A needle exchange ban may be lifted in Mission. - Record file photo Needle exchange facilities in Mission have been operating for years despite a district bylaw prohibiting the activity. Now, Mission council is considering lifting the five-year-old ban in order to support harm-reduction strategies and protect the community's vulnerable drug users. Drug overdose rates in Mission are two times higher than the provincial average, according to statistics from Fraser Health, and the medical health officer for the Fraser East region hopes to reach out and help more people by increasing needle exchange services. [continues 633 words]
Two-thirds of syringes handed out through program not returned, Region of Waterloo Public Health says WATERLOO REGION - The region's head of infectious disease says there's little risk someone in the community will accidentally jab themselves with a needle tossed away by a drug user and become ill. A recent report by Region of Waterloo Public Health noted nearly 307,500 syringes were handed out through their needle syringe program and just under 103,200 - about a third - were returned. Going back to 2009, nearly 441,400 of the free needles given out over five years were not returned. [continues 334 words]
Clean, Safe And Addressing A Growing Need Clean needles keep everyone safe. The Huron County Health Unit is still working with community partners to implement a new needle exchange program. The program has been in place in the county since November, when it was passed at the Board of Health. While there are a couple locations for intravenous drug users to get and return clean needles currently in the county, the need for increased accessible service is still very prevalent. Prior to the implementation of a local program, Huron County users were traveling to Middlesex and Perth counties for needles and supplies. While it is not an exact number, Public Health Nurse at the HCHU, Shelley Spence, said county residents used between 5,000- 10,000 needles a month - mostly obtained at exchange clinics in London. [continues 414 words]
Clean Needles Keep Everyone Safe. The Huron County Health Unit is still working with community partners to implement a new needle exchange program. The program has been in place in the county since November, when it was passed at the Board of Health. While there are a couple locations for intravenous drug users to get and return clean needles currently in the county, the need for increased accessible service is still very prevalent. Prior to the implementation of a local program, Huron County users were traveling to Middlesex and Perth counties for needles and supplies. While it is not an exact number, Public Health Nurse at the HCHU, Shelley Spence, said county residents used between 5,000-10,000 needles a month - mostly obtained at exchange clinics in London. [continues 415 words]
Numbers Up More Than 50 Per Cent Demand for the Aids Committee of Newfoundland and Labrador's needle-exchange program has increased considerably in the past two years, says its executive director. "We are looking at a 50-60 per cent increase in two years," Gerard Yetman said. "The program is not feasible as it is right now. "The present program is not meeting the demand." In 2011-12, the program distributed nearly 180,000 clean needles, but numbers have surpassed twice that amount, in part because it's become provincial. [continues 349 words]
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) - A Vermont library is resorting to locking its public restrooms to curb a persistent problem of drug paraphernalia clogging the drains. Burlington's Fletcher Free Library hopes to have locksmiths complete the work this week. Library officials say the bathrooms on the mezzanine level of the library were closed three weeks ago for the third time after needles and other drug paraphernalia clogged the drains. The Burlington Free Press reports that once the locks are installed, library patrons will have to exchange their library card or other identification for a key to the bathrooms. That policy mirrors one already in place for using the handicapped-accessible restroom. The clogged drains were noticed before they could cause water damage to the bathrooms. [end]
SACRAMENTO (AP) - The Assembly voted Thursday to make permanent a program that allows pharmacies to sell syringes to drug users as a way to prevent diseases spread by needle-sharing. AB1743 by Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, passed on a largely party-line, 43-26 vote and heads to the Senate. The bill also removes a 30-syringe limit, making California the 46th state to allow for bulk syringe sales. Ting's office estimates a 100-syringe box can cost about $30, while a single syringe is less than a dollar. [continues 366 words]
The first time I ever saw someone shoot up was about nine years ago. It was in a public washroom downtown. The door of their bathroom stall was ajar and her reflection was in front of me as I washed my hands. I didn't want to see it, it was just there. She was just there, with a syringe in her arm and a haunted, empty look on her face. It startled me when her bag fell onto the floor and some of the contents fell out and slid near my feet. It was girl stuff, like flavoured lip gloss. She didn't move. I don't think she even realized I was there. I gathered my stuff and left the washroom quickly. [continues 583 words]
EDITOR: It has come to my attention that there is a law in California that allows pharmacies to sell up to 30 syringes and needles to anyone 18 or older. The pharmacy is not required to check ID or keep a log of purchasers. I have witnessed kids going into a chain pharmacy in Rincon Valley and buying syringes and needles. No questions asked. No ID required. The kids I saw were clearly younger than 18. As one who worked as a professional in the addictions field, I'm blown away. Injecting drugs intravenously is a path to a serious addiction. Heroin, opiates, opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine and some others can be taken intravenously. Intravenous drug users have the hardest time kicking their addiction. The addictive behavior is not confined to the feeling the drug produces, the ritual of "shooting up" is addictive as well. The law must require those who buy syringes and needles to register and provide proof that they are indeed adults. This law is poorly thought out and has the potential to cause many heartbreaks and destruction of many young lives. Santa Rosa [end]
