Syringes left in parks
A SPIKE in used syringes in suburban parks has sparked fears it is only a matter of time before a child is infected. Mount Sheridan resident Adam Genge was at Tom Murray Park with his children on Saturday afternoon when he spotted three hypodermic needles in the grass. One had its tip pointed upwards and could easily have stabbed someone who happened to be walking by. “Another had the actual needle part bent back 90 degrees, so someone has already hit it,” he said. “No doubt they had been there all day and nobody had seen them,” he said. “My kids were riding their bikes around and even pulled up right where those needles were.” It was Mr Genge’s first visit to the park but he said women’s yoga and exercise groups regularly used the area. “They set up right there next to the table,” he said. “And they’re down there in the grass doing sit-ups and push-ups – it’s almost every afternoon.” Mr Genge put a warning out on social media which prompted keen metal detectorist Bob Williams to head out for a sweep of the park. He quickly found another syringe and two more needle cases carelessly left on the ground. Mr Williams volunteered to regularly check school ovals across Cairns for discarded syringes during the 1990s, when heroin use was at its peak. He said their prevalence had fallen back but was now making a resurgence as nasty drugs flooded the market. “The problem is, if we miss one and a kid gets it, then you’ve got a child with hepatitis or something worse,” he said. “It is super cheap at the moment and there is so much crap going around. “But once you get hooked on it, the price goes up again. “It’s supply and demand.” Mr Williams believed the culprit was a “junkie who just doesn’t give a s***” but said booby-trapping did happen. “You do find some stupid things and scratch your head,” he said. “A while back, someone was chucking three-pronged spikes about in parks and all sorts of places. “We got most of them cleaned up.”