RETRACTABLE NEEDLES MAY SOLVE DANGER FEARS

DRUG Arm yesterday called for the distribution of "retractable
needles" to protect the community from further needle-stick injuries.

Drug Arm health promotion co-ordinator Judith Hart said retractable
needles would protect the public from drug users who were "too spaced
out" to think logically about needle disposal.

(Retractable needles slip back inside the syringe barrel after a user
has injected.)

An Ipswich girl, 5, was pricked by a discarded needle at the weekend
after a similar incident in Brisbane last week when a boy, 7, was
injured after putting his hand in a used-syringe container.

Both children will have to have blood tests every three months for a
year to check on health risks, notably HIV.

Ms Hart said retractable needles as used by the Queensland Ambulance
Service would eliminate the need for syringe bins.

However, the relatively new type of needle is almost three times more
expensive than syringes now distributed in needle exchange schemes.

Brisbane City Council community policy chairman David Hinchliffe said
the only way retractable needles could be widely introduced would be
if the state and federal governments agreed to extra funding.

"Some drug users will need 50 needles a week so we are talking about
millions of dollars in extra funding by the Federal Government," he
said.

Ipswich City councillor Paul Tully proposed bar coding or stamping
syringes so the original user could be traced and possibly charged if
someone was hurt by a needle which had been improperly disposed of.

However, Ms Hart said the proposal might deter drug users from needle
exchange programmes.