We have in this city an increasing number of piggy people. Needles yes, but also garbage they eat a meal at a take out and toss all the garbage on the street. Smoke your last cig toss the empty pack on the street. Pigs from pig homes is what I would say. I'm getting tired of picking up everything, But I still will continue as I have pride in my home and surrounding area.

When I was in the US there were signs posted $6,000 fine for littering. Amazingly enough their roads, ditches, cities were clean. Maybe we should be posting signs and enforcing littering fines. Would possibly keep city taxes down as it would be a huge source of revenue!

I for one agree that something has to be done. I am tired of almost stepping on them on the way to work in the morning.

Complain to Dr Lanoie about this.

I think we need to stop handing out needles, and I don't think we should have a safe injection site either... What is that doing other than telling people it's ok to do drugs!!! I think things like that are part of the reason this drug epidemic just keeps getting worse! Why should we supply clean needles and places to do something that is sooo ILLEGAL!?! Beating your wife is illegal too, but if we had a "special site" set up for people to beat their wives, would that make it any better? Hell no!! Child molestation is illegal, but if we set up a building where it could be done in a "safer place", would that make it better? NO! So, why does it make it ok for drugs? Makes absolutely no sense to me!!! Handing out needles, and allowing specific locations to do illegal drugs does nothing but condone the problem... Maybe if society didn't make it so easy for these people, it might not be such an issue!

So, you think that halting the programme of free needles will keep addicts from getting their hands on needles? If Addicts can get their hands on heroin or cocaine - which last I checked were illegal - you really think that they'll have trouble getting hands on needles - a legal product? You should change your name from Anonymous to Simpleton.

If they weren’t handed free needles not stop tossing them on the ground when they are done with them. The needle exchange is one of those dumb ideas that puts innocent children at risk while attempting to reduce the risk to irresponsible people who cannot look after themselves. It's a failure on so many levels that it is downright ridiculous but those running the program cannot accept the stupidity of their pet project so it will continue.
I think the people handing out the needles should be held responsible for cleaning up the mess they are making. And not just picking up the needles but also repairing the lives of all those they help ruin.

I have collected 1000's of needles in the past 2 years. Search on You Tube for "needle picker" . I wanted to prove to people that it isn't a nuclear bomb, it's a needle. Grow up and pick it up. It is an endless battle for me. If everyone in P.A. went for a nice walk once a week and took along a container of some sort. Pick up any needles you see. This type of effort would be far more effective than me jumping into nests of 100's all the time. Also, I think it would be a great idea if the city would offer 25 or 50 cents per needle returned. Then, the I.V. users and unemployed would most likely be glad to join the effort and I am sure the results would be amazing.
Far better than city worked dressing in B Movie Nuclear gear, making needles look scary as hell and burning every bush they find needles or homeless in.
-Shawn Cody

I wrote to the city asking for a LOT more needle boxes all over the city. Currently there are 5 and you have to know where they are.
I didn't get a response.
The city is not interested in acknowledging the issue and I believe they prefer not to put up more boxes as that would confirm the problem.
That's all I can take from that.

Shawn-Cody, I appreciate what you are doing... but that's not a solution... only a band-aid.

seems like a no brainier.. Only give needles to people who need them dictates .ect If you look into the stats the PAHD in 1 year gave away more needles then the city of vancouver at a cost of over 50k.. Shawn i love your effort good job keep it up

Unfortuneatly the addicts aren't the problem....they are in fact the victims, that after they get one more hit, they don't have enough common sense..not to litter? Ever see a beer can in the park? Follow the money and you will find the true litterers...lots that wear suites and uniforms everyday. Follow the money. All the prescrips come right out of OUR drug stores...with a prescript signed by a doctor...HMm then that includes Bayer, Pitzer, Of course you must own Mutual funds....don't blame the end result of money on the human being that ended up at the bottom of the pyramid scheme. MHO and yes it does need to be fixed. If they had a five cent return there wouldn't be ANY laying around.

