BYLAW OFFICERS REMOVING DIRTY NEEDLES

City bylaw officers have plucked "hundreds" of dirty needles from downtown
alleys and vacant lots while patrolling streets under a pilot project to
improve safety, says the city's bylaw manager.

During the past month, pairs of officers have done daily sweeps of the
downtown core, finding pockets of used needles around Third Avenue and
George Street, Ken Craig said. "Probably what happens is people might get
needles (from the needle exchange on Third Avenue) and go a block away in
the alley and do whatever they do and throw the old needle away," he said.
"It's dangerous, there's no doubt about that."

Instead of responding to complaints, Craig said the pilot project has bylaw
officers, who have recently been trained to dispose of needles safely, on
foot trying to uncover problems.

The campaign comes under the city-led Partners for a Healthy Downtown (PHD)
initiative, which was established in March to improve the city's safety
image. Representatives from the RCMP, downtown business groups, and social
service agencies are also involved.

Bylaw officers are also on the lookout for other safety or social problems,
Craig said, such as graffiti, garbage on streets and drunken loiterers, and
are making contact with business owners and street people about their
concerns. But he said the group is still looking at long-term solutions to
deal with the problems. "If there's an immediate health issue, they know
enough to take action, but if we can solve it as a group and have
businesses involved maybe it's a better thing," he said.

He said there's no timeline for completing the pilot project.

Downtown business owner Bruce High said he's seen many needles littering
alleys and vacant lots, even behind his own store, and is worried someone
will be injured or contract a disease. He said he's been picking up dirty
needles around his store for years. "Someone has got to do something. This
is scary stuff, something is going to happen," said High, who owns Monkey
Forest/Lizard River on George Street. "If the needle exchange wants to hand
them out, they should have someone to go around and collect them," he said.

Chief medical health officer Dr. Lorna Medd said it's not practical to
expect the needle exchange to go out and collect needles from streets
because there are so few staff. She said requiring drug-users to exchange a
dirty needle for a clean one would lead to more sharing and spread
diseases, although people are urged to return used rigs. "But the risk of
transmitting Hepatitis C and HIV far outstrips the risk of a needle lying
in a gutter," she said. Over the longer term I think that we would
certainly be willing, as a health authority, to look at other innovative
approaches to minimize the problem of discarded needles," Medd said.

She said concerned citizens are also encouraged to help clean up needles,
and the Northern Health Authority, which runs the exchange, can recommend
how to dispose of needles safely.