Mendocino County Municipal Code Ch. 9.40 Disease Prevention Demonstration Project

The Board of Supervisors, through adoption of this Ordinance, intends to create the Disease Prevention Demonstration Project in accordance with Senate Bill 1159, codified in Business and Professions Code Section 4145.

(Ord. No. 4263, 7-13-2010)

The Board of Supervisors finds and declares the following:

A. The sharing of syringes is the leading source of AIDS in women and children and is also the leading cause of the transmission of the Hepatitis C virus.

B. Prior to adoption of Senate Bill 1159, California was one of five (5) states in the nation requiring a prescription for the purchase of a syringe; contributing to the high rate of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C.

C. Medical evidence has established that providing clean syringes to injection drug users prevents the transmission of HIV and other blood borne infections while not increasing drug abuse.

D. Sections 4145 and 4147 of the California Business and Professions Code and Section 11364 of the California Health and Safety Code have been amended, and Section 121285 et seq. of the Health and Safety Code has been added, to allow pharmacists participating in a local Disease Prevention Demonstration Project to sell or furnish ten (10) or fewer hypodermic needles or syringes at any one time to a person eighteen (18) years of age or older without a prescription during the period of January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2010. An extension of these provisions is in progress and the program is expected to be made permanent.

E. Under Section 11364 of the Health and Safety Code, as amended, no person within the physical boundaries of the unincorporated areas of the County of Mendocino who has in their possession ten (10) or fewer needles or syringes for personal use obtained from an authorized source in compliance with Section 11364(c) shall be subject to Section 11364(a) of the Health and Safety Code.

(Ord. No. 4263, 7-13-2010)

The Department of Public Health ("Department") shall initiate a local Disease Prevention Project satisfying the requirements for such a program as set forth in Section 121285 et seq. of the Health and Safety Code. The Department shall be responsible for the following:

A. Create and maintain a registry for pharmacies located within the physical boundaries of the unincorporated areas of the County of Mendocino desiring to participate in the Local Disease Prevention Demonstration Project, said registry to include:

1. A contact name and related information for each pharmacy.

2. Certification in the form of an attestation by an individual authorized to sign on behalf of the pharmacy that at the time of furnishing or sale of hypodermic needles or syringes, the pharmacy will provide customers with written or oral information on all the following:

(a) How to access drug treatment;

(b) How to access testing and treatment for HIV and Hepatitis C; and

(c) How to safely dispose of sharps waste.

B. Maintain a list of all pharmacies that have registered with the Department's Disease Prevention Demonstration Project. Each such registered pharmacy shall also register with the County of Mendocino Safe Needle Disposal Program. Pharmacies registered with the Disease Prevention Demonstration Project shall notify the Department of any changes to the registration information as soon as possible under the circumstances, including notification to withdraw from the program.

C. Registration information may be included in a resource directory for use by consumers and providers.

D. The Department shall make available to participating pharmacies written information that may be provided or reproduced to be provided in writing or orally by the pharmacy at the time of furnishing or the sale of nonprescription hypodermic needles or syringes including information on how to access drug treatment; how to access testing and treatment for HIV and Hepatitis C and how to dispose of sharps waste.

E. The Department shall pass policies and procedures as it deems necessary to implement the Disease Prevention Demonstration Project.

F. The Department's obligations under these sections are subject to the budgetary and fiscal provisions of the Charter.

(Ord. No. 4263, 7-13-2010; Ord. No. 4513, § VI, 10-18-2022)

By adopting this Chapter, the County of Mendocino is assuming an undertaking only to promote the general welfare. It is not assuming, nor is it imposing on its officers and employees, an obligation for breach of which it is liable in money damages to any person who claims that such a breach proximately caused injury.

(Ord. No. 4263, 7-13-2010)

Violation of this Ordinance shall be deemed an infraction.

(Ord. No. 4263, 7-13-2010)

The Clerk of the Board will publish the Ordinance codified in this Chapter as required by law. The Ordinance codified in this Chapter shall take effect thirty (30) days after passage.

(Ord. No. 4263, 7-13-2010)

If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase of this Chapter is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by a decision of any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of the Chapter.

(Ord. No. 4263, 7-13-2010)