Before there was a needle injection site I found lots of needles everywhere.....i saw no change before or after. the drug community in pa just does not care......how many are young mothers with addiction to drugs with children in fostercare????? if thier kids are taken from them do you think they care about the needle they put on the ground? doubt it. I worked at downtown bingo for 6 years and seen it all. I agree with shawn cody....offer a reward for needles returned....just like cans and bottles.....bet a million bucks you would hardly ever see a needle.......and yes to all the haters of safe injection sites drugs are illegal but i would rather have a program in place to stop bloodborn illnesses than not. you CANNOT stop the drug problem no matter what you do! GET REAL! drugs and crime are here to stay so might as well do what you can in your neighborhood to allieviate the problems. And if you are a needle junkie you will get needles anyway you can....through crime or sharing used needles.....I would rather live in a world where a person with an addiction can get "safe" help while battling an addiction then no help at all.

I totally agree that this program needs to stop. How silly is it to hand out free needles and then install black lights in all public bathrooms so the junkies can't shoot up in there? How silly is it to hand these out in an effort to protect the junkies health, and then put all non users at risk because the used needles are strewn about everywhere! This city is an embarassment and disgrace every spring when the snow melts off, on a short walk I counted over 30!! The health dept ought to be ashamed of themselves for compromising everybody else. Safe injection site? Lets get real. They will shoot up where they want, when they want. The dirty needles everywhere proves they have no respect for others. Back before needles were being handed out, only a few would be found in public places per year, now its lterally hundreds!! I've heard that PA has more dirty needles picked up anually than Calgary and Edmonton combined. Shame, shame, shame!

i am not sure what you are talking about when you say city workers dressing in all this gear... i am a city worker and whenever there are needles to be picked up its just the basic coveralls, steel toes, and gloves of course, i do agree with the citizens helping pick them up. Also about burning every bush the find needles or homeless? these bushes are in public places, its more about the mess they make there and the threat to the public that is caused by these civilizations. if a kid were to follow one of the trails into the bush and stumble upon a group of these homeless people it would not be good. although on every clean up i have done we simply cleaned up the mess and took down their "structures" which to a young kid would look like a great place to play

If the name of the program is called "needle exchange" doesn't that mean people are supposed to EXCHANGE the old dirty needles, for new clean ones? Maybe people would be less angry if you called it what it really is... A free clean needle give away.

Why should I risk getting Hepatitis/H.I.V. because someone else wants to prevent it from spreading to other needle users?Hep.C is VERY common here .So basically it is o.k. for childern to contract it but not the drug addicts.Maybe if we didn't hand them out for free,they might actually hang on to them for a while and wouldn't throw them all away.Sorry but my safety comes first,not their's.Before this program was started we did not have this big of a problem,so that shows that it is a huge issue.It's not MY job to pick them up,so don't tell me to,I won't pick up other dog's crap when walking,so why would I do this?

Notme I agree that it should not be up to the rest of us to fix this problem. Let the people who hand out the needles go pick them up? Might get them to think about what they are doing eh?
As for the idea of a refund...then taxpayer's money went to buy the needles to give away and now Taxpayer's money would go to get them back. Not a very good deal for the taxpayer is it?
I figure it should be an exchange, want a needle bring a needle.
And if anyone's kid get Hep C from a discarded needle I hope they sue the idiots who are handing the needles out.

Injection drug addiction is difficult to treat. Users often remain addicted for many years or go through many cycles of treatment and relapse. Success rates for treatment are low. They are almost nil if the user is not motivated to stop using and does not have strong social support.

A review of needle exchange programs in Saskatchewan - Final report LTSC, Dec. 31, 2008

In Saskatchewan, there were 174 cases of HIV in 2008, a three-fold increase from 2004, according to data released by the Ministry of Health.

Aboriginal people are the largest group affected, and intravenous drug users sharing needles is the main way HIV is transmitted in this province.

