John Malkin speaks with Heather Edney, co-founder in 1990 of the Santa Cruz Needle Exchange Program. Despite lack of funding and support for syringe distribution, the program pioneered a model of harm reduction that centered the voices of drug users. Operated by young women volunteers who used drugs, SCNEP was one of the first risk reduction models that included holistic healthcare practices.

Edney was a Community Studies student at UC Santa Cruz when she helped lead the program. The significance of her work continues to be highlighted today. A new short documentary film by Liz Roberts about Edney and the Santa Cruz Needle Exchange Program is titled “Love is the Drug” and there is currently an exhibit celebrating Heather and the program at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, including copies of her zine Junkphood and a t-shirt from a late-90’s concert at the Santa Cruz Vet’s Hall that benefited the Needle Exchange Program and Free Radio Santa Cruz.

The interview also briefly includes Denise Elerick, founder of the Harm Reduction Coalition of Santa Cruz County.

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