An image shared online last week of a syringe found on 3rd Avenue West had people asking what they should do when they find discarded needles in Drumheller. Do you leave it? Should you pick it up yourself? If not, who do you call to take care of it? While there is no hard and fast rules for disposing of discarded needles, there are a couple of options if you come across one on the street.
Drumheller RCMP Staff Sergeant Edmond Bourque says people should first check to see if the needle contains a substance. If it looks as if its filled with a drug, or whoever found it is extremely uncomfortable disposing of it themselves, they can call the Drumheller RCMP detachment on the non-emergency line (823-7590) and an officer will collect it safely.
“You really have to be careful with items like that. If there’s any concern if a needle is located and has something in it, it would probably be in the best interest of everyone that an officer seize it and safely discard it,” he says.
But there is always the concern children or pets might find the needle and get poked. If the needle appears empty and the RCMP are unavailable, you can safely dispose of the needle yourself with proper safety precautions says Jen McCrindle, a rural outreach worker with Turning Point, an Alberta charity responsible for sexually transmitted and blood borne infection prevention and support.
She says while finding a used needle on the street is unsightly and not something we like to see, the risk of actually getting poked is “so low and the chance of contracting a bloodborne illness is microscopic” because viruses like HIV and Hepatitis C can only live for a short time outside of the blood stream. She says use gloves, tongs, and grab it from the plunger end and put it into a container that can’t be punctured, like a water bottle or coffee can. Pharmacies like Shoppers Drug Mart will accept discarded needles and also loan SHARPS needle containers to people.
While finding needles on the street can be disturbing to some people, McCrindle says Turning Point is working on educating drug users and the public on reversing the stigma associated with hard drug use. When users discard their used needles on the street, it perpetuates the negative stigma around addicts, despite the fact she says, the “overwhelming majority” of users dispose of their equipment properly.
“If people find needles on the street that just perpetuates the stigma. We try to teach we should take care of ourselves and take care of the community so people see us a little differently,” she says.
“I’m definitely giving out large quantities of SHARPS containers. From what I’m hearing, people feel ok to take them into the pharmacies so that’s where the bulk seems to go. Or we can take them.”
And while there have been a spat of recent RCMP reports of fentanyl and carfentanil seizures in the area, Staff Sergeant Bourque maintains drug use is not actually increasing even if it may look that way.
“Since we’ve started hearing about it we can’t say it’s ramping up, but by virtue of the intelligence we are receiving we are just in a position to seize it more.”
But the drugs have changed, as RCMP are encountering opiates like carfentanil and fentanyl, which are much stronger than heroin and can cause overdoses or severe health effects in people in minute quantities.
“Fentanyl is prevalent as much as methamphetamine, cocaine -- all the ones that have been here for the last 20 years, but certainly we are seeing fentanyl and carfentanil seizures.”