Copied from PA Daily Herald, posted on Aug 19, 2009

During the time frame refered to above, the needle 'exchange' had already been in existence for years. Obviously, it is NOT working to reduce infections - which is what the objective of this entire program was in the first place! The Sask health departments acknowledged that Treatment Programs do not work either. So why I ask, are we wanting to throw even more money into programs which clearly do not work? We have the family based treatment center coming, and some have suggested that after handing out a free needle at almost one dollar each, now we should give them a 5 cent refund too?!? Nonsense! Do we want children out picking needles so they can take them in and get some cash like they do with pop cans? I for one resent $50,000 of our tax dollars being spent on handing out free needles which is not helping at all to eliminate HIV and Hep from our community, and actually increases the risk to others. I hope that Sask Health discontinues this ridiculous program and puts this money into say, cancer or MS treatment & research.

This is a problem that is only made worse by handing out free needles..there is NO EXCHANGE....only give needles to diabetics..no wait that would make sense and neither the city or the health board have any

I think needle exchanges are good as long as those people involved are involve Number the needles or something to track and if they are found in a pick up through the community that person has a fine and no longer gets to use the program infact it could be the ticket into rehab!!!!! That would work I think. More needle drop boxes are needed in these parks, its not fun to see but they work, saskatoon has mutiple in the same park just because it is a known location and there are many children who play in the area.. there is no one solution there needs to be many options available. awareness and safety is key for kids, the public and the users.

The problem is, we don't have a needle exchange, we have a needle giveaway! Until that stops, expect to see dirty needles littering every corner of our city. No more free needles for junkies, that should be our message to all levels of government. If you don't agree with that, keep looking down when you walk.

Until the Needle "exchange" actually does what their name says,this will always be a battle to keep our community safe. If it is one for one then the people who are throwing them wherever would have to go pick some up to exchange. 1000 other yellow boxes do not work!!! As a former addict,(20 years clean), I would not have went near one because I would most likely have a warrant for me. Drugs also cause paranoia, so obviously that would be another reason why. We need to have a good ole demonstration before the election! Shawn are you up to that? I definately would participate.

I was just thinking the same thing, PIC-A-DILLY... My husband is a diabetic, and spends so much money on his meds...including NEEDLES that he needs to survive. We charge an arm and a leg for these people to get what they need to survive, but are willing to just hand them out for free to those who abuse them, and use them for illegal purposes? What a joke!!!

http://www.health.gov.sk.ca/needle-exchange-review

Education. It is a wonderful thing.

The misconception about syringe exchanges is that it is only for people who use drugs. JanP...do your homework, there is no sense in purchasing syringes for your husband, go and ask at the syringe exchange as it is a standard insulin syringe that is available for anyone who may have a medical or non-medical use for one.

It would be advisable to do some research before making claims about something you aren't sure about, or have limited knowledge on. Yes we have a problem in PA, complaining will not make it go away. If it were even possible for the program to be closed down, it wouldn't stop the influx of syringes laying around the streets. People can walk into a pharmacy and purchase syringes on their own, or get them from other sources.

The education is there for those who wish to access it, if you do find a spot with a large number of syringes, call the fire department with an address and description of the area, they will come and pick them up.

Do I agree with the program? Absolutely. Does it work perfectly? Absolutely not. Are there other benefits to the program? Absolutely. The focus is always on the negative aspects because they are easier to see than the positive results. Keep in mind that there is a lot more going on in places like this than meets the eye. Would a safe injection site work? Absolutely. You don't want to see needles on the streets, then that's probably a good solution that will make an enormous dent in the improperly discarded syringes. Not only that, it would be able to offer more supports and services to help these people with their issues.

http://supervisedinjection.vch.ca/

We can't stop handing out needles for free. People would be dropping like flies. Stop being scared of the needles and pick em up. Try dropping a pen. Pick it up. If there is no ink on your fingers, you are qualified to help the city :)

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@shawn, you are right..don't people realise they have the same risk from picking a bottle that has blood and saliva from an unknown doner? But because of a refund they get picked? There is a simple answer to this ploblem.

Agnostic333, I do think I am doing something good. Not sure about noble. Define Noble?
I don't think that my minor contribution towards removing needles from the streets and Children's play areas is enabling anything, I just think it helps a tiny little bit. Don't be so quick to judge. These "parasites" as you call them are no more different than you or I.

when you do pick them up, please wear gloves, if you are too scared wear double pair of gloves. same with bottles with blood, make sure to wash it out throughly before you deposit. sarcan could be a risk of getting sick of any borne illness or disease, we don't want that.

