COLLECTING USED NEEDLES UNFAIR COST TO CITY: HEIDT

The City of Saskatoon doesn't give needles to drug addicts, so it
shouldn't have to pay for picking them up after they're used and
tossed away in playgrounds and parking lots, a city councillor told a
committee meeting Monday.

"I have a problem with someone doing something like that and then
sending us the bill," Coun. Myles Heidt told the administration and
finance committee, referring to the health region's needle exchange program.

"There should be some responsibility in this . . . when you have the
health provider for the province giving them out to people who don't
care where they leave them."

A report from fire Chief Brian Bentley says Saskatoon firefighters
responded to 1,752 calls for "sharps incidents" in all areas of the
city last year, collecting 10,827 discarded needles. About 2,500 more
were picked up in the first three months of 2007.

The Saskatoon health region, which operates a needle exchange
program, pays for disposal of all the needles collected by the fire
department, regardless of where they may have originated. The report
estimates about a million needles are distributed by various sources
every year -- to illicit drug abusers as well as legitimate needle
users such as people with diabetes.

"Many needles used for intravenous drug use are not acquired through
the needle exchange program and in fact many are purchased at drug
stores," the report notes.

Heidt said the city should at least get reimbursement from the
health-care system for the fuel used when fire trucks are deployed
for needle collection. A deposit fee similar to the charge on
beverage containers could help recover some costs, he said.

That might place an unfair burden on legitimate users and would not
address the problem of needles brought into the city by visitors and
transients from rural areas, Bentley told the committee. He added the
total cost of treating a person after accidental contact with a used
needle is much higher than the cost of collecting it before an
accident can happen.

A single sharps incident could result in firefighters collecting
hundreds of needles at the same location, or just one, so the actual
costs incurred by his department would vary from incident to
incident, Bentley said.

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable working out what (deposit) fee would be
appropriate."

The committee voted to send a report to city council recommending the
city write to Health Minister Len Taylor requesting compensation for
the cost of needle collection.

"Let's see what the minister says and go from there," Mayor Don Atchison said.