won’t kill the crack house code, but it will certainly open the door to show just how wrong it is.
When you talk to people who still say overdose prevention centers enable drug use, how do you respond?
I may have five different responses. The biggest thing for me lately is talking about it Why These people will use. OPCs has approximately 3,100 registered participants. We work with people who are already using at the moment. We do our best to keep them alive. As soon as they tell us, at any time, that they want to stop, we respond immediately. We get down to business right away, so we’re in no way sloppy.
On a typical day, how many people come to OnPoint?
If we are talking specifically about OPC, sometimes a few hundred. It varies. But if we are talking about the whole organization, we see many, many more people than that.
When people come to OnPoint, what services are they usually looking for?
When people walk into space, right away, most people who are here to visit go, “Wait a minute, where’s the drug use?” The door opens and they see people having coffee, eating food and watching a movie. We provide up to five meals a day.
If someone comes to use OPC, they will express it, and if they have been with us before, they will log in. We ask a series of questions before they go in: What are you going to use it for? how much? If not here, where would you be used? A large percentage of them will say they would have used it in the alley near their building, inside a restaurant bathroom, or in a nearby park. These are key questions, so we can inform the community – we have close to 70,000 drug use cases, so 70,000 of them are not on the streets.
What happens after eating it?
They enter the room and use it. Again, this is one program in a group of many. We have case management, mental health services, low threshold medical services, hepatitis testing and treatment, and HIV testing and treatment. We are opening a pharmacy and that will not only serve our employees but the whole community. We have a comprehensive program that provides acupuncture, acupressure, some physical work, and sound therapy, and is also open to the entire community. We are opening a barbershop and salon for free.