‘It definitely will help’
Plan to add more used needle kiosks moves to next step
A motion was passed to move forward with a plan to put 15 more safe needle drop off kiosks in “hot spots” in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) during Tuesday’s police commissioners meeting.
The next step is to present this harm reduction strategy and costs associated with it to the mayor and council when budget talks take place in early 2018. It is estimated it will cost $21,025 to buy and install the new kiosks.
Since 2013, 11 kiosks have been installed around the CBRM, to reduce potential harm risks to people who come in contact with used needles in public places. They should also reduce calls to police to remove discarded needles.
“It definitely will help,” said Christine Porter, executive director of the Ally Centre of Cape Breton, during an interview in her office.
“The ones out there now are well utilized but there are so few.”
In 2016, the Ally Centre’s needle exchange program gave out 608,000 needles.
Since the kiosks were put in, starting in 2013, volunteers from the Ally Centre have been emptying them. Last year, they retrieved 78,000 needles from the kiosks.
With the number of kiosks potentially increasing to 26, the Ally Centre will no longer be able to manage them. The proposed plan recommends having CBRM staff do this.
Stericycle, a company out of Dartmouth, will continue to pick up the needles and destroy them.
Reducing calls to police to pick up improperly discarded needles is a big bonus to the plan, which Cape Breton Police Service Chief Peter McIsaac said happens regularly.
“It’s pretty much every day. And we’re the ones that get called because we are the only ones who are basically out there on the street 24-7,” McIsaac said after the meeting.
“It’s something I don’t particularly want our officers doing, we don’t have the time to do it, but there’s no one else to actually do it.”
McIsaac said CBRPS officers now keep Safe Sharps containers and gloves in their car so when calls about needles come in they can quickly remove them. They also keep Naloxone on their duty belts partly in case they accidentally get pricked with a needle with fentanyl on it.
“Hopefully we can work out a plan with our public works or
parks and grounds people so that they can come up with a schedule to empty these things (needle kiosks) once they are established,” he said.
“I would rather have my officers going investigating stuff or being out there being proactive doing traffic-related stuff
than going around picking up needles.”
The proposed plan calls for adding seven needle kiosks in downtown Sydney, two in North Sydney, two in Sydney Mines, one in New Waterford, one in Glace Bay, and one in Dominion.
Currently there are two in
Sydney, two in Membertou, four in Eskasoni, one in Glace Bay, one in Sydney Mines and one in New Waterford.
Kiosk designs were presented during the meeting. Two models from Sketchline Design Ltd. in North Sydney are being recommended.
During the meeting, McIsaac said the kiosks are being designed to handle Cape Breton weather and the high salt content in the air.
Company logos and service agency contact information can be printed on the kiosks and McIsaac said some businesses have already reached out about sponsoring the program this way.
During the meeting, District 7 Coun. Ivan Doncaster asked why the Nova Scotia Health Authority wasn’t pitching in money to cover the cost of the kiosks.
“On the surface you would think that, but harm reduction is basically a municipal responsibility,” McIsaac responded.
“It’s on us to take care of the people within our community, no matter who they are. It’s a problem that’s been in our community for a few years and there’s an onus on us to make it safer.”