Yet Another Overdose in Palisades Park

June 23, 2023 - Early this morning, John Alle, founding member of the Santa Monica Coalition, was at his property on the Third Street Promenade after a call from his security team. While there, he became aware another overdose had occurred in Palisades Park. The victim was found directly across from the Shore Hotel and Blue Plate Oysterette Restaurant. The Santa Monica Coalition is a group of Santa Monica residents, business and property owners concerned about safety and quality of life in the city.

This afternoon there will be another distribution of free, clean needles, synthetic meth, and Narcan at several locations in Santa Monica, including Palisades Park. The alleged "harm reduction" program is run by the Los Angeles County Department of Health, headed by Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd. In an interview with members of the Santa Monica Coalition, Ferrer was unable to provide data regarding the health status of the individuals to whom drug paraphernalia is given, their names, housing status, or any data to support the benefits of the program, such as HIV distribution rates in the county. Free needles are distributed also in Reed and Tongva Parks. Although the distributors are supposed to stay in their vans, the workers bring the kits out of the vans and, according to Alle, offered him one when he was sitting in the park.

The needle distribution program was run quietly, and the public had no knowledge of it until early this year when Alle and the Santa Monica Coalition discovered it was going on and reported it to various news outlets. The needles have been distributed to addicts openly in Santa Monica and other parks in the county since 2019. Kits for disposal of the sharps are supposed to be handed out together with the needles, but Alle's team saw no such kits during their observation of the handout early this month. Instead, members of the public have reported finding numerous used needles in Reed Park.

The fate of the overdose victim is unknown but paramedics reportedly spent 25 minutes trying to revive the individual.