The health district should be LEGALLY responsible for the needles that THEY have given to drug addicts, I assume WITHOUT a prescription! If they were sued every time a citizen was endangered by a rogue dirty needle, they would smarten the hell up!

Also: a needle EXCHANGE would be preferable to FREE NEEDLES FOR JUNKIES! Then perhaps they would make the effort to collect their dirty spikes so they could get new ones. If you're just going to give them away, of course they're just going to drop them where they shoot up! You think these scum care if our kids are endangered by their sick lifesyle choice? Shameful, the whole bloody mess!

Put a $20 deposit on every needle...you will never see one laying around again.

This problem will not go away as long as those who are in favour of the "needle give away program" are blinded by their misguided ideology and cannot see the dangers they have created in the community with their, so called, harm reduction program. See click fix has not helped the problem because the rainbow and unicorn crowd will not listen to common sense nor do they care about what others who live in the community think. They are blind to what most people see clearly and the only way to reach them is to go after their funding. Write your MLA and give them a strong message that you are sick of this problem and then write the head of our health region and tell them the same thing. If we all start giving those in authority a piece of our mind maybe they will take their blinders off and deal with the problem they have created.
But then I doubt anything will change because those who give out the needles are so convinced that they are doing the right thing that they cannot see the mess they have created. Maybe someday they will have a loved one who gets stuck by one of those needles and it will hit home but til then they will sit around and drink their cool aid and tell each other how much good they are doing in the community.

IV drug users and dirty needles laying around were problems long before we offered clean needles or a needle exchange. Using a clean needle cuts down on blood-born diseases which, in turn, cuts down on the costs of us paying for medical treatment for addicts. I live in an area of the city where dirty needles are a constant problem and seeing them is an even bigger problem. I don't agree that we, as a community, should cut an addicts access to clean needles, but we need to educate both the addicts and the community about the proper way to dispose of a needle. There is no 'easy' solution to this problem unfortunately. As long as there is addiction in this community, and as long as we 'blame the addict', nothing will improve.

Lol...'blame the addict" ......who else are we suppose to blame. The needle doesn't get there by its self. Maybe stop coddling this group of addicts. If the addicts want to keep getting high, fine, don't really care. I find it ludicrous that they can find a needle to stick in their arm but can't seem to find a place to put the used needle.

BC has the one of the largest populations of IV drug users in Canada. Their drug users don't seem to have any trouble finding the needle boxes and putting their garbage in there.

STOP coddling the addict....they can function well enough to get money for the drugs, get the needle, put the drug in their body but CANT put the dirty needle away in a safe area....stupid....

i think the needle exchange program needs to be gotten rid of, why give these addicts a means to get their fix? Its obviously not working given the number of needles that are found on a DAILY basis!!!! they aren't returning the used needles but are still getting new "clean" needles.
I think in order to get needles you should have a prescription for insulin!

There have been a lot of great suggestions here (give money for needle returns, manufacture the needle in a very bright color, quit giving them away, etc) BUT no one that matters seems to be looking for a solution to this problem!!! What does one to do to get the people that can make changes do something about it. Writing on here is just a place to vent and not getting anything accomplished.

I've asked at the city for MORE needle drop boxes in all the parks and places where there are problems. There are only 4 or 5 boxes in the city. Why is it so hard to get more put up, especially in the places we are seeing so many needles? It really isn't rocket science. No addict is going to walk 15 blocks or more specifically to put his needle in a drop box . No response from the city on this one. So lets ALL email/ call/ write to the city and maybe they will finally listen?

Who cares if a low life drug addict has a clean needle to use?? Let them reuse needles and share needles and kill themselves even quicker than they already are. The world would be a better place without them anyways, they are nothing but trouble and once hooked are always hooked. They tax all the systems to a point where the actual sick and needy can't get the help they want and deserve. I find needles all the time on my property and if I catch the sorry @#$% thats doing it they'll have my shovel upside the head.

It would be funny to make the "needle exchange program" needles a different color. Then find out how many of them are laying in our parks and school grounds....chances are what...98 percent?

what I find funny is of the half a million needles given out each year they say over 98 percent come back....well whats 2 percent of half a million...what...10,000?...well, 10,000 needles laying all over the city is quit a few...

might as well drive over the bridge and throw your tax dollars out the window...same thing

Don't blame the addict? Who should we blame? Big, bad society? Those mean, mean policemen? Legitimate businessmen? Sheeesh, someone's bleeding heart is making a big mess in here!

What do people think, the 1st time they put that spike in their arm? "Hey! This is going to be a really good thing that improves my life and the lives of those around me?" I could care less if every junkie dropped dead, that's my personal opinion and I have every right to it, just as much as those who want to give them free needles and drugs have a right to theirs.

If you put a needle in your arm, you are a bloody loser and a danger to others. Case closed.

I think they should make the needle exchange needle HI Vis and also make the Addicts have there used needles there to actually have a exchange It is discusting to see discarded needles laying all over the place as well as a Health threat to other people Just this spring I have found 7 used needles laying close to my place of employment

I agree!!

I find it appalling that the health district gives out free needles to drug addicts but people who are diabetic or have other illnesses have to pay for them-what is wrong with our health system?

I hear what everyone is saying and I agree that needles are a problem. What I do not understand is how a group of well-spoken individuals can show such ignorance towards the bigger issue. The education is out there - educate yourselves. And before I get jumped on, I'm not saying that you are ignorant people, only that you may want to research more on the topic at hand.

Lesley what is the "bigger issue"? Is it bigger than the safety of children who have to be taught how to avoid someone else's discarded needles?? What can possibly be more important than protecting children??? Get your priorities straight.

TJ, it is awful that we have to teach our kids what to do if they see a needle. It is also awful that in 2011 we still subscribe to the belief that addiction is the addicts fault and that they choose to be an addict. I myself have never tried drugs but I have seen what they do to the individual, the family, and the community. Addicts do need to be held accountable for their dirty needles - I never once said otherwise. As someone else pointed out - if they can put the needle in their vein, they can put the needle in a drop box.

You asked what was more important than protecting children. Nothing. Learning about addictions and teaching our children about them IS helping to protect them. Having our children taught that being an addict is 'shameful', 'dirty' etc, not only is discriminatory, it's also a lie. Would you tell your child that someone with another disease was 'dirty'? Addiction is a disease and for anyone who disagrees, pick up a book. This isn't 1980.

My priorities are straight. I tell kids that they need to stay away from needles and find an adult, but they also know that the person who put it there is sick and needs to get help in order to get better. I'm sure my kids will educate yours if you refuse to.

Yes I agree with what you said I am a recovering addict {13 yrs clean and sober} although my addiction did not lead me to hard drugs or needles I have seen first hand what they can do to people alought the person never left drugs or needles laying around but it sure destroyed there life and mader a relationship impossibe for us