I read that OnPoint requires about $4.5 million per year to operate 24 hours. How difficult or easy has it been to get the financing you need?
Very difficult. We have stayed afloat by raising funds, with the support of several amazing people and some foundations. The part of our work that is considered the illegal element is the observation of drug use. Once people have used, we’re just providing basic harm reduction services. Observation is only a small part of our job.
Is watching illegal because of the federal “crack house statute”?
Yeah.
Has there been any progress toward repealing that statute?
Everyone is waiting for the results of the Safehouse lawsuit. A victory at Safehouse wouldn’t remove the crack house statute, but it would definitely open the door to show how wrong he is.
When you talk to people who still say that overdose prevention centers are allowing drug use, how do you respond?
I probably have five different answers. The biggest one for me lately is talking about because these people are going to use. The OPCs have almost 3,100 registered participants. We are working with people who are already using it currently. We are doing everything we can to keep them alive. Once they tell us, at any time, that they want to stop, we respond immediately. We jump into action right away, so we are in no way enabling.
On an average day, how many people come to OnPoint?
If we talk specifically about the OPC, sometimes a few hundred. It varies. But if we’re talking about the entire organization, we see many, many more people than that.
When people come to OnPoint, what services do they typically look for?
When people walk into the space, right away, most of the people who are here visiting say, “Wait a minute, where’s the drug use?” The door opens and they see people having coffee, eating, watching a movie. We serve up to five meals a day.
If someone comes in using the OPC, they’ll say so, and if they’ve been with us before, we’ll record it. We ask you a series of questions before you enter: What are you going to wear? How much does it cost? If you weren’t here, where would you consume? A large percentage of them will say they would have used it in the alley around the corner on their block, inside a restaurant bathroom, or in a nearby park. These are key questions, so that we can inform the community: we have had almost 70,000 cases of drug use, and there are 70,000 cases that did not occur on the streets.
What happens after intake?
They enter the room and consume. Again, this is one program in a variety of many. We have case management, mental health services, low threshold medical services, hepatitis testing and treatment, HIV testing and treatment. We are opening a pharmacy, and that will not only serve our people but all members of the community. We have a holistic program that provides acupuncture, acupressure, some bodywork and sound therapy, and is also open to the entire community. We are going to open a hairdresser and a salon for free.