By DAN CROWLEY
Staff Writer
HOLYOKE – A judge has ordered Tapestry Health to stop distributing hypodermic syringes and needles at its needle exchange clinic in Holyoke within 120 days, declaring the agency did not receive proper approval from the City Council when it opened the program in 2012.
The decision by Hampden Superior Court Judge Mark Mason provides the council with an opportunity to vote on approving or ending the service during that time period and does not affect the other health, educational and training services provided at Tapestry’s clinic, which remains open on Main Street.
“It’s a correct ruling,” said Harold F. Brunault, the Holyoke attorney representing city councilors who filed a lawsuit over the clinic’s opening in 2012. “Just to preserve the legislative integrity of the City Council. It’s as simple as that.”
Defendants in the complaint, including Holyoke Mayor Alex B. Morse, have vowed to appeal the decision and planned to meet Tuesday afternoon to discuss their next steps. Tapestry Health, based in Florence, operates another needle exchange clinic on Center Street in Northampton, which opened in 1995.
The Northampton and Holyoke programs are among six needle exchange clinics created in the wake of a 1993 state law, which authorized the state Department of Public Health to permit up to 10 needle exchange pilot programs in Massachusetts. The law states that such programs require “local approval,” and councilors who brought the complaint believe that should have included the city’s legislative body.
When Tapestry opened its needle exchange clinic in 2012, it received unanimous approval by the Board of Health and backing by the mayor and police chief at the time. The council was not involved, as was the case in Northampton when a needle exchange clinic opened in that city 17 years earlier.
“We’re disappointed about the ruling but we’re confident we’re going to continue to find a way to offer the services either through appeal or restructuring,” Cheryl Zoll, Tapestry’s CEO said Tuesday.
Zoll said she was suprised by the judge’s decision from a public health standpoint, given the gravity of the opioid addiction crisis in the region.
“This is a program that really saves lives and is helping the community,” she said.
The complaint against Tapestry, Morse and local health officials sought a judicial ruling on the 1993 state law and “local approval” language, though lawyers for Tapestry argued that a newer 2006 law that allowed for the lawful sale and distribution of needles to anyone over the age of 18, rendered that earlier language moot.
The Holyoke City Council had voted in 1996 and 2001 not to support a needle exchange program in the city, while residents voted against implementing a needle exchange program by 4,549 to 2,495 on a nonbinding ballot question in 2001.
“I think the ruling is wrong in many ways,” said Morse, who referred to a similar case in Barnstable Superior Court in December where a judge ruled that a clinic could continue to distribute syringes and needles despite opposition and a temporary shutdown by town officials.
“Regardless of who has authority here, what they’re doing at Tapestry is competely legal,” Morse said.
Northampton attorney William C. Newman, of the American Civil Liberties Union of Western Massachusetts, worked on the case on behalf of Tapestry Health, and described the decision as “unfortunate.
“We respectfully disagree with the judge,” Newman said. “It’s the opposite of what the judge in the Barnstable case decided.”
Morse said he found it “ironic” that on the same day Gov. Charlie Baker signed sweeping legislation into law designed to combat the opioid addiction crisis, elected officials in Holyoke are “celebrating the clawback of programs that save people’s lives.”
Morse said the city would do all it can to maintain the service in Holyoke where more than 2,000 people used the needle exchange clinic last year, according to Tapestry’s figures. The organization says it takes in more syringes than it distributes.
In addition to providing sterile needles to injection drug users, the clinics provide overdose prevention education and trainings on naloxone, a drug that counters narcotic overdoses as well as health screenings, referrals for care, and counseling. The program is also engaged in outreach on the streets and maintains hotlines.
The needle exchange program run by Tapestry in Northampton opened on Dec. 11, 1995, to help stem the spread of the AIDS-causing virus HIV and hepatitis C among intravenous drug users. The clinic began exchanging clean needles for dirty ones, but has expanded over two decades into a broader health services, education and training program that today focuses heavily on reducing the number of opioid overdose deaths, both in Northampton and Holyoke.
“We’re prepared to go as far and as long as we need to, to ensure we have a needle exchange in the city,” Morse said.
Asked whether he believes the council will vote on the needle exchange clinic within 120 days, Brunault said he thinks they have to, given the situation.
“It’s hard to really say how the vote will be,” he said.
Morse said the council has not taken up the matter for nearly four years when it had a chance to and while he does not believe the issue should go before the council, its members should at least explain where they stand if they do vote.
“I think it’s time councilors show their true colors,” he said. “Are they for it, or are they not?”
Tim Purington, Tapestry’s director of harm reduction services, said he hopes the current ruling gets the attention of the Legislature. He said the laws on the distribution and sale of needles need to be clarified and updated.
“Today is business as usual,” Purington said. “The needle exchange program is open. We don’t have any plans to shut the program down and we remained committed to distributing sterile syringes.”
Dan Crowley can be reached at dcrowley@gazettenet.com