LEWISTON — A citizens petition for a referendum outlining changes to the city’s needle exchange ordinance signed by some 966 residents will go before the City Council to enact or pass onto the Nov. 3 ballot.

Residents Eryn Soule and her husband, Marcel Leclair, have been circulating a petition over the past several weeks to amend Lewiston’s ordinance for syringe services, which offer clean needles for users of intravenous drugs. 

Soule, a former city councilor, and others across Maine have blamed syringe services programs for needle litter and public drug use.

Public health experts say needle exchange programs significantly reduce the spread of HIV and hepatitis C without any evidence that they cause more litter.

The petition calls for an amendment to Lewiston’s ordinance limiting exchanges to one clean needle per exchange and a maximum of 20 exchanges per person per day. It would also prohibit mobile exchange units and require exchange programs to operate from a single location.

Soule and Leclair collected 966 signatures, more than the 941 required to make the ballot. The signatures were largely collected during the June primary election and school budget vote.

“It all started when (I) was on the council and kept seeing all the syringes and the citizens who were constantly voicing their concerns about seeing the dirty discarded syringes everywhere,” Soule said. 

While on the council last year, Soule attempted to bring forward language for a one-to-one needle exchange and a cap of 35 syringes per day. She was outvoted.

“Fast forward to April 6, she was stuck with a dirty needle while going about her normal day,” Leclair said. “(That) was the final straw for both her and I, and that’s where this petition came into play.”

The couple began collecting signatures in May, amassing beyond the required amount in about a month’s time. 

City Clerk Kathy Montejo said the city’s election ordinance provides for two more steps before the amendments are enacted. Montejo will prepare a report for the council’s July 7 agenda verifying the information. The council will then be able to enact the ordinance amendments themselves or put the proposed amendments on the next available ballot, which would come in November. Voters would then decide.

Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline said the proposed restrictions would make promoting and protecting the safety of everyone in Lewiston more difficult, not less.

“The proposed ballot referendum would increase the risk of improperly discarded syringes in our neighborhoods, parks and public spaces while also significantly raising the likelihood of disease transmission and overdose,” Sheline said. “That puts our entire community at risk. If our goal is a safer and healthier community, we should support proven approaches that expand access to support and healthcare, not restrict them.”

The changes proposed in the petition go against recommendations by harm-reduction and public health officials who were consulted when the council formed its ordinance.

Soule said the public isn’t taken into account as the ordinance currently stands.

“Those recommendations … (and) the ‘harm-reduction’ is only for the user,” Soule said. “We have to protect all individuals that live, work or visit our city. We aren’t asking to take the program away, we are asking for a safer solution for both the user and the public.”