On Lincoln Boulevard, a child cut his hand on a broken crack pipe that still had drug residue.
(Editor’s note: This letter was printed with permission from the family, who wish to remain anonymous.)
Yesterday, my family went on an evening walk.
While on Lincoln Boulevard, my 6-year-old son tripped on a ridge in the sidewalk and grabbed onto a nearby planter box to steady himself. As soon as his hand hit the planter, he began screaming out in pain.
To my stunned surprise, when he lifted his hand up, I saw blood streaming down his small fingers. I ran to the planter box to see what had caused this injury, and to my horror, I discovered a broken meth pipe covered in a foamy white residue, resting on the surface of the dirt.
Panic set in.
We quickly called his doctor’s emergency line. The police were called out. Reports were taken. Statements were made. Bandages were placed, and directions for monitoring the wound were given.
It was a big, terrifying, sickening ordeal and the truth is, it never should have happened in the first place.
The needle and pipe distribution program in Santa Monica is a cruel sick joke that is being used to prey on the vulnerable – not just vulnerable drug addicted people but also vulnerable children. It is not compassionate to homeless people to encourage and facilitate their drug use. It is not kind to provide the weapon that will inevitably kill the vast majority of drug addicted people. It is not right to commingle innocent children and addicts. It is evil to expose young people in our parks and city to communicable diseases and deadly drugs in order to support whatever stupid feel-good cause you want to campaign on.
The truth is, in all likelihood, this pipe was given away in our parks for free, and the addict who used it was encouraged to come back to Santa Monica for yet another hit.
My 45-pound son should not have been exposed to drugs or diseases. A family walk should not have turned into monitoring my son overnight for intoxication.
I should not have to explain to my small children that they can’t go near the bushes because needles or glass pipes are handed out like candy in our parks, and careless people can’t be bothered to walk to a trash can. It is heartbreaking that our city’s goals and policies value the falsely imagined safety of its drug addicts over the actual safety and wellbeing of the children who live here.
What a sad sick place we call home.
I am so sorry to hear this happened. It is totally unacceptable for your son to go through this and how many others this may have happened to. I wish the best for him and yor family- extremely scary. Be well
So, I was curious about WHY the city had chosen to handout pipes? I did a little research; the goal is to reduce the soaring Fentanyl deaths by overdose. Since nearly everything comes laced with that more powerful, more addicting additive… and the levels vary greatly–causing unprecedented ODs here and throughout the country, health officials are trying to advise addicts smoke their drugs (which provides a slower and less lethal effect) vs directly inject. This is some method to the madness.
Both the clean needle and pipe vs. needle distribution have their advocates and productive stats. And yes, many argue these are not enough to warrant the programs.
It’s just informative to understand what the goal is among health officials.
DJ,
I looked at stats for harm reduction–There are none with the exception of that it may stop the spread of HIV because addicts do not share needles. The reason the County is promoting this program is because of money. Last year the County received $5.4 million for Harm Reduction, and $31.5 million in 2024. Drug deaths on the streets have remained constant.
Sue