A grassroots, progressive political organization with a platform that includes decriminalizing harm reduction efforts and cannabis, among other things, saw some success in Charleston Tuesday night.
Five of the nine candidates running for city council with Charleston Can’t Wait won seats on the 26-member council.
Joe Solomon, a Democrat and co-founder of the overdose prevention organization SOAR, was elected to one of council’s six at-large seats.
He joined Ward 6 winner Democrat Michael Ferrell, Ward 7 winner Democrat Beth Kerns, Ward 10 winner Democrat Chelsea Steelhammer, and Ward 13 winner Republican Frank Annie on the Charleston Can’t Wait ticket.
“We’re thrilled that five members of the Charleston Can’t Wait slate are now in office,” Charleston Can’t Wait co-chairwoman Katey Lauer said in an email to the Gazette-Mail Thursday. “Each and every one of these newly elected officials has been a public servant outside of the formal halls of power — they are a teacher, a coach, a social worker, a volunteer, a public health advocate. In many cases, they’re the people that are closest to the city’s pain — the people and places that have been overlooked. That’s who we think ought to be governing in Charleston.”
Charleston Can’t Wait is an arm of West Virginia Can’t Wait, founded by 2020 gubernatorial candidate Stephen Smith.
The organization’s platform, built with input from more than 500 residents, also includes opening an overdose prevention site to include a safe injection site, establishing a city office of minority affairs and increasing the minimum wage in the city to $15 per hour.
Solomon said he considers his election a signal that residents want a government that addresses the crises in the city, like overdoses and HIV.
“I think, in a real sense, Charleston just elected a small rescue squad to help the overdose Capital,” Solomon said. “And I think that’s a heavy responsibility for us with Charleston Can’t Wait and the rest of Council. And I’ve been praying and preparing that we’re ready to take on that work.”
West Virginia reported more than 1,400 fatal drug overdoses from March 2021 and March 2022, the first drop in overdose deaths reported since the COVID-19 pandemic began, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Twenty-three Kanawha County residents have been diagnosed with HIV this year and 17 of those cases are connected with intravenous drug use, according to preliminary data from the state Department of Health and Human Resources.
Best practice harm reduction programs, which are no-barrier, no-cost and needs-based, are more likely to get people who suffer from substance use disorder into treatment, according to the National Institute for Drug Use Prevention and the CDC, among others. And they’re more effective in slowing the spread of communicable diseases, like HIV and hepatitis.
Despite that, state and city laws increased restrictions on harm reduction programs last year.
State law requires harm reduction programs to be licensed by the state, to operate with a goal of 1:1 and to require identification from participants, among other things.
Charleston’s ordinance goes beyond state restrictions, making it a misdemeanor to distributes syringes on a needs-based basis. Charleston’s ordinance was passed last year, weeks after the state law went into effect. At the time, SOAR had been distributing syringes.
Solomon said harm reduction is just one part of the organization’s platform. As they go through priorities and get to harm reduction, the organization wants to create a “level playing field” for public health in the city, he said.
“Charleston is the only city where it’s a misdemeanor to engage in evidence-based health care to address HIV outbreaks connected to intravenous drug use,” he said.
Solomon said he believes city could amend its harm reduction ordinance.
“I have to believe that this newly elected council wants to shake off the mantle of being America’s overdose and HIV capital,” Solomon said. “And we can do that by addressing the roots of our city’s pain.. and we can do that by meeting people where their pain is and where their pain comes from.”
Having five representatives in a 26-member council doesn’t give Charleston Can’t Wait enough votes to push its agenda on its own, but Solomon said he envisions the organization driving the conversation and bringing ideas.
“I think we can introduce ideas and drive much-needed conversations and pilot some of the changes that I think our community are hungry for —municipal broadband, and decriminalizing cannabis, and even setting up more benches and making sure that seniors have the support they need,” he said.
Solomon campaigned with Republican Frank Annie, a cardiovascular research scientist at Charleston Area Medical Center. Annie said his primary focus in running for election is public health. The city needs a plan for addressing overdoses, he said.
“We need to relink our local hospitals with city council,” Annie said. “We need to figure out what the best course of action with our community is. And really, we have to make sure that we don’t have unnecessary lives lost with inaction. And however that forms in council, we’ll see what happens, but [public health] is a cornerstone of why I ran. I thought that we had not done a good job and Charleston. And I think that moving forward, we can do a much better job.”
Annie said the city needs to bring CAMC and Thomas Health to the table in addressing the opioid crisis. The county still has a “concerning” HIV outbreak, and other issues.
“We have to have a manageable form of harm reduction that everyone can live with,” he said. “Because, right now we are really and truthfully, we’re drowning a little bit. Everyone needs to come to the table and have this discussion. And hopefully, myself and the other Can’t Wait people will have enough of a voice to kind of bring a few people with us on council, and we can see if we can hammer something out, make a deal or something.”
How Can’t Wait’s ideas will be received by the rest of city government remains to be seen. Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin, just reelected to her second term, said she will work with all other members of council.
“What we want out of council, I think, is exactly what the voters in the city of Charleston want from council members — to work together, to be respectful, to be thoughtful,” Goodwin said. “That’s what voters actually want. And we know this.”
Council president Becky Ceperley, who was reelected Tuesday to her at-large seat, said she hadn’t reviewed Charleston Can’t Wait’s platform in detail, but what she had seen would be more appropriately handled by the state and federal governments.
“We always have to remember that the city is a subdivision of the state,” Ceperley said. “So, we can’t do anything that counteracts any of the legislation or, or whatever policies that the Legislature has enacted. So if you have a thought or an idea or want to have a policy that runs counter to the state, well, that we can do that that’s illegal.”
Lori Kersey covers the city and county. She can be reached at 304-348-1240 or lori.kersey@hdmediallc.com. Follow @LoriKerseyWV on Twitter.