Opinion

SYRINGES, I'M AFRAID, ARE NOW PART OF OUR LIFE

HAS the world gone crazy? Some people are actually upset that Ansett is
providing syringe-disposal bins on its flights.

I think some people are missing the point.

These same people - and they include Salvation Army Major Brian Watters,
head of the National Council of Drugs - consider that such an action is
"sending out the wrong message".

They actually believe it could be interpreted as endorsing drug-taking.

Which makes me wonder just who is hallucinating here.

It's flawed logic. I mean, if you continue down that garden path, then
having doetors attend football matches is an endorsement of rough play...
and having a sprinkler system installed in your office is sending out
entirely the wrong message to any potential arsonist on the payroll.

Syringe-disposal bins are not a sign of acceptance of drug-taking, they are
not, as such, a sign of diminishing community values, they are merely a sign
of the times.

Is Major Watters actually suggesting that people who had until now rejected
drugs will be lured into taking them because somebody has put out bins for
the needles?

I don't know. When non-smokers see ashtrays, do they immediately want to
light up?

The bins are there purely as a precaution. Unfortunately a necessary
precaution these days, as Ansett sees it. Instead of being criticised for
making a responsible stand the airline should be congratulated.

In fact, if you ask me, syringe-disposal units should become standard issue
in all sorts of high public use areas, even schools.

I can only imagine what the alarmists will make of that, but then again some
people will always get prickly with change, especially change which has a
whiff of social reform about it.

Rather than moralise, I tend to take the pragmatic approach. It's pretty
hard to argue against such bins if they reduce the AIDS risks for innocent
people who might otherwise have been exposed to potentially lethal syringes.

And don't think it hasn't become an everyday danger. Last month I took my
daughter to a fast-food outlet and, girls being girls, she waited until we
were sitting down before telling me she needed to use the lavatory.

The trouble was that there was only one female lavatory and it was occupied.
Turns out it was occupied for about 20 minutes before a teenaged girl
flnally stumbled out.

It didn't take much figuring out, judging by the girl's general appearance
and demeanor, and by the agitated attitude of her spiky-haired boyfriend,
that she hadn't been whiling away her time in there finishing off the
crossword.

So there you go. Something new to worry about with fast food. No longer is
your main concern whether to let your youngster have a Coke, or whether
those fries are cooked in saturated fats. Now you have to check the lavatory
to make sure there are no discarded syringes on the floor.

along the way. In a bluestone laneway, in the gutter, next to a power pole.
Syringes are becoming almost as common as cigarette butts.

Of course, providing the bins isn't the answer, it is just a means of coping
with the problem. The biggest challenge will be in getting drug users to act
more responsibly themselves.

AT a needle-exchange program in my suburb, some of the users didn't exactly
endear themselves to the local community when they started tossing used
syringes over the fence of a nearby child-care centre.

I know how some people might consider that a wilful act. They might also
wonder whether users could be bothered to put their needles in such bins if
they were provided.

Certainly Major Watters, for one, considers the decision by Ansett to be
ultimately futile.

But I don't think we have much choice here. It's a proactive move to try to
minimise community risk. At the same time, it might just impress on some
drug users the need to act more responsibly.

Checked-by: Don Beck