Used Needle Drop In Beauty Spot

stefan idiot jones · 17-06-2014 12:17PM #1

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 · 17-06-2014 12:20PM

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

kneemos · 17-06-2014 12:23PM

Australia..the hell do I care.

jester77 · 17-06-2014 12:23PM

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 · 17-06-2014 12:25PM

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 · 17-06-2014 12:29PM

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

Arthur Beesley · 17-06-2014 12:32PM

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 · 17-06-2014 12:34PM

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 · 17-06-2014 12:42PM

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

kneemos · 17-06-2014 12:56PM

That undergrowth looks primed for a fire.

gandalf · 17-06-2014 12:59PM

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

ScumLord · 17-06-2014 01:06PM

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 · 17-06-2014 01:06PM

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 · 17-06-2014 01:20PM

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 · 17-06-2014 01:21PM

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 · 17-06-2014 01:32PM

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 · 17-06-2014 01:34PM

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 · 17-06-2014 01:35PM

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 · 17-06-2014 01:38PM

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 · 17-06-2014 01:40PM

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.

17-06-2014 02:51PM

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 · 17-06-2014 02:53PM

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?

17-06-2014 02:56PM

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 · 17-06-2014 03:06PM

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 · 17-06-2014 04:06PM

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 · 17-06-2014 04:08PM

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 · 17-06-2014 04:13PM

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.

17-06-2014 04:17PM

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 · 17-06-2014 04:20PM

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 · 17-06-2014 04:20PM

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.

17-06-2014 04:23PM

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.

Used Needle Drop In Beauty Spot

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