Used Needle Drop In Beauty Spot

stefan idiot jones

I was cycling through a woods/park last weekend when I came across a used needle drop in the car park.

Now, I applaud the City Council for being proactive in tidying up a hideous sight, but doesn't this sort of condone/encourage this illegal behaviour in their car parks.

If the Council have identified a problem with junkies parking up at night injecting themselves with poison, then why aren't the Police aggressively hounding out such behaviour so we wouldn't need these boxes?

Do you think these boxes are a good thing or do they 'encourage' this activity?

http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/community/community-safety/personal-safety/safety-initiatives

Dravokivich

You'll just end up sending them off somewhere else to dump their crap. That's the issue being addressed with the bins.

kneemos

Australia..the hell do I care.

jester77

stefan idiot jones wrote: »

I was cycling through a woods/park last weekend when I came across a used needle drop in the car park.

Now, I applaud the City Council for being proactive in tidying up a hideous sight, but doesn't this sort of condone/encourage this illegal behaviour in their car parks.

If the Council have identified a problem with junkies parking up at night injecting themselves with poison, then why aren't the Police aggressively hounding out such behaviour so we wouldn't need these boxes?

Do you think these boxes are a good thing or do they 'encourage' this activity?

http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/community/community-safety/personal-safety/safety-initiatives

That was one hell of a cycle!

shruikan2553

Its better to control what happens than to force it into hiding. At least if the police know about it they can keep an eye on it compared to mystery needles being found by children or junkies being violent elsewhere.

snubbleste

Those knitting groups are everywhere..clicking away and leaving litter behind

Arthur Beesley

They have junkies in Australia too?

Hadn't realised the junkies were so civic minded that they would put their needles in these special bins. Australia must have a better breed of junkies to the ones we have here so. Fair play to them.

Chips Lovell

Aggresive policing will just mean that people will go somewhere else to inject. And leave needles there. You'll spend a fortune on police overtime and still have the same drug problem.

old hippy

I think it's a great idea. Better than some kid falling on one.

kneemos

That undergrowth looks primed for a fire.

gandalf

There's probably a Camera set up monitoring activity around it so they can identify the junkies and "deal" with them later

ScumLord

Arthur Beesley wrote: »

Hadn't realised the junkies were so civic minded that they would put their needles in these special bins. Australia must have a better breed of junkies to the ones we have here so. Fair play to them.

No it's just that in other countries they recognise that junkies are still people. In Ireland we dehumanise the people we don't like so we can treat them with all the intolerance and bile we can muster.

Knasher

I'm very much of the opinion that needle exchanges are a good idea, and this is unarguably a less controversial idea than an exchange is. So I would be supportive of it.

old hippy

kneemos wrote: »

Australia..the hell do I care.

kneemos wrote: »

That undergrowth looks primed for a fire.

So you do care!

Speaking of fires, there's a good programme showing on BBC lately, Simon Reeve & Kate Humble are out in Oz checking out the prolific wildfires there.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/galleries/p01zzcjb

suicide_circus

ScumLord wrote: »

No it's just that in other countries they recognise that junkies are still people. In Ireland we dehumanise the people we don't like so we can treat them with all the intolerance and bile we can muster.

While I agree to an extent, people have an issue with addicts because they commit high levels of crime and anti social behaviour, not because we are an evil society wwhich seeks to dehuminise at every turn.

Augmerson

I'm isouthern Germany at the moment and they have a fairly progressive approach to drug users in the city I'm in. There is a part of a park in the city center where users can get clean needles and dispose of their used ones.

That said, I almost stepped on a used needle going down some steps on a street last week. Only that I saw the blood in it did I lift my foot away in time. Obviously some junkie couldn't be arsed.

Arthur Beesley

ScumLord wrote: »

No it's just that in other countries they recognise that junkies are still people. In Ireland we dehumanise the people we don't like so we can treat them with all the intolerance and bile we can muster.

And rightly so. They deserve it.

fleet_admiral

Arthur Beesley wrote: »

And rightly so. They deserve it.

would you say the same about some foxrock yuppie that is addicted to cocaine?

Arthur Beesley

Augmerson wrote: »

I'm isouthern Germany at the moment and they have a fairly progressive approach to drug users in the city I'm in. There is a part of a park in the city center where users can get clean needles and dispose of their used ones.

