Kalamazoo, MI Public Health Rules: Syringe Disposal (2026)

City Code § 22-41.A makes it a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 90 days in jail or a $500 fine, or both, to sell or offer for sale drug paraphernalia anywhere in the City of Kalamazoo. Subsection B carves out two exceptions. The first covers persons licensed by the State of Michigan for the activity. The second, § 22-41.B(2), lets a person or agency give away or sell items such as syringes and needles when the City Commission has specifically authorized the operation to prevent the transmission of infectious agents under MCLA § 333.7457(f).

That authorization is not permanent: it is valid for only two years at a time. To obtain it, § 22-41.B(2)(a) requires the applicant to give the City Commission the address and proposed location of every program site, written procedures for collecting and disposing of used hypodermic syringes and needles, written procedures for distributing new syringes and needles, a list of services to be offered, and corporate documentation, including any trade or assumed names the operator does business under. Renewal is not automatic either: § 22-41.B(2)(b) requires a report, kept confidential as to individual clients, covering aggregate statistics from the prior two-year authorization period plus any updated policies and procedures.

In practice this means a harm-reduction or needle-exchange program cannot simply set up in Kalamazoo; it must go before the seven-member City Commission, disclose its site locations and disposal protocols, and come back every two years to justify continued operation. Anyone distributing syringes outside that City Commission authorization, or without the licensing exemption for Michigan-licensed persons, faces the same misdemeanor penalty as any other paraphernalia sale under this section.