Vancouver Coastal Health

Mayor Ed Lee has so far set an eat-your-vegetables agenda for the year with balancing the budget, pension reform and job creation topping his to-do list. But this is San Francisco, and while (organic, locally grown) broccoli and spinach are important, we need a little spice.

One mouth-watering proposal (for political columnists, anyway) is back on the table: a legal, city-funded center where intravenous drug users can get needles and shoot up without consequence.

The idea comes from the city’s Hepatitis C Task Force, created by then-Mayor Gavin Newsom in 2009 in response to growing concern over the 12,000 San Francisco residents infected by the disease, most of whom have no idea of their status.

The 30 members – including doctors, public health officials, advocates and Hepatitis C patients – have just released their recommendations. And among them is opening the nation’s first legal injection drug center, an idea that garnered unanimous support by the task force.

Supporters say it would help stop the spread of Hepatitis C and HIV, prevent deaths from overdoses and keep dirty needles off the streets. A facility in Vancouver, Canada has shown those positive results.

The same idea was promoted in 2007, and was embraced by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the San Francisco General Hospital’s Opiate Treatment Outpatient Program. But no politician would touch it.

Dr. Brad Hare, a Hep C task force member, associate professor of medicine at UCSF and a doctor in the HIV clinic at San Francisco General Hospital, said San Francisco has always been at the forefront of adopting controversial policies to stop the spread of infectious diseases. Take needle exchange programs or the distribution of condoms in jails and schools.

“Something like an injection facility is a logical next step in helping those who are using injection drugs do so in a safe way,” he said. “As a health care provider, it’s not about judging the behavior, it’s about protecting health and preventing disease.”

The task force is setting up meetings with supervisors and the mayor to discuss their recommendations, which also include milder suggestions like a dedicated staffer in the health department to work on Hep C issues and a public awareness campaign.

So are they likely to get any further with the injection center idea than last time?

After all, there’s a new heath director.

“There are many recommendations in the Hep C report that we believe are more important than a new injection center,” said Barbara Garcia.

There’s a new mayor.

“The mayor agrees with his health director and does not support this particular recommendation,” said Tony Winnicker, Lee’s spokesman.

There’s a new supervisor in District 6, home to the Tenderloin which has the city’s highest number of intravenous drug users. Supervisor Jane Kim even wrote on a candidate survey by the San Francisco Drug-Users Union (yes, even drug users have a union here) that she would support the idea, according to the Hep C task force.

“At this point in time, I don’t see us doing anything. Not even touching this issue. For a long time,” said her legislative aide in a voice mail, adding the office is focused on redevelopment and pedestrian safety.

Guess we’ll just have to wait for the spice.