That said, I almost stepped on a used needle going down some steps on a street last week. Only that I saw the blood in it did I lift my foot away in time. Obviously some junkie couldn't be arsed.

Yeah, I don't imagine the junkies will exactly be queuing up to dispose of their needles in a responsible manner, just because there is a special bin for their needles.

What next, they choose to stop robbing to feed their habit?

Arthur Beesley

fleet_admiral wrote: »

would you say the same about some foxrock yuppie that is addicted to cocaine?

Yes, I would. In fact they are probably worse given the advantages he probably had in life that the junkie didn't.

stefan idiot jones

stefan idiot jones wrote: »

Do you think these boxes are a good thing or do they 'encourage' this activity?

I think it's an eminently sensible measure. It won't change anything about drug use, but it'll keep the area clean and stop the issue being exported to another spot.

Arthur Beesley

Candie wrote: »

I think it's an eminently sensible measure. It won't change anything about drug use, but it'll keep the area clean and stop the issue being exported to another spot.

What makes you think they will actually use it?

Arthur Beesley

Arthur Beesley wrote: »

What makes you think they will actually use it?

Time will tell I suppose, needle drops in Berlin are well patronised and this might be too. Anything that keeps needles off the ground is worth a try. Especially low-cost things like bins.

There isn't much you can do to stop them using without much greater initiatives. There's no point in simply moving them on.

Sauve

Arthur Beesley wrote: »

And rightly so. They deserve it.

Well I hope you or none of your close circle are ever unfortunate enough to have a moment of weakness and get addicted to something. You'll be of no help to them with that attitude.

ElvisChrist6

No matter the level of illegality, needle-drops/exchanges and education on sanitation with drug use should be way more widespread. Councils know there are drug addicts, something should be done to encourage safe and clean usage. Not just for the addicts' sake, but yours too. Do you want filthy needles lying around the place? Do you want HIV to spread, possibly to someone you spend a night with? It's best for everyone that drug addicts have the opportunity to dispose of and exchange their equipment safely without fear and feeling the need to hide them and dispose unsafely. It'd be great to see more consideration for it in this country, with more care for its people regardless of their personal addictions or lack thereof. Maybe then we could begin to work on the huge heroin problem we have here. I'd say our sanitation with regard to heroin is ridiculous compared to other countries.

ElvisChrist6

Arthur Beesley wrote: »

What makes you think they will actually use it?

Of course not every intravenous drug addict will use them, but if even a few who don't dispose of them properly at the moment do take that option, is that not better than nothing? If there were more needle exchanges, there'd be no reason for most not to keep clean with their use. Without them, it's more difficult spans of course costly to keep in clean needles and then imagine going somewhere for a syringe and knowing they know you're doing this illegal thing they consider disgusting. At exchanges there's understanding, no judgement and an amnesty. Remember, not even junkies want to be riddled with diseases.

Arthur Beesley

Sauve wrote: »

Well I hope you or none of your close circle are ever unfortunate enough to have a moment of weakness and get addicted to something. You'll be of no help to them with that attitude.

So you can become a junkie due to a single 'moment of weakness'? I find that hard to believe. I wouldn't even know where to procure the junk from, let alone have the inclination to take it.

Arthur Beesley

Arthur Beesley wrote: »

So you can become a junkie due to a single 'moment of weakness'? I find that hard to believe. I wouldn't even know where to procure the junk from, let alone have the inclination to take it.

Some people grow up surrounded by it. The problem isn't finding it, it's escaping it.

Arthur Beesley

Candie wrote: »

Some people grow up surrounded by it. The problem isn't finding it, it's escaping it.

So it isn't a moment of weakness. No one becomes a junkie by accident or without their eyes wide open.

Maximus Alexander

I had never considered shooting up in a public spot until they started providing such high quality facilities. As soon as I found out about these I rushed out to do some of that glorious golden brown on a park bench.

Arthur Beesley

Arthur Beesley wrote: »

So it isn't a moment of weakness. No one becomes a junkie by accident or without their eyes wide open.

I suppose the moment of weakness could be the low moment of your life where you say yes, after a lifetime of saying no.

I've no experience with drug abuse, I don't know what makes people decide to say yes. It's because I don't know that I won't stand in righteous judgment of the circumstances that people find themselves in that leads to poor decisions and addiction.

