Auburn officials will consider a six-month moratorium on needle exchange services next week, which Mayor Jeff Harmon said is meant to prevent potential applications while the city is drafting local regulations.

Harmon said that while there are no pending applications for a needle exchange program in Auburn, city staff and the council plan to review “various policy alternatives” in order to draft a city policy regulating the programs.

“We would not want to have an applicant establish a program and then possibly be required to make changes shortly after implementation,” he said.

Syringe service providers across Maine are licensed and regulated by the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, but more municipalities, including Lewiston, have eyed local regulations in response to public concern over needle waste.

Because the regulations could impact public health, however, many of those proposals have been controversial.

In Lewiston, a debate over local regulations has dragged on for several months stemming from resident and business-owner complaints in the vicinity of the Church of Safe Injection, which operates a needle exchange program on Main Street.

There are two licensed syringe service providers in Lewiston, and none in Auburn. State officials from the CDC and advocates for the harm reduction model for addressing substance use disorder argue that the state’s approach over the past several years has led to a significant reduction in overdose deaths, and that local regulations could undo that progress while also risking the spread of diseases like hepatitis C and HIV through the sharing of needles.

Lewiston officials have appeared to support shifting to a 1-t0-1 needle exchange model, in which one clean syringe is given in exchange for a used one, despite opposition from state officials. A 2022 change moved away from a 1-to-1 needle exchange to a more needs-based model, under which programs can give out as many as 100 clean needles at a time. Public health officials say evidence shows that a 1-to-1 model is more likely to result in reusing of needles.

Harmon said the topic of needle exchanges has been discussed by the Maine Mayors’ Coalition over the past year, and that municipalities have taken a variety of approaches “to try to find a balance between the public health issues and residents’ concerns about discarded needles in public spaces.”

“The experience of these other municipalities can help inform policy development in Auburn,” he said.

According to a memo to the City Council from City Manager Phil Crowell, the moratorium is intended to “protect public health, safety, and welfare while the city evaluates best practices, legal considerations, and potential impacts on the community.”

Crowell said that without the temporary pause, “there is a risk that a program could be initiated before the city has had the opportunity to fully consider how such services should be structured, regulated, or integrated into our public health framework.”

If passed, the moratorium would be effective retroactively to Aug. 1. The memo states that in order to make it effective immediately without a second reading, councilors must vote unanimously during the first reading Monday.