Northwest Ohio Syringe Services has begun distributing fentanyl test strips to active users of opioids and other drugs. The exchange, a program through the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department, is part of a larger strategy of harm reduction to keep people with addiction issues healthy while using, and provide them with resources and help when they want to seek treatment. Fentanyl has become the scourge of anyone trying to fight Ohio's opioid epidemic: deadly in small quantities and appearing in an increasing number of fatal overdoses. [continues 661 words]
OTTAWA - Setting up tattoo parlours and needle-exchange programs in penitentiaries would help reduce the spread of hepatitis C, the federal prison service has told the Trudeau government. A Correctional Service memo obtained under the Access to Information Act advises Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale to round out existing and planned measures to fight hepatitis and HIV in prison. Prison tattooing and needle-exchange programs for drug users have generated intense controversy over the years, and the March 2017 memo says detailed research should be carried out before embarking on a syringe needle program, in particular, "to avoid unintended and negative consequences for inmates." [continues 459 words]
The Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit has expanded its harm-reduction strategy related to intravenous drug users. With opioid addiction an increasing problem in the local area and elsewhere, the health unit has set up three 24-hour disposal sites where users can dispose of old needles. Needle disposal is a concern for health officials because intravenous drug abuse is highly correlated with blood-borne illnesses, such as HIV and hepatitis. Used needles that aren't properly disposed pose a hazard to young people who may pick them up or people passing by who are inadvertently stabbed. [continues 235 words]
WATERLOO REGION - Regional councillors thanked the public health department for its harm reduction efforts, but said more needs to be done to ensure used needles aren't ending up in public spaces. "I do appreciate the efforts of public health," Cambridge Mayor Doug Craig said at a council meeting on Tuesday. "But we still have a problem." The number of needles distributed through Waterloo Region's needle syringe program has been rising steadily in recent years, reaching a peak in 2017, according to a report presented this week. [continues 471 words]
It was an idea born in the middle of a devastating epidemic with an ever-rising death rate. It drew the ire of state officials, threats to arrest those who operated it, and fears that it would encourage drug use and addiction. No, Philly did not just approve of 'Hamsterdam' It was a needle exchange to prevent reusing hypodermic needles, and the year was 1991. Twenty-seven years later, those involved in the struggle to open Prevention Point - still Philadelphia's only needle exchange - say the parallels are clear between that fight and the city's decision to encourage the opening of safe injection sites, where people in addiction can inject drugs under medical supervision and access treatment. [continues 853 words]
TALLAHASSEE -- Two years after lawmakers approved a needle-and-syringe exchange program in Miami-Dade County, the House and Senate are considering taking it statewide and expanding the types of providers who can offer the services. House and Senate health care-panels on Wednesday approved bills that would allow hospitals, clinics, medical schools and substance-abuse treatment programs to begin offering needle-and-syringe exchange programs to try to reduce the spread of diseases such as HIV, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated cost nearly $380,000 to treat over a lifetime. [continues 273 words]
City considers ways to better protect employees and public Victoria public works officials are examining protocols over the handling of discarded hypodermic needles to better protect employees and the public. Fraser Work, Victoria director of engineering and public works, said the city is looking at its own protocols in light of reports this month of people encountering or being nicked by discarded needles. "We take this issue very seriously, on behalf of our workers and the public," said Work. He attended a meeting on Wednesday with public health officials, police, social service agencies and addict advocates to discuss recent needle incidents. [continues 345 words]
Dangerously discarded needles could be part of plan to discredit injection drug users and public health efforts to help them, says 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 might even want to discredit both by leaving syringes outside for the public to find or 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." [continues 428 words]
Re: "Needle warning issued after 2 pricks in 2 days," Jan. 11. I agree that it is distressing when a child or anyone else is pricked by a foreign needle. However, the furor over this and similar incidents overshadows the real problem that we have today with drug and other substance abuse. Until we address the poverty and homelessness problem that exists today across the country, we will always have addictions. If the basic level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs is not met, people suffer. That suffering hurts, and people find ways to numb the hurt. That way is through substance abuse. [continues 86 words]
Surveillance intimidates clients, staff at Inner City Health's safe injection site All is not rosy at Ottawa's first sanctioned safe injection site in Lowertown. The executive director of Ottawa Inner City Health, which operates the legal drug-taking site from a trailer at Shepherds of Good Hope, said Ottawa police regularly have a cruiser parked by the steps to the facility. "We are having really significant problems currently and we're hoping we can resolve them," said Wendy Muckle. [continues 735 words]