The House voted Friday to expand Baltimore City's needle exchange program, but not before members debated whether giving addicts access to more clean syringes could aggravate growing heroin use in the state. The measure, which passed 84-51, would lift the "one-for-one" restriction on swapping clean for used needles under the exchange program run the past 20 years by the city's Health Department. About 2,500 people have obtained 500,000 new syringes that way, reducing the risks of transmitting HIV and other blood-borne infections through the sharing of needles. [end]
Each day, dozens of drug addicts file into New Leaf Treatment Center hoping for a respite from their cravings. Gantt Galloway hopes to buy time for their recovery. A pharmacist and noted researcher, Galloway founded a drug treatment center in Lafayette. Saving lives inside the walls of New Leaf Treatment Center is as much about the counseling and detox medications as it is about ensuring that drug users have access to clean needles. Clean needles buy time, he said. And that saves lives. [continues 749 words]
Thirty years ago, Florida Senate President Don Gaetz learned firsthand marijuana's effectiveness in alleviating the suffering of the terminally ill, when he illegally supplied it to a dying friend. Now, three decades later, after almost half the nation's other states have paved the way for medical marijuana and Floridians like John Morgan have managed to position medical marijuana for a statewide vote, Gaetz is eager to spread the healing. He asks, "How could I deny compassionate care to someone else's child?" [continues 52 words]
Residents and business owners in Nanaimo's north end have to fend for themselves when it comes to picking up discarded drug paraphernalia. The problem came to light recently when staff at Delicado's North, located at the corner of Aulds Road and Metral Drive, were getting ready to open for the day. Ashley Thorp, a restaurant employee, responded to an anxious knocking on the restaurant's front door by a woman warning her about five used syringes and a spoon left near the business's entrance. [continues 284 words]
Health. City Votes To Permit Harm Reduction With Bylaw Overhaul Needle exchanges, methadone clinics and supervised injection sites are now legal in Abbotsford after city council voted Monday night to amend a 2005 bylaw that prohibited harm reduction measures. The Fraser Health Authority (FHA) wrote to the city in 2010 and asked it to change the zoning bylaw to allow needle exchanges because of concerns about rising rates of hepatitis C. But don't expect to see a supervised injection site like Vancouver's Insite pop up anytime soon. [continues 333 words]
They Want Congress to Use Must-Pass Budget Bill As Vehicle to Change Law WASHINGTON - Needle exchange advocates are urging lawmakers to use a coming must-pass budget bill to lift the decades-old prohibition on spending federal funds for clean syringes for drug users, supporters of the effort said Thursday. The groups are pressing members of Congress, including Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland, to ease a ban they say does little to curb drug abuse but stymies efforts to prevent HIV and hepatitis infections caused by dirty needles. [continues 630 words]
BELLEVILLE - A notorious downtown boarding house is being called a "biohazard" by a man who reports he pricked himself with an infected used needle while staying there. Marc Alarie is currently on a mix of medications after he inadvertently stabbed a finger on his left hand with a used needle he said was left lying in a common area at the Belle Pub, formerly the City Hotel. The 40-year-old, who recently moved to Belleville from Timmins, rented a room above the Front Street watering hole before leaving shortly before Christmas. [continues 477 words]
I would like to underscore Chris Beyrer's recent commentary calling for lifting the U.S. ban on use of federal funds for syringe services programs, or SSPs ("End the senseless syringe funding ban," Dec. 11). SSPs benefit our communities by preventing new HIV infections, reducing needle stick injuries to law enforcement and saving taxpayer dollars. The SSP in Baltimore alone has served over 14,000 injection drug users and referred about 2,300 SSP users to treatment programs in its first 12 years of operation. By safely disposing of used (and potentially contaminated) needles, SSPs promote public safety for not only the general public, but also law enforcement agents and first responders. Additionally, there is the potential for SSPs to save billions of taxpayer dollars nationwide by preventing HIV infections among injection drug users, many of whom would be reliant on public sector programs for HIV treatment and care. [continues 129 words]
One of the most visible signs of heroin's resurgence in Olympia is the increase in dirty, discarded needles being found downtown. In August, the city's Parks and Recreation Department began keeping statistics on discarded needles left in public parks. As of mid-October, the tally was 269. One way to deal with discarded needles - as well as potentially help their users - is exchanges that trade new syringes for old ones. In Thurston County, the Syringe Exchange Program distributes free needles to IV drug users in downtown Olympia. [continues 744 words]
Data on discarded syringes shows highest incidence in Scarborough When the discarded syringe pierced deep into her heel, Danielle Monk was grateful for one thing - that it wasn't her 2-year-old son, Nolan, who stepped on the soiled needle in a Toronto park. In that same split-second, Monk's dream of having found refuge from the drugs, shootings and crime downtown was shattered. "My husband and I realized we didn't want to raise our son in Parkdale," said Monk. "So when we visited Mimico three years ago, and saw the beauty and tranquility of the neighbourhood, we decided to move there." She calls Mimico her "Eden on the lake" - at least she used to. [continues 1064 words]
Additional context and clarifications are sorely needed in regards to the Times-Herald cover story, ("Potent plants: Officials: Little known locally about 'earwax' variety, its dangers." (Front and Center, July 28) Most troublingly, reporter Marie Estrada implies throughout the story that so-called "earwax" is a distinct strain of the marijuana plant. This is not the case. Rather, "earwax" (or "wax") is slang for concentrated extracts derived from the cannabis plant. These gooey concoctions do not resemble cannabis in either appearance or texture, are typically ingested in a different manner than one would consume marijuana, and are typically labeled by dispensary providers as possessing far higher concentrations of THC - the primary psychoactive compound in marijuana - than standard plant material. [continues 444 words]
