Pubdate: Wed, 09 Feb 2000 Source: Herald Sun (Australia) Copyright: News Limited 2000 Contact: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ Author: Paul Anderson 2,100,000 SYRINGES At least 2.1million used syringes are being dumped in Victoria each year. Hundreds of thousands of the used and potentially infectious syringes are being discarded by heroin addicts on the streets of Melbourne. Almost 100,000 used syringes are thrown away in the heart of Melbourne alone, a Herald Sun investigation has found. The heroin crisis is worse in the City of Greater Dandenong, where about 110,000 used needles are collected. The problem has become so dire that one bayside council uses a sand-raking machine at 3am every day to clear its beaches. An outer suburban council rakes children's sandpits to clear away dumped needles. "It's atrocious," a council representative said. "It's a pretty sorry state of affairs when that has to be done." The estimated 100,000 used syringes discarded in the city centre suggest addicts are injecting at least $2million worth of heroin. While an estimated 65,000 needles are being dropped in syringe disposal bins, Melbourne City Council says about 35,000 are being tossed away in gutters, parks, train stations and lanes every year. In 1998, 4.1million syringes were distributed by needle exchange programs across the state. Less than half were returned. "The problem has been escalating and something needs to be done about it because the syringes are ending up in all sorts of places," acting Lord Mayor Wellington Lee said. "It's frightening to see. They're in the streets, on the footpath, outside theatres." The shocked councillor revealed used needles have been found around the Town Hall. "I've even seen people injecting in phone booths in Bourke St," he said. "When the (addicts) get desperate, they inject anywhere. "After taking the drug, they're not in a state of mind to want to walk maybe a half a mile to put their needle in a bin." The threat to public safety has become a critical issue for most metropolitan councils. The City of Knox has children's sandpits in kindergartens and pre-schools raked every morning to collect used syringes. The bayside council of the City of Port Phillip uses a sand-raking machine to clean its beaches of needles. "It picks up God knows how many," Mayor Dick Gross said. The Herald Sun investigation follows recent incidents in which people have been pricked by dirty needles, some of which have been left on trains to deliberately stick passengers. Cr Lee said while people in the CBD welcomed a greater police presence, the heroin trade was still a serious problem. "The police are getting more resources, but I don't believe they're adequate," Cr Lee said. "I can still walk down and see trafficking every time of the day and night. "And I believe the drug trade is correlating with the level of crimes like hold-ups with syringes, bag-snatching and armed robberies." The problem with needles discarded in the city is obvious in lanes near the intersection of Russell and Bourke streets. Melbourne Council spokesman Andrew Hall said a big proportion of discarded needles were found in that area, as well as public toilets in inner city parkland. The city syringe dumping hotspot in Russell St is a known haunt for heroin dealers. It was the target of a recent blitz on dealers. With the price for a cap of heroin $20, addicts in Springvale and Dandenong are injecting at least $2.2million worth of heroin a year. Greater Dandenong Council spends more than $150,000 a year trying to encourage the safe disposal of needles. The district now has 280 disposal bins and runs a syringe disposal hotline with the cities of Casey, Cardinia and Frankston. "The inappropriate disposal of syringes and needles is a drug-related public nuisance that has been the subject of substantial concern from citizens," Mayor Naim Melham said. Along beaches within the City of Port Phillip, rainfall seems to dictate the number of syringes found in the sand. Taking into consideration that the beaches are now raked every morning, weekly figures show: ABOUT six syringes are found at Elwood beach in a dry week, while up to 20 are found after a week of rain, when stormwater drains carry them there. ABOUT 10 are found at St Kilda beach, with most ending up in the sand near Brooks Jetty near Luna Park. After rain, up to 25 are collected near the Royal Yacht Squadron. ABOUT five are found at Port Melbourne in dry weather, while that figure can rise to 12 in the wet. LAST year, 430 dirty needles were safely put in disposal bins along the foreshore and 7610 in bins within the entire municipality. - --- MAP posted-by: manemez j lovitto