Call on the City of Portland's to End the 1:1 Syringe Exchange Policy!

What’s the Call to Action?

Maine Recovery Advocacy Project and allied advocates & community residents are calling for the city of Portland’s Public Health Division to end the “one-for-one” exchange policy at the Portland Needle Exchange on India Street.

What’s the Back Story?

  • On March 31st, 2020 Governor Janet Mills released an Executive Order updating guidelines on Syringe Service Programs (SSPs). This was in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and its worsening of potential health outcomes for people who use drugs (PWUD) and access SSPs, like the Portland Needle Exchange. It was developed in alignment with The National Center for Disease Control’s recommendations for SSP procedure during the Covid-19 pandemic and was the result of advocacy from harm reduction organizations and PWUD.

  • One of the critical changes in the EO was that “the 1-to-1 needle exchange limit is temporarily suspended.” This was welcome news, as harm reduction practitioners & many public health officials have known and said for years that this policy isn’t the best practice, and the Governor’s EO received national praise from harm reduction and medical communities.

  • Portland’s Public Health Division runs the city’s needle exchange at 103 India Street and became the *only* SSP in the state not to take advantage of the lifting of the 1-for-1 exchange limitation.

  • On January 18th, 2021, an article published in the Portland Press Herald reported on concerns about how the needle exchange is being run & the city’s decision to continue 1-for-1 during the pandemic.

  • On January 22nd, 2021, the city of Portland published a press release defending its decision to uphold 1-for-1. It includes claims that a rise in used syringes found in public places, like city parks, has caused “tragic incidents” that reinforce their decision to continue with the exchange limit, despite the EO. They did not provide data or specifics to support these claims.


How Can I Offer Support?

  • Please contact the below city leaders and urge them to take full advantage of the Governor’s Executive Order from last March. In particular, call for an end to 1-for-1 exchange limits in our city’s Needle Exchange program.



  • ***If you do not have time to send a personal email, please sign this online petition created by the Maine Recovery Advocacy Project, which will automatically send the below message to the above contacts.

  • Below is an email template you are invited to use and adapt. (Please personalize as much as you have time for, as this gets more attention from councilors.):


“Dear Councilors, Mayor Snyder, Director Fowler, Director Dow and City Manager Jennings:

I am writing to urge you to take action with regards to the India Street Needle Exchange. It is past time for the Public Health Division to end the 1-for-1 exchange limitation at the city’s syringe service program (SSP). Portland is the only entity in Maine operating an SSP that has yet to adopt the updated guidelines released by Governor Mills’ Executive Order (EO) on March 31, 2020, one developed in alignment with The National Center for Disease Controls recommendations for SSP procedure during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The EO acknowledges the best way to address the public health issues that can result from injection drug use is to ensure someone has a clean needle every single time they use one. Depending on someone’s daily usage routines and a number of highly individualized factors, the number of syringes needed to last a full day or a week varies widely. Many people face barriers getting to the exchange during its operating hours with consistency. Arbitrary limits on exchanges of 10, 50 or even 100 syringes do not align with the national public health goals of SSPs. Consistent access to supplies and stigma-free support is critical to preventing illnesses that can result in long-term and chronic health complications, lower quality of life and increase rates of fatal overdose.

I have read the Public Health Division’s press release, which outlined a concern about an increase in used needles found discarded in public spaces. If this is genuinely an issue, these concerns should be met with an evidence-based strategy that allows for easy and widespread disposal via more publicly located sharp boxes, not by refusing to lift policies that are antiquated and particularly indefensible during the current pandemic. Additionally, law enforcement should stop charging people with possession of paraphernalia in order to help reduce instances of highly surveilled residents ‘dumping’ used needles in a panic.

People who use drugs--including unhoused folks who use--are an integral part of the fabric of our community and deserve low-barrier resources, compassion, and to be treated with dignity. It is time for the city to take principled action and move into alignment with the evidence-based practices utilized by our state’s other syringe service programs.”