The One Doctor

I lived in Brisbane for a few months and felt safer there then I do in Dublin. Unfortunately I couldn't get a job, otherwise I'd still be there now.

catallus

Reading that website, I can't help but think that the OP is just describing an expensive PR campaign; these bins don't actually do anything; they just make it look like something is being done. Which is what PR is all about.

old hippy

Arthur Beesley wrote: »

So you can become a junkie due to a single 'moment of weakness'? I find that hard to believe. I wouldn't even know where to procure the junk from, let alone have the inclination to take it.

You don't believe it because you have no empathy with the addicts and are happy to see them demonised.

You're lucky not to be addicted. Others aren't so fortunate.

Arthur Beesley

old hippy wrote: »

You don't believe it because you have no empathy with the addicts and are happy to see them demonised.

You're lucky not to be addicted. Others aren't so fortunate.

Empathy with the addicts? I suppose you don't have a problem with these mini crime waves, you probably want to live next to them and sit next to them with their free travel passes etc. Nice for you. For the rest of us that live in the real world, we don't want anything to do with these 'unfortunates'.

Plenty of people come from deprived / poor upbringings and even worse, very few become junkies. society is not to blame for junkies, they are solely responsible for their own choice to become a junkie.

Maximus Alexander

Arthur Beesley wrote: »

Empathy with the addicts? I suppose you don't have a problem with these mini crime waves, you probably want to live next to them and sit next to them with their free travel passes etc. Nice for you. For the rest of us that live in the real world, we don't want anything to do with these 'unfortunates'.

Plenty of people come from deprived / poor upbringings and even worse, very few become junkies. society is not to blame for junkies, they are solely responsible for their own choice to become a junkie.

Why then are people from lower income backgrounds more likely to become addicts? Middle class people are just a better breed of person?

brevity

Arthur, do you have the same opinion of people who are addicted to other substances such as alcohol or prescription drugs? What about people who are addicted to gambling or sex?

Guy:Incognito

old hippy wrote: »

You don't believe it because you have no empathy with the addicts and are happy to see them demonised.

You're lucky not to be addicted. Others aren't so fortunate.

I cant speak for others but theres no luck involved in me not being a junkie anyway.

Guy:Incognito

brevity wrote: »

Arthur, do you have the same opinion of people who are addicted to other substances such as alcohol or prescription drugs? What about people who are addicted to gambling or sex?

TBH, if people keep their addictions to themselves that's their issue. It's when they are roaming the streets hassling and robbing people that I start to despise them.

Arthur Beesley

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

Why then are people from lower income backgrounds more likely to become addicts? Middle class people are just a better breed of person?

No, don't put words in my mouth. Doesn't matter whether it is heroin or cocaine. As I said earlier in the thread, the ones from more privileged backgrounds are even worse, they had the advantages and squandered them, so are even less worthy of empathy / sympathy.

Arthur Beesley

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

I cant speak for others but theres no luck involved in me not being a junkie anyway.

Correct. I think it has been pretty conclusively proven in the past that old hippy lives on a different planet than the rest of us, so don't be too surprised at his liberal opinions.

Amirani

I did some volunteering work with underprivileged kids before. On one event around Easter time, we had an Easter Egg hunt around Merrion Square. It had to be cancelled though after one of the kids found a used syringe.

Anything that makes something like that less likely sounds very encouraging to me.

Arthur Beesley

Diego Simeone wrote: »

I did some volunteering work with underprivileged kids before. On one event around Easter time, we had an Easter Egg hunt around Merrion Square. It had to be cancelled though after one of the kids found a used syringe.

Anything that makes something like that less likely sounds very encouraging to me.

I'm just not seeing how it makes it less likely. These people have let their lives / brain / health / teeth whatever go to ruin, the last thing on their minds is litter control.

Unless they are the very polite ones you sometimes encounter on public transport.

shruikan2553

Arthur Beesley wrote: »

I'm just not seeing how it makes it less likely. These people have let their lives / brain / health / teeth whatever go to ruin, the last thing on their minds is litter control.

Unless they are the very polite ones you sometimes encounter on public transport.

