(FARGO, ND) – Programs like Fargo’s F5 Project see the benefits from Fargo Cass Public Health’s Needle Exchange Program.
That’s why for Adam Martin, founder of the project, Monday night’s discussion by the Fargo City Commission was unsettling.
“In my observation of the Needle Exchange Program, it has done insurmountable things for getting people into treatment, getting into recovery and really meeting them at that ground level, where a lot of people are, where there exists a lot of barriers of getting into those places,” Martin told WDAY Radio News in an exclusive interview. “So having dedicated staff, not just for needle exchange but for kind of a holistic care coordination, targeted at a group of people and helping them get into treatment, helping them get into recovery, helping them reunify with their children, and building out a life that’s in recovery has been amazing to watch.”
Martin said he was caught by surprise when City Commissioner Michelle Turnberg was going to introduce an agenda item to shut down the program.
“The argument was just her opinion that they shouldn’t do it (have the program,” he said.
Martin said that Commissioner Dave Piepkorn’s assertion that the program enables drug use is incorrect.
“Enabling and creating opportunities are two different things,” Martin said. “What the Needle Exchange Program, what the Harm Reduction Center, are doing is creating opportunities, creating an environment and an atmosphere for people to come to them, so they can engage with them.”
