Last week, volunteers removed more than 1,000 needles from in and on the banks of the Cowichan River, fouling our environment and causing a serious health hazard.
The sheer number of sharps is appalling. This cannot continue unchecked. During the summer months people head down to the river to swim and picnic and sunbathe, and even in the fall and winter people walk along the banks and their dogs romp in the shallows. Clearly the risk of sticking oneself with a dirty needle is considerable, and unacceptable. With this comes the risk of sometimes serious infections. Do we abandon our beautiful public places to this degradation? No. We must not.
It is important, however, to offer clean syringes to drug users. Clean syringe programs have been proven effective in curbing transmission of serious diseases and saving lives. It saves money, too, as lifelong treatment for things like HIV and hepatitis C are far more expensive than just giving people clean sharps. Needle programs are also points of contact, where there’s an opportunity to funnel drug users into treatment.
So it’s not a matter of just saying we’re not going to hand out syringes anymore. Those addicted to injectable drugs would surely find another way to acquire needles, which would then end up on the ground, just as they do now, only without the harm reduction benefits.
What the Cowichan Valley needs is a needle exchange program, where users would bring needles back in order to get more.
It’s not a perfect solution. There would still be some syringes that would be found discarded around the community. Not everyone would bring all their needles back. But it would take at least some of the sharps out of circulation, so they can be discarded properly, not somewhere that a child playing or a senior walking can stick themselves.
A needle exchange is the best balance to offer harm reduction for drug addicts and increase safety for community members. Time to try it, at least.