The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) notified Lewis County on Monday that it plans to sue the local government on behalf of Gather Church if the county does not repeal a 2024 ordinance that restricts syringe service programs (SSP) commonly known as needle exchanges.
In the letter, the civil rights group lists four ways that Lewis County Code chapter 8.80 created by Lewis County Ordinance 1354 violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Washington State Constitution. The letter further demands the county repeal ordinance 1354 and halt all efforts at enforcement before Aug. 29 or face legal action.
“If we do not hear from you by August 29, 2025, we will have no alternative but to pursue litigation to vindicate the rights of disabled people countywide which may include additional state and/or federal claims,” the letter states.
The letter, dated Aug. 18, is addressed to the Lewis County Commissioners Sean Swope, Lindsey Pollock and Scott Brummer, as well as Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza, Lewis County Public Health and Social Services Director Meja Handlen and Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer. It is signed by members of the ACLU of Washington, the ACLU Disability Rights Project and ACLU Center for Liberty, as well as the law firm Kaplan and Grady LLC.
In the letter, the ACLU first states four ways in which Lewis County currently restricts syringe service programs. The ordinance prohibits SSP operation within 750 feet of a school, library or public park as well as from residential areas or from mobile operation. It requires a one-to-one exchange where participants can only receive one new syringe for each old one they hand in. It prohibits distribution of any other “drug paraphernalia" or other products for testing or using a controlled substance safely and restricts people who have participated in the program in the past 24 months from volunteering or working with the SSP.
According to the ACLU, these restrictions in their application violate the ADA and section 504 by discriminating against people with substance use disorder, mobility disabilities and mental health disabilities through preventing them from having meaningful access to the resource.
“Most of these individuals lack access to a car or public transportation and/or live too far to travel to Gather’s SSP in Downtown Centralia,” the letter reads. “Many others have mobility and mental health disabilities that make travel to the SSP impractical or impossible. The few individuals who manage to travel to the SSP cannot obtain xylazine and fentanyl test kits or safer smoking supplies.”
The ACLU adds that the restrictions have also impacted other Gather Church efforts, such as its medication for addiction treatment clinic and its intensive outpatient program for those people with substance abuse disorder.
The notice should not come as a surprise as the ACLU first warned Lewis County in March 2024 that Ordinance 1354, which imposed the needle exchange restrictions, could draw legal action. That was roughly a month before the Lewis County Board of Commissioners passed the local policy 2-1 with Brummer and Swope in support and Pollock dissenting and offering an alternative version of the ordinance. In previous reporting by The Chronicle, Swope was quoted at the time saying some degree of litigation over the policy was likely.
In the same article, Gather Church Pastor Cole Meckle spoke to the troubling parts of the ordinance, pointing out the possibility of a criminal penalty for any person or group that violates the ordinance as well as the restriction on other drug paraphernalia being the most troubling aspects.
The recent letter from the ACLU was received by Lewis County officials on Monday, after which Swope posted the letter to his Facebook page the same day. In the post, Swope said he hopes “we will fight this in court.”
In the post, he goes on to defend the ordinance facing legal challenge, describing it as the “Syringe Accountability Ordinance” and referring to the restrictions imposed as a way to provide accountability to the needle exchange.
“They don’t want accountability,” Swope wrote. “They want to hand out endless needles so people can keep using — but let’s be honest: that’s not compassion, that’s a death sentence.”
In response to the legal notice being released to the public, Meckle provided a statement to The Chronicle on behalf of Gather Church pushing against the accountability ordinance, saying it has affected the church’s ability to save and impact the lives of those who need its services.
“At Gather Church, we love our neighbors with everything we have — especially our neighbors who are too often ignored: the poor, the hungry, the addicted, the lonely, the unhoused,” Meckle said. “In my 15 years serving this community, I can tell you personally that our harm reduction services save lives, not only because they reduce overdoses and disease transmission, but also because they give people a new opportunity to get the help they need. That’s exactly what Gather Church is all about. We’ve helped hundreds of people overcome their addiction with medication, therapy and trusting relationships with their peers who have walked the same road. But this ordinance in Lewis County makes it impossible for us to effectively serve those most in need and to fulfill our religious convictions.”
