Needle boxes in place in Nanaimo

By Toby Gorman - Nanaimo News Bulletin

The City of Nanaimo is expecting a sharp reduction of discarded drug needles in the streets and parks of downtown and south end areas now that four needle drop boxes are in place. City crews established the drop boxes Thursday morning near the A&W restaurant across from the Italian fountain on the Island Highway and in a parking lot at Cavan Street and Victoria Crescent. Two more sites will be established once neighbours are consulted. The boxes, designed by public works staff, are bright yellow. “We’ll see if drug users are responsible enough to use these boxes,” said Merv Unger, co-chair of the Safer Downtown Nanaimo Committee. “Similar projects have worked in other cities like Calgary so there is no reason why it can’t be successful here.” City crews will be responsible for collecting and maintaining the boxes and contractor will properly dispose of the needles. John Horn, a social planner, said word travels fast among the small community of Nanaimo intravenous drug users and he hopes that will parlay into users disposing needles in the boxes. “Victoria has a similar program but the success has been modest,” he said. “After two weeks I think they found around 10 needles in a box, but Victoria is far more expansive. People have to walk seven or eight blocks. In Nanaimo I’m hoping they’ll make the effort to go one block.” Many intravenous drug users use the Nanaimo Needle Exchange, which says it distributes up to 7,000 needles monthly and gets back the same amount. “We don’t know where the balance of the needles come from,” said Unger. “But the bottom line is public safety for both adults and children.”If the project is successful, more needle drop boxes will be established in areas known to have intravenous drug users or discarded needles.