Costa Mesa, CA Public Health Rules: Syringe Disposal (2026)

Voter-approved Ordinance No. 19-13 added Article 23 to Title 13 of the Costa Mesa Municipal Code on September 3, 2019, outlawing clean needle and syringe exchange programs anywhere in the city. 200 defines a "clean needle and syringe exchange program" or "needle exchange program" as any program that dispenses hypodermic needles or syringes under the authority of Chapter 18 of Part 4 of Division 105 of the California Health and Safety Code, the state law that otherwise exempts participants and operators from criminal prosecution for needle or syringe possession.

" There is no siting exception, permit path, or discretionary approval process written into the article; the ban is absolute rather than a location-restriction ordinance. Because Ordinance No. 108 (in the neighboring Article 22 but incorporated by the same voter-initiative structure) requires any future amendment or repeal of the article to go back to a vote of the people of Costa Mesa rather than a routine city council action, which locks the prohibition in place unless residents themselves reverse it. 202 sets enforcement: a violation of the article "shall constitute a public nuisance," subject to the civil and administrative penalties generally available under the Costa Mesa Municipal Code, including the non-criminal penalty provisions of Chapter I of Title I, Article 4 of Chapter I of Title 13, and Chapter III of Title 20.

This routes enforcement through the city's administrative citation and civil nuisance-abatement process rather than criminal court, giving code enforcement and the city attorney's office authority to shut down an unauthorized exchange operation and seek civil penalties without filing criminal charges against operators.