Loads of uncapped used syringes litter the streets of Prince Albert and Mayor Greg Dionne says drop boxes and the needle exchange program aren’t working. That's why Dionne plans to ask the province for $30,000 to fund a needle pick-up initiative.
“What I want to do is train twenty to thirty people to properly pick up needles. I will give them 10 cents a needle to clean our community. They’ll be shocked on how many we recover,” said Dionne.
Research shows needle exchange programs in Saskatchewan receive back more than 90 per cent of the four million needles they distribute each year. Dionne challenges that number.
“That’s because they’re counting everybody that brings back needles. It doesn’t have to do with the exchange. It’s how they recover. I even understand that they include the number that the fire department recovers.”
Those numbers add up. So far this year, the fire department has already picked up more than 2,700 needles in Prince Albert.
“Ideally, when we look at the statistics, we are getting sent out on needle pick up calls 20 times per month," said deputy fire chief Jason Everitt. "So, it does chew up a lot of our time and resources. If there was a designated group that could be responsible for that it would take a lot of the extra burden off our shoulders for sure.”
A report commissioned by the Ministry of Health in 2008 said discarded needles can come from other sources, not just needle exchange programs. And, the risk of infection through getting pricked by a dirty needle is extremely low. Regardless, Dionne says it still poses a risk to the community.
“They are getting them for free,” he said. “If they don’t have 10, go pick up 10(needles). If they don’t have 10, then where are they? Let’s have a real needle exchange program …not a needle give-away program.”
