NEEDLE EXCHANGE PROGRAM ISN'T SAFEGUARDING PUBLIC

Now that the snow has receded, everyone can once again participate in
the fun activity of pincering discarded hypodermic needles into
puncture-proof containers.

Since Jan. 1, firefighters have recovered more than 5,250 of these
possibly-lethal "sharps," as they call them. But with a little
diligence, who knows how many more we might find in bushes, back
alleys, or front lawns.

In a time when we fret about second-hand smoke and the UV Index,
should we not regard this surreal spring ritual as an outrageously
dangerous health hazard?

Were I a public health services official, I'd be mighty nervous about
a liability lawsuit from anyone who contracts hepatitis or AIDS from
stepping on, or being pricked by one of these needles. Isn't that
eventuality merely a matter of time?

Meanwhile, the media run their annual the-needles-are-back stories.
We're told how to carefully dispose of the damn things. And on goes
the "needle-exchange" program, as blithely as might a program to
promote bicycle helmet use. (I put "needle exchange" in quotation
marks, for if it were truly an exchange, there presumably would be no
need for a springtime harvest of discarded needles.)

I don't pretend to know how to best treat drug abusers and addicts.
But what justification can there be in a needle-handout program that
results in an incredibly dangerous scattering of needles that carry
heaven knows what pathogens?

I'm told that there are more than 800 registered needle recipients in
Saskatoon. Surely a 24/7 safe house, where users could get injected,
would be better than a hand-out program that results in thousands of
needles being tossed on public property.

Public safety has got to trump the practice of handing out needles to
users.

Wayne Eyre,

Saskatoon