2,100,000 SYRINGES

At least 2.1million used syringes are being dumped in Victoria each
year.

Hundreds of thousands of the used and potentially infectious syringes
are being discarded by heroin addicts on the streets of Melbourne.
Almost 100,000 used syringes are thrown away in the heart of Melbourne
alone, a Herald Sun investigation has found.

The heroin crisis is worse in the City of Greater Dandenong, where
about 110,000 used needles are collected.

The problem has become so dire that one bayside council uses a
sand-raking machine at 3am every day to clear its beaches.

An outer suburban council rakes children's sandpits to clear away
dumped needles.

"It's atrocious," a council representative said. "It's a pretty sorry
state of affairs when that has to be done."

The estimated 100,000 used syringes discarded in the city centre
suggest addicts are injecting at least $2million worth of heroin.

While an estimated 65,000 needles are being dropped in syringe
disposal bins, Melbourne City Council says about 35,000 are being
tossed away in gutters, parks, train stations and lanes every year.

In 1998, 4.1million syringes were distributed by needle exchange
programs across the state.

Less than half were returned.

"The problem has been escalating and something needs to be done about
it because the syringes are ending up in all sorts of places," acting
Lord Mayor Wellington Lee said.

"It's frightening to see. They're in the streets, on the footpath,
outside theatres." The shocked councillor revealed used needles have
been found around the Town Hall.

"I've even seen people injecting in phone booths in Bourke St," he
said. "When the (addicts) get desperate, they inject anywhere.

"After taking the drug, they're not in a state of mind to want to walk
maybe a half a mile to put their needle in a bin."

The threat to public safety has become a critical issue for most
metropolitan councils.

The City of Knox has children's sandpits in kindergartens and
pre-schools raked every morning to collect used syringes.

The bayside council of the City of Port Phillip uses a sand-raking
machine to clean its beaches of needles.

"It picks up God knows how many," Mayor Dick Gross
said.

The Herald Sun investigation follows recent incidents in which people
have been pricked by dirty needles, some of which have been left on
trains to deliberately stick passengers.

Cr Lee said while people in the CBD welcomed a greater police
presence, the heroin trade was still a serious problem.

"The police are getting more resources, but I don't believe they're
adequate," Cr Lee said.

"I can still walk down and see trafficking every time of the day and
night.

"And I believe the drug trade is correlating with the level of crimes
like hold-ups with syringes, bag-snatching and armed robberies."

The problem with needles discarded in the city is obvious in lanes
near the intersection of Russell and Bourke streets.

Melbourne Council spokesman Andrew Hall said a big proportion of
discarded needles were found in that area, as well as public toilets
in inner city parkland.

The city syringe dumping hotspot in Russell St is a known haunt for
heroin dealers.

It was the target of a recent blitz on dealers.

With the price for a cap of heroin $20, addicts in Springvale and
Dandenong are injecting at least $2.2million worth of heroin a year.

Greater Dandenong Council spends more than $150,000 a year trying to
encourage the safe disposal of needles.

The district now has 280 disposal bins and runs a syringe disposal
hotline with the cities of Casey, Cardinia and Frankston.

"The inappropriate disposal of syringes and needles is a drug-related
public nuisance that has been the subject of substantial concern from
citizens," Mayor Naim Melham said.

Along beaches within the City of Port Phillip, rainfall seems to
dictate the number of syringes found in the sand.

Taking into consideration that the beaches are now raked every
morning, weekly figures show:

ABOUT six syringes are found at Elwood beach in a dry week, while up
to 20 are found after a week of rain, when stormwater drains carry
them there.

ABOUT 10 are found at St Kilda beach, with most ending up in the sand
near Brooks Jetty near Luna Park. After rain, up to 25 are collected
near the Royal Yacht Squadron.

ABOUT five are found at Port Melbourne in dry weather, while that
figure can rise to 12 in the wet.

LAST year, 430 dirty needles were safely put in disposal bins along
the foreshore and 7610 in bins within the entire municipality.