Child pushes toy into pile of used needles in St. John's

A St. John's man is calling on drug users to throw used needles out safely after he and his son made a potentially dangerous discovery recently.

Pat Dunn and his three-year-old son found more than half a dozen needles and syringes just off Bond Street, near their downtown home Friday afternoon.

His son was playing in a grassy area next to the sidewalk when it happened.

"He pushed his monster truck up onto a pile of hypodermic needles, there were elastic bands, little metal cups. It looked like it was drug paraphernalia," said Dunn.

In the photographs Dunn took, you can see that one syringe still had a pale brown fluid in it. He said he quickly hauled his son away from it and called the police and the city.

Within an hour it was gone but Dunn was left with lingering concerns about the safety of his neighbourhood and a message for whoever dumped the needles.

"I don't care if you waste your own life but just don't put other people's lives at risk. Package that stuff up properly, you know, the way it's supposed to be disposed of," he said.

One way to do that is to contact the needle exchange program offered by the province's AIDS Committee in St. John's and Corner Brook. It has a mobile unit that does pick ups and deliveries in both cities two nights each week.

City says trashed needles a big problem

City officials say it's not unusual to find discarded needles.

They say trained parks works staff have been called to collect discarded needles 187 times since last April.

They say some of the needles are left by drug users but they also say that some of them are diabetic's needles that have been put in plastic drink containers by their owners but have been dumped by people collecting recyclables.
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