Dangerously discarded needles could be part of a plan to discredit injection drug users and public health efforts to help them, say Island Health’s chief medical health officer.
Dr. Richard Stanwick told reporters that some people lack sympathy for drug users and oppose measures such as needle exchanges. They may even want to discredit both by leaving syringes outside for the public to find and get jabbed.
“There are still people who see [drug addiction] as a moral failing and bad choice rather than a chronic, relapsing disease of the brain,” Stanwick said. “What we are really concerned about is making sure this isn’t some sort of effort to discredit efforts around harm reduction.”
Stanwick was speaking after an emergency meeting of officials from Island Health, police, the City of Victoria and social service and advocacy groups to discuss three recent incidents in which people were pricked by discarded needles.
Victoria police said Wednesday they have concluded their investigation into one of the incidents.
On Jan. 8 a child was jabbed at the McDonald’s restaurant in the 900 block of Pandora Avenue. Police said the person who discarded the needle was using it for medical reasons and did not place it with any malicious intent.
The investigation continues into a Monday incident in which a needle was found near a Johnson Street hair salon, inside a planter, stuck into the soil with the sharp end poking up.
The third incident happened on Jan. 9 when a woman grabbed a paper bag from her dog and was stabbed by a needle that was inside.
But Stanwick said the wider picture seems less alarming. Social service agencies such as Our Place conduct regular street sweeps and report no increase in discarded needles.
He also emphasized that risks from discarded needles are low in part because of the success of harm-reduction programs and needle distribution. Transmission of blood-borne infections from dirty needles has diminished.
“I have to emphasize how low risk this really is for the general public,” Stanwick said. “Even if the needles are out there, the odds are they will not contain harmful pathogens.”
He also said the majority of needles handed out at needle exchanges and distribution centres are recovered for proper disposal.
But, he said, practices can always be improved. A central disposal site or service, where anybody who finds a needle can make a call to report it, is being considered, and safe sharps containers could be handed out when needles are distributed.
Stephen Hammond, one of the founders of the Mad As Hell group, which first mobilized in response to the tent city on the grounds of the Victoria courthouse, complained the public effort at helping drug addicts seems to come at the expense of law-abiding citizens and increased drug use everywhere.
“The problem we have is people are saying ‘I don’t want to walk my dog, I don’t want to go downtown,’ ” said Hammond, who is also a member of a citizens group campaigning to oust Victoria city council in the October election.
“So it’s not going to help to say: ‘Hey folks, this might be one of you trying to sabotage this thing [harm-reduction programs].’ ”
