Health And Safety

So is that why they're so commonly referred to as "junkies"? Because they have a tendency to simply "junk" used needles and glass pipes, not giving a damn about whether or not they're placing others at risk? University of Ottawa researchers have tracked the disposal methods of glass crack pines in Ottawa. Researchers interviewed 655 crack users to question them as an evaluation of the Ottawa Safe Inhalation Program, a harm-reduction initiative funded by the province.

Out of a population of approximately a million people in the greater Ottawa area, it is estimated that there are five thousand who are addicted to crack cocaine. Many of them have been identified as middle-aged, single men. Their educational background limited, they exist on welfare or disability. And they're often among the homeless, or living in unstable housing situations. The average interviewee had been addicted to crack cocaine for ten years.

This unfortunate demographic obviously does not represent the cream of society. They have been disadvantaged by their experiences in life, most of which, arguably, have been their own miserable choices. Their free will has dictated to them that they might select a lifestyle of brief highs obtained by the use of crack cocaine, rather than direct themselves toward responsible stewardship of their own lives.

Ah, but then, a tolerant and kindly society is not supposed to be judgemental. We are urged to be forgiving and kind. And as a result of that societal imperative, and because these health-and-safety-vulnerable people have a tendency to share pipes which leads to also sharing Hepatitis C and HIV by transmission through sharing leading to infection, we choose to offer a harm-reduction program.

The aim is to reduce pooled community infection rates. And it sounds sensible. Except that over fifty percent of crack users are fairly negligent and obviously disinterested in the proper disposal of the free crack pipes they receive through the municipal program. It doesn't seem to arise as a moral issue to these users that by carelessly junking their used pipes they may be placing others in danger of infection.

The Somerset West Community Health Centre distributes over 52,000 free glass stems yearly.
Users are asked to treat the used pipes as biohazardous waste, for obvious reasons. They should be placed in a sealed container and deposited in one of the city's needle drop boxes or alternately, returned to the very agency that distributed them to begin with. Is that so difficult?

An addict makes his way to the distribution centre to pick up new glass pipes, and delivers the discarded ones at the same time. Ideally. Intelligently. Responsibly.

There is a city bylaw in place - whose purpose is to protect sanitation workers - which prohibits the disposal of needles and crack pipes in ordinary garbage, or in recycling bins. Yet over half of those who were interviewed said they toss their pipes into the garbage. Another 20% discard used pipes in public places. Which is to say, really public places; a street, a park, an alley or a sewer.

Of those who take part in the $300,000 program whose purpose is to protect the health of users, a mere 21% reported that they took the trouble to place their used pipes in a drop box, while 13% returned them to a distributor. A year ago the program had been suspended as a result of community residents complaining about the needles and pipes they were finding discarded in their neighbourhood.

One might assume that with the resumption of the program it might have been emphatically stressed to users that they must take responsibility by disposing of the pipes and needles properly. The program that has been initiated to assist them in bypassing serious health issues as fallout from their careless use, now threatens the health and safety of others in the community.

Hardly an insignificant or tolerable situation.