MASSIVE DROP IN DISCARDED SHARPS

A big decline in the number of sharps discarded in Canberra's public places
has been welcomed by Urban Services Minister Brendan Smyth.

Announcing the result of a concerted clean-up campaign, the minister said
there was a 31 per cent drop in the number of sharps collected from public
places, such as footpaths and parks, in the year to June 30, 1999.

Canberra Urban Parks and Places collected 5133 needles in the period
compared with 7511 for the year before. "This is a welcome result for
community safety," Mr Smyth said. "It is particularly pleasing that drug
users are using the special toilet chutes to dispose of needles in public
toilets."

A new system for counting the number of sharps collected from public
toilets showed a 74 per cent drop from 15,283 in 1997-98, to 3993 in 1998-99.

The system counts the number of sharps-disposal containers collected, each
of which holds between one and 30 needles, while the former system counted
the actual sharps.

While figures on the number of needles collected from public toilets are
unavailable, the Government believes more people are disposing of them in
this manner than before.

According to the executive director of Assisting Drug Dependents
Incorporated which runs the ACT needle exchange service, Maureen Cane, the
number of sharps collected in public places represents less than 1 per cent
of the 594,000 needles distributed by her organisation during 1998-99.

The small number of people who irresponsibly discarded their sharps in
public places were not representative of the overall population of people
who needed to use needles for one reason or another.

"The overwhelming majority of people who pick up needles from the needle
exchange return them to us or dispose of them safely."

The number of needles distributed by ADDI rose by almost 13 per cent during
the 1998-99 financial year, but Ms Cane is reluctant to attribute the rise
to any one cause.

While illicit-drug users utilised the needle-exchange service, it was also
used by people with medical conditions such as diabetes and multiple
sclerosis, as well as those who used needles for injecting other
prescription drugs.

"It is very raw data, and it is very hard to judge what it means," Ms Cane
said.