Even if 5 get put in there its 5 less that are on the ground

Amirani

Arthur Beesley wrote: »

I'm just not seeing how it makes it less likely. These people have let their lives / brain / health / teeth whatever go to ruin, the last thing on their minds is litter control.

Unless they are the very polite ones you sometimes encounter on public transport.

It makes it less likely because some people use them. That's been shown internationally. They might not make a significant difference, but they make some, that by definition makes it less likely that you'll find used needles around.

Nobody claims they're a panacea to cure drug related problems, but if they stop a few unfortunate people from stabbing themselves with a used needle and getting AIDS, it's worth it.

Tail Docker

I know the general perception is Junkies=Cnuts, but from experience, the real cnuts never become junkies as they are too self-involved. They usually become health freaks. From what I've seen, and I've been around a bit, junkies usually = lost people with a lack of self regard. They get hooked, and desperation drives them to rob to feed the habit, then the habit ruins their perception of what is acceptable. So then, they act like scumbags. They usually start out as normal, ordinary, decent enough people, if anything, too trusting and not cynical enough. I can't see why they wouldn't use a needle drop, and I don't see why we, as a society, don't provide them with free, clean needles in exchange for used.


Seeing as this is a Nationwide problem, this service ought to be nationwide too, which probably includes a fair few beauty spots/pretty places. Nowhere's immune, so why kid ourselves that they are?

corner of hells

Tail Docker wrote: »

I know the general perception is Junkies=Cnuts, but from experience, the real cnuts never become junkies as they are too self-involved. They usually become health freaks. From what I've seen, and I've been around a bit, junkies usually = lost people with a lack of self regard. They get hooked, and desperation drives them to rob to feed the habit, then the habit ruins their perception of what is acceptable. So then, they act like scumbags. They usually start out as normal, ordinary, decent enough people, if anything, too trusting and not cynical enough. I can't see why they wouldn't use a needle drop, and I don't see why we, as a society, don't provide them with free, clean needles in exchange for used.


Seeing as this is a Nationwide problem, this service ought to be nationwide too, which probably includes a fair few beauty spots/pretty places. Nowhere's immune, so why kid ourselves that they are?

We do provide new needles in needle exchanges ,I've worked in them , we don't force people to return used needles , but a lot do .
Lots of addicts also ask for small sinbins to safely store used works before disposal.

Theres also pretty active outreach teams recovering used needles from as early as 7am .
I work on outreach myself collecting used works.

Unfortunately its very difficult to recover every single dumped spike in the city and a minority addicts are careless about disposal.
The vast majority of addicts dispose of works safely or return them .
A needle should only be used once , its immediately blunted and starts to do do damage if used again and again.

I can honestly same in the last couple of years I've recovered or been returned thousands of needles.

Not every works dumped is by a heroin addict , there's an now an issue with steroid users and to lesser degree people dumping needles that have been used for tanning injections simply because they look down on addicts and won't return their works to needle exchanges .

Zed Bank

And yet there will still be the pricks who leave them laying around.

corner of hells

Zed Bank wrote: »

And yet there will still be the pricks who leave them laying around.

Stating the bleeding obvious with that comment.That's why I go out looking for them.

Zed Bank

corner of hells wrote: »

Stating the bleeding obvious with that comment.That's why I go out looking for them.

I wasn't referring to you specifically.

ElvisChrist6

Arthur Beesley wrote: »

Empathy with the addicts? I suppose you don't have a problem with these mini crime waves, you probably want to live next to them and sit next to them with their free travel passes etc. Nice for you. For the rest of us that live in the real world, we don't want anything to do with these 'unfortunates'.

Plenty of people come from deprived / poor upbringings and even worse, very few become junkies. society is not to blame for junkies, they are solely responsible for their own choice to become a junkie.

1. Crime isn't only committed by junkies, nor are being a drug addict and not committing violent crimes or ones that affect others mutually exclusive. Anyway, having a problem with the crime doesn't mean you can't empathise. I personally would have no problem living next to or sitting next to someone with an addiction to heroin - in fact, I have done both. Even some family members have been addicted.

2. You don't get a bus pass just because you're addicted to heroin. There are factors involved other than addiction. Most junkies don't have bus passes and, to be honest, a lot of junkies you wouldn't even know where on gear.

In the end though, I'd rather live with a junky than someone who spouts the shíte you do.