People don't recognize and appreciate the connections between each other. We are all connected together because we are all somehow related to each other if not by blood but by how we interact with one another. People who use IV drugs are not some peice of garbage that can be tossed away and not cared for. They are someone's child or relative. They may have been the small child that was abused by person and or your son or daughter who was just experimenting with drugs but became hooked on them. Please don't be so quick to judge and to throw out services that can prevent the spread of hepatitis or HIV. Please don't give up on those because you just don't understand them. It could easily be your child or your relative that is in that same position. It is easy so much easier to just quit on people than to work hard to understand where they are coming from. Be the change you want to see.

Very well said, Jalep11. :)

Let's also remember that these "addicts", just like us, laugh, are happy, are sad, and cry too...they are humans with feelings, and many are great people behind that addiction.

Very well said, Jalep11. When "Addicts" get their free needles, they have to return any needles they have used. and they can only receive needles if they return some. Plus they have the option of taking a used needle recepticle to use at home. i think the problem of needles on the street is due to new users being afraid of being charged for simply carrying the needle. So they think they are avoiding being charged or searched by throwing the needle away the first chance they get. So this is an education or ignorance problem. If a person doesn't know about safe practices, then they cannot practice safety. With a safe injection site, newer users can be informed about the safe way to dispose of used needles, and it will definitely cut down on the amount of needles on the street.

Jalep11, concerned , Shawn-cody , Guest.. i agree with you all. well said!!

fabulousone you too,, !! well said.

I agree, when I hear needle exchange my thought is you have to turn in your old needles for new ones. When will the law come down harder on the addicts? I have to pay taxes, then clean up my yard, but when will the city force the addicts that just leave their needles wherever they like.

Last year, I spoke to the needle exchange and they were getting back more than 100% of the needles given out which would probably mean that there are many "transient" needles coming from the South and North Of Prince Albert. Much more so during the summer months. Without the needle exchange, the city would have a grand scale epidemic on their hands. We would make the National as the H.I.V. and Hepatitis Capital of Canada. We have a bad enough rap as it is.

Getting back over 100% of the needles they give out? Bull crap. Where are the thousands of needles littering our streets coming from then?

To Shawn Cody, either you are outright lying or someone at the needle exchange lied to you! Info posted on their website says they hand out 50,000 needles per year and get 90% back!! That means about 5,000 needles are left strewn all over our city, and based on what I've personally seen, that sounds about right! I think PA might be the HIV capital of Canada (per capita) already! Question: if the needle exchange is so successful at reducing infection, then why do the numbers continue to rise??? In 2008, the number of infected tripled from 2004!! Food for thought:

en·abler noun \i-ˈnā-blər, -bəl-ər\
Definition of ENABLER
: one that enables another to achieve an end; especially : one who enables another to persist in self-destructive behavior (as substance abuse) by providing excuses or by making it possible to avoid the consequences of such behavior

hay how about if they make needles a prescription ONLY I would like to know who in the PAHD thinks getting back 100%. a government worker sayin what told to say . MAYBE a place somewhere downtown they can get hooked up safe it will have to be with out cops a safe place them to do thing mabey some concealers. to talk

There should be a 10 cent deposit on the needles, just like bottles. then when the needles are returned a person would get money back. Its not very offen that I see bottles laying around the city for more then a day. These needles need to be picked up. This is an easy fix to a huge problem.

Excellent idea, why not make it 20 cents...more of an incentive....I like it, great idea..now hopefully someone in the position to implement these ideas read this, and for some reason, I think that is a very good possibility

do you really think addicts care about 10 or 20cents after they shoot up. Make needles hard to get a doctors prescription ONLY. Seem simple to me if the PAHD didnt give away 50,000 needles wont have them everywhere

