NEEDLE EXCHANGE HAS LEFT MORE THAN 6,000 NEEDLES UNACCOUNTED FOR

KELOWNA - While 60,000 needles have been handed out through Kelowna's
needle exchange this year, more than 6,000 are unaccounted for,
officials say.

Carly Newmarch, Crystal Hill and Dave Nishi are fourth-year nursing
students from Okanagan University College studying the
needle-retrieval programs available to clean up city streets.

The 6,000 missing needles are not necessarily lying around. "They may
have been properly disposed of," said Newmarch.

But some needles do end up posing a hazard, possibly containing the
HIV virus or other communicable diseases such as hepatitis.

The students have found that parks department statistics show that 205
needles had been picked up by the end of October.

The Kelowna fire department, the city's downtown safety patrol, and
the city itself are a few of the groups that have people trained on
proper needle disposal.