26 Oct 2024
Drug pipes given out by La Plata County Public Health officials for “harm reduction”
Drug pipes designed for smoking crack, crystal meth, pills and heroin were given to me by La Plata County Public Health Officials.
These drug pipes were given to me from La Plata County Public Health officials.
August 26, 2024, at Schneider Park in Durango, Colorado. La Plata County Public Health Officials Sierra Roe and Nathan Aguilar are delivering meth pipes, crack pipes, heroin pipes, water and packets of electrolytes to people along the Animas River Trail.
They’re pulling the supplies behind them in a wagon cart.
Information on the County’s website describes what they’re doing as a Harm Reduction Program. Specifically, the areas of focus for them includes overdose prevention, offering of safe-use supplies, wound care supplies, linkages to care and stigma reduction.
Here’s a link to the County’s Harm Reduction Program web Page.
After reading online that the county was giving away clean syringes and smoking supplies, I decided to approach them during one of their scheduled visits to the park near the soup kitchen to see what they were offering.
Here’s a video that La Plata County “Harm Reduction Coordinators” posted on their Instagram account about the program.
Follow-Up Records Request For Evidence of Purchase
Following my interaction with Public Official’s Sierra Roe and Nathan Aguilar, I submitted numerous requests for records pertaining to the county’s purchase of the glass smoking paraphernalia.
Out of my four carefully worded requests for documentation, packing slips and receipts for the smoking supplies, the county claims that they have zero responsive records dating back to May 1 of 2023.
“We do not have a paper trail or receipts because these items were purchased by San Juan Basin Public Health (SJBPH) and were transferred to La Plata County during the dissolution process. The county took possession of those items and all other transferred SJBPH assets on Jan.1, 2024; receipts and packing slips were not among the records conveyed to La Plata County,” said La Plata County Administrative Analyst Sarah Jacobson.
Phone calls to Sierra Roe and Nathan Aguilar went unanswered. Furthermore, Sierra Roe failed to return my phone calls after I left her voicemails.
If you’re a Health Department employee in the know or an educated citizen, leave a comment below as to what the true cost is of this government program. Remember, nothing screams health like a meth pipe, crack pipe or heroin pipe provided to you by a public health employee of your local health department.