Dear editor: It was shocking to read that a parent and her nine-year-old child had to take on the drug-needle problem in our school grounds (Western News, Dec. 12). That secret Queen's Park shed should never have been secret in the first place. What with such a fuss being made about possible marijuana shops anywhere within sight of schools, how can discarded needles go on being all over the place, right at those schools? Wendy Hyer, school district superintendent, seems not to realize what her priorities should be, and therefore what we are paying her for. [continues 67 words]
CAMBRIDGE - An innovative new peer-based pilot project will be launched in Cambridge early next year with the aim of curbing improper needle disposal in the community. The project is a partnership between Region of Waterloo Public Health, which will provide funding, Sanguen Health Centre and the City of Cambridge. Along with removing needles through patrols and education, it will offer employment and skill development to people who have experienced substance abuse; they will be hired as the peer workers. "There is no harm in trying other methods to connect people and get them on board," said Violet Umanetz, Sanguen's outreach manager. "The peers do so well working in the community." [continues 538 words]
Like all parents, Nadine Remington wants to know her nine-year-old son is safe while on school property. But, the increasing problem of drug use on school property after hours is heightening fears for her and other parents. Earlier this week, Remington was told by her son who is in Grade 4 at Queen's Park School that people were living in a shed on the school's property and that he had seen a needle and matches nearby. After a similar experience of the boy finding drug paraphernalia at KVR Middle School while at camp this summer, she took his claims seriously and headed out to the school to see it herself. Remington and her husband didn't find anyone in the shed, but there was evidence suggesting someone was living in it recently and a needle on the ground at the door. [continues 618 words]
Most pharmacies won't ask what needles are used for Used needles or other sharps never have to be discarded in bottles, garbage or public spaces because of the Safe Sharps Bring-Back Program. The Pharmacy Association of Nova Scotia (PANS) administers the program for residential sharps users. Although it is not intended for people who use intravenous drugs, most pharmacies won't ask what the needles are being used for. "The whole idea is about harm reduction," said Hugh Toner, pharmacist owner of both Medicine Shoppe stores in Sydney. [continues 573 words]
BIA expresses concern about T.O.'s first harm-reduction site In a mere matter of months it seems the city's first harmreduction site has turned one of Toronto's top tourist areas into a needle disposal site. Mark Garner, CEO and executive director of the Downtown Yonge BIA, says they're seeing an "increased number of needles" within blocks of The Works location on Victoria St. - in YongeDundas Square, in the washrooms of Tim Hortons coffee shops and in laneways. [continues 887 words]
Does Trudeau back harm reduction or not, ask Sandra Ka Hon Chu and Richard Elliott Implementing needle and syringe programs in federal prisons could prevent numerous new HIV and Hepatitis C virus infections each year, saving tens of millions of dollars. Five years ago, we started a constitutional court case, because it was clear that, despite the evidence, the previous government would never agree to implement these health services in federal prisons. But the Trudeau government has repeatedly declared its commitment to harm reduction and evidence-based policy, to Charter rights, and to the health and welfare of vulnerable Canadians. Prison-based needle and syringe programs reflect all of these. [continues 585 words]
A pilot project was launched Tuesday to provide the first outdoor after-hours needle disposable drop box, with the aim of curbing the high rate of hepatitis C, locally. The sharp disposal kiosk is located on the property of AIDS Support Chatham-Kent at 67 Adelaide St. S. in Chatham, which has partnered with the ChathamKent Public Health Unit to provide a safe place to dispose of needles. When looking at best practices of other communities where these types of sharp disposal kiosks are available, it's a program that's been tested, said Steve Pratt, harm reduction program manager with AIDS Support C-K. [continues 284 words]
As little as five years ago, we imagine most people would have scoffed at the idea of needing a special group to pick up discarded needles in the community. Though the Comox Valley is not as badly affected as others, which are in the middle of a needle epidemic directly related to the opioid crisis that has killed so many across B.C. in the last several years, it isn't immune, either. The provincial statistics for 2017 to date are horrifying. This province has never faced a drug threat like that of fentanyl. [continues 224 words]
A plan to increase the availability of needle containers in the community is being welcomed by some city residents. "I think it's a good idea," said Tracey Bucci, of the Grand River Environmental Group. "It would help reduce the risk of innocent people and animals from becoming infected by discarded needles. However, addiction issues do still need to be addressed because that's the root of the problem." Bucci and her group of volunteers led clean-up efforts this year aimed at collecting used syringes in the area of Mohawk Lake. [continues 444 words]
PATERSON -- About a dozen men and women sat on hard plastic chairs early Wednesday morning inside a conference room at the Well of Hope Drop-In Center on Broadway, where a flat screen television broadcast sports highlights on ESPN. Some came for the free coffee. A sign said the limit was one cup per hour. Others were there to use the showers and toilet facilities. A 57-year-old man who would only give his name as "Julius" was waiting to see a nurse about a blister on his foot. [continues 957 words]