Horrified, I am not lying. Just repeating what I was told by P.A. Now reporter Angela Hill. I doubt she is lying. I don't know where you get your facts. I picked up over 5000 needles personally last year. By your logic,that would mean I picked them all up. Cmon now. Using definitions and labels ( your enabler deffiniton) is the exact non-humanistic response that will help no one at all. To Kimmy, If they would give out needles by prescription only, in 2 years, we'd be losing a citizen a day to diseases. Not wise. Lastly, to Steve. I am convinced that addicts care about 10-20 cents just as much as the poor people of P.A. care about the empty pop bottles that we toss around the city so they can recycle for money. Do you really think that stopping giving out needles will stop a horrific addiction? These people are humans, no better or worse than you or I. Thus, a Human approach is needed. We need to throw away judgmentality and open our eyes to others and stop focusing on "I".
-Shawn Cody

You peeps only focus on the # of needles, so odd really. Let's think about this - what if we told smokers or beer drinkers they could only access a certain # of ciggy puffs or beers, and what if they had to get a Rx to even get these items in the first place, does that make sense? then you will argue, well a lot of drugs are illegal, and we could talk about that for a while. Bottom line is the we are talking about people. Needles found in the community have proven to be not a danger as there has never been a case of HIV or HCV transmitted from a needle that has been outside and poked someone, that is a fact. I am more concerned about all the ciggy puff buts, broken beer bottles, old diapers, garbage, etc, that is lying around, and most of this stuff is more hazardous to your health, but no one judges or freaks out about that, do they. Get off your moral high horse, realize that no one is perfect, and maybe take some time and talk to your local people who either work or live with issues related to drug use, you might actually be surprised.

I have some comments:
1) the exchange one for one by addicts won't work. needles are being picked up by small children and being returned to pharmacies by the pail full, only to receive a pailful in return. they then give them to the pushers who preload the "SpeedBalls" to sell to the next addict. You are mistaken if you think it is the addicts getting all these new needles.

2) the problem is HUGE, and the only way I can think of to solve it, is to contact Dr. Leo Lanoie, Medical Health Officer at Parkland health, and let him know, on a separate phone call, where EACH and EVERY NEEDLE is that you have seen. Please be specific.

3) if you take the time to pick them up, take a pail fulll to Dr. Leo Lanoie's office and pour them on his desk. Afterall, they are HIS responsibility.

4) if you are a diabetic, EXCHANGE YOUR needles at any pharmacy. Tell them you are a drug addict, and get your new needles FREE!

Let the System work as it is now defined. Let the System call for change

oh, and it is NOT true that there has never been an infection from a needle poke

google is your friend

these people they should buy there own needles we give them free needles but they dont even have respect to throw them away in the proper place like come on there are kids out there all they care about is getting high no matter the cost (takes one too know one) so why should we show them respect when they dont give any for the public. lets pay trained fire fighters to pick up needles all day im sure they like that. start shaking down these street junkies take there stuff burn it put some effort in to this city of pa city pollice.

Needle Exchange Programs don't give needles away, go volunteer and see for yourself instead of being a judger. Hundreds of needles??? seriously, come on. There is more harm from slipping on your front steps or slipping in the bath tub than getting poked by a discarded needle, check your CIHI stats. The solution to addiction is a long process, just ask smokers, drinkers, shoppers, etc. Think about your morning coffee, you drink it to feel normal, not to get a buzz, but so you avoid the pounding headache, face it, you are addicted to coffee, and caffeine is harmful, so just stop. People who use injection drugs, for one reason or another, are also physiologically addicted, and continue to use injection drugs to avoid withdrawal, to feel normal. Sounds odd, but if you actually do some research, this is the plain old facts. There is not enough housing, not enough detox, treatment or rehab in our province. The dangerous filth, is not so dangerous, and the filth, well I am glad you are looking where you walk and cleaning up your glorious neighborhood. Your last statement sums it up quite well, you "just don't understand" but you sure can judge...

Wear Red December 1st

sounds good... I'm addicted to coffee.... can you give me a nice clean coffee mug every day? i'll just smash it on the street when I'm done my coffee

oh...and I'll need your address so I can break into your house, steal your coffee, or nice stuff so I can pawn it and buy my "Street Coffee" Speedball at Timmies...

Give your head a shake.
I've even gone to a pharmacy to get needles just to see if I could.... NO problems... How many did I want?