Orange County officials ask state to reject mobile needle exchange proposal

At least four Orange County cities and the county are asking the state Department of Public Health to reject a proposed mobile service that would give free clean needles to injection-drug users.
The Orange County Needle Exchange Program had operated once a week at the Santa Ana Civic Center for nearly two years, but it shut down in January after Santa Ana officials denied the nonprofit organization a permit to continue.
It was the county’s only such service.
In a report to council members,