San Diego City Councilman Raul Campillo, on Friday, joined the Harm Reduction Coalition of San Diego at the Linda Vista Library to announce a new program that provides drug harm prevention materials at city libraries.
Through the program, members of the community can procure Naloxone (Narcan), testing strips for fentanyl and xylazine, and can learn overdose response training on-site at the library branch.
“This partnership is about saving lives,” Campillo said. “Every person who experiences an overdose is someone’s child, sibling or neighbor — and we can stop these painful losses by making sure lifesaving medications are accessible in every corner of our community.”
For Campillo, the work is personal. His brother, Alex, died of an opioid overdose eleven years ago.
“My family knows this pain firsthand,” Campillo said. “I’m determined to do everything in my power to prevent other families from having to endure what we did.”
The announcement comes days after the San Diego City Council reworked the Fiscal Year 2025-26 budget to keep 16 branches of the city’s libraries open on Mondays. Under the previous proposed budget, all libraries would be closed Sunday and Monday for the next fiscal year. All 36 branches will remain closed Sundays.
“This partnership puts a critical tool in the hands of the community, right where they are,” said Misty Jones, director of the San Diego Public Library. “Libraries have long served as safe spaces — including for our most vulnerable neighbors — and we’ve seen firsthand the urgency of this crisis.
“Now, in addition to learning and connection, our libraries can offer something even more vital: the power to save lives.”
The partnership with the Harm Reduction Coalition comes at no cost to the city. That organization receives Narcan and other materials through state grants intended to combat opioid overdoses.
The event at the Linda Vista Library is the first in a series of planned library-based distribution and training sessions, with more expected across the city in the coming months, a statement from Campillo’s office reads.
–City News Service
