City taking on challenge of needle pickup
ARCHES PLAYING BIG ROLE IN CLEANING UP DEBRIS
Needle debris cleanup is happening throughout the city by a number of different means.
One of the biggest and best ways of taking needles off the streets is actually the source of many of those needles— ARCHES, and its operation of the supervised consumption site.
Prior to the opening of the site, needle distribution through the ARCHES clean needle distribution program grew from around 4,000 per month to more than 30,000 per month.
Since the opening of the SCS, that number has been reduced by 20,000 per month, down to between 13,000 and 15,000 per month.
ARCHES also runs a number of recovery efforts for their clean needle program.
Walking Outreach teams operate in the downtown core Monday to Friday evenings, sporting bright yellow jackets and taking part in street-level engagement with drug users which includes debris cleanup.
Meanwhile, the SCS facility provides a point of contact with drug users, and staff continue to press for the return of every clean needle handed out. The numbers are encouraging; ARCHES estimates between 95 and 97 per cent of needles are returned for proper disposal.
Another benefit to the site in terms of needle debris is that it takes thousands of drug uses off the streets every month, a portion of which would have resulted in discarded needles. It has also localized a significant amount of drug activity to a single part of the city – with mixed results, as businesses in that area have suffered from that increased activity.
ARCHES operates a needle debris hotline where local residents can call 403-332-0722 and report needle debris which will then be picked up by ARCHES staff.
The City has provided more than $80,000 over the past two years to assist with needle cleanup.
On Friday, during a conference call from Edmonton, Health Minister Sarah Hoffman doubled provincial funding for needle debris cleanup efforts from $80,000 to $160,000.
In May, council passed a resolution to direct up to $150,000 in unallocated Outreach Support Services Initiative funds to expand the Downtown BRZ Clean Sweep Program and enhance current mobile outreach services to help deal with needle debris.
While not allocated specifically to the ARCHES clean-up program, the Clean Sweep Program has been used extensively to assist in clearing needle debris in the downtown core.
Parks staff are trained in the safe handling and cleanup of needle debris and is part of their regular maintenance of public spaces throughout the year.
Needles recovered by Parks staff are recorded and tracked, and inform decisions on other debris reduction efforts, such as the placement of needle disposal boxes.
Mayor Chris Spearman has taken on the issue of needle debris directly.
“I’ve been out verifying,” he said in June.
“Whenever there is something on social media saying there is needle debris, I go out, and very quickly go to that location and other locations.”
The City and ARCHES have also been working to increase the number of needle disposal boxes in the community to help curb needle debris.
There are currently more than 20 needle disposal boxes in city parks.
In June, in response to ongoing community engagement, ARCHES temporarily suspended needle and pipe distribution through their Walking Outreach teams.
“We recognize the need to try and balance both the health, safety, and well-being of the community with the health, safety, and well-being of drug users in this community,” ARCHES Managing Director Jill Manning said at the time.
Previously, safer inhalation and safer injection supplies were distributed by those teams as part of outreach efforts.
This included both bubble and straight glass pipes for safer inhalation, as well as selfinjection supplies called “party packs” by the people who use them.
Those kits include syringes, cooking and filtration supplies, alcohol swabs, sterile water, and tourniquets.
It is hoped that by ending street-level distribution, it will encourage drug users to attend the SCS for their supplies.
The change makes needle use more dangerous in the city, as there is an increased liklihood they will share or reuse their needles.
In addition, the decision is not considered a best practices model with either Alberta Health Services or the World Health Organization in terms of limiting the spread of bloodborne diseases through needle use.
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