STORY CONTINUES BELOW THESE SALTWIRE VIDEOS

CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — The number of hypodermic needles turning up in Charlottetown’s greenspaces has prompted discussion on social media as well as the purchase of puncture-proof gloves for city workers.

Scott Adams, public works manager for the city, said while his department doesn't know if the number of syringes found or reported in the city has increased, workers have begun seeing them in unusual places.

“We don’t have a good handle on the number of needles we’ve seen in the past versus what we are seeing now, but what we are seeing is we are finding them in places that wouldn’t have normally found them,” he said. “We have found them in some of the squares in the downtown area, particularly in flower beds and places like that.”

Read more P.E.I. takes steps towards overdose prevention site P.E.I. government quietly moves safe consumption funding into other harm reduction staff

P.E.I. takes steps towards overdose prevention site

P.E.I. government quietly moves safe consumption funding into other harm reduction staff

Adams said the discovery of syringes in places where the public spends time and staff do hands-on work has pushed the city to take some precautions, such as providing them with new gear like puncture-proof gloves.

“Just to ensure if they are working in the dirt or something, they don’t pick up something that shouldn’t have been there in the first place,” he said.

Adams said crews check parks for hazards, but there is no set schedule for workers to be in specific parks.

Finding hazardous materials such as syringes can also be difficult and can be a surprise for those who find them, said Adams.

“Sometimes they get buried or hidden in bushes and such,” said Adams. “Typically, what our crews do when they get on site is they do a site assessment first, take a look around where they are going to be working that day to identify if there are any sharps before they begin work.”

While there are some public sharps disposal containers around the city, such as at City Hall and the Charlottetown Station 1 fire hall, Charlottetown does not have any open space disposals set up. Adams said that is something the city has been looking into.

“It is an ongoing discussion to find those places to put a safe sharps disposal (container),” he said. “The challenge is, do we want them where children are, where someone could knock it off, tear it off a post and damage it overnight in an area where kids could be the next morning? It’s something we are looking at, but we haven’t found the right solution to ensure safety for everyone who may be entering that park.”

A solution to that challenge has already been brought to the city’s attention, said Gregg McCardle, a former harm reduction worker.

Earlier this year, McCardle submitted a proposal to the city for tamper-proof, permanent open space disposal boxes. The boxes, which look like old Canada Post mailboxes, would be cemented to the ground and would allow for both individual used needles and full sharps containers to be disposed of.

In the proposal, he specified the costs for the boxes – around $1,200 a piece plus installation – and where he would like to see them set up, he said.

“Specifically, in heavy use areas in the city plus in any parks and green space where you're going to have kids playing,” he said. “The goal is harm reduction for both the general public, including children, and the users themselves so that they'll use clean needles every time and stop the worry of contracting HIV or Hep C.”

The provincial needle exchange program offers safe needle disposal at the following locations:

This isn’t the first time McCardle has tried to address the needle issue in Charlottetown – In 2021, McCardle, while working at the Community Outreach Centre, began a program where he handed out small, personal syringe disposal kits to those in need.

The containers, which were coloured a discreet dark gray and small enough to fit in a backpack pouch, would hold a total of 12 new and used needles, allowing users to dispose of their syringes in a safe place until they could get somewhere to toss the container out. He said he has since handed management of the program to PEERS Alliance.

McCardle said he got the idea while speaking with someone with addiction issues about the struggles intravenous drug users have when it comes to using and discarding needles.

"A lot of the places have (boxes) in their washrooms, but a lot of them don't have access to, say, a Tim Hortons bathroom because they've been caught shooting up in there and they've been barred from that facility. So public washrooms aren't a great place for them, so it forces them into the outdoors,” he said.

While handing out personal disposal boxes and installing tamper-proof disposal sites around the city will help decrease the number of needles being left in parks, greenspaces and public areas, McCardle said what is truly needed is a safe-injection site.

“We're the only major city in Canada that doesn't have a designated safe injection site,” he said.

He added, “I think the biggest hurdle was that the federal government has to legislate that the law around illegal substance use be lifted for that property. Mind you, it's been done everywhere else in Canada, so it shouldn't be that big a hurdle.”

While McCardle has stepped away from his harm reduction work, focusing instead on addiction recovery through The Phoenix Foundation, which he founded, he said he is going to approach the city again about the permanent disposal boxes to see if they can work together on implementing them throughout the community.

Adams told SaltWire Network the city has no plan at this time for open space boxes.

Cody McEachern is a reporter with the SaltWire Network in Prince Edward Island. He can be reached by email at [email protected]  and followed on Twitter @CodyInHiFi. 

Ensure local journalism stays in your community by purchasing a membership today.

The news and opinions you’ll love for only $14.99/month.

Start your Membership Now

Your home for the news shaping Canada's East Coast