SYRINGE DROP BOXES OFFER PROOF PEOPLE WHO USE DRUGS TAKE NEEDLE
SAFETY SERIOUSLY WHILE STILL BEING SHUNNED BY SOCIETY

Nearly one thousand dirty needles a day, or 360,000 spent syringes if
you add them up over the course of a year.

It's the shocking amount of waste produced by a sub-culture few of us
are even aware of, each used needle evidence of a drug-injecting
community thriving in the shadows of Calgary.

"We call them people who use drugs, rather than drug-users -- they're
people first, drug users second," said Barbara Ross, spokeswoman for
Safeworks, Calgary's needle-exchange program.

That this city has an exchange program at all will probably surprise
many Calgarians, though Safeworks has been collecting used needles
for twenty years, via a mobile truck and three drop-off stations in
the inner city.

It's where most of the used needles collected in Calgary end up --
Ross said up to 360,000 dirty needles a year are handed over.

At Safeworks, users can trade their old syringes for clean ones,
ensuring that what's injected into an addict's veins, be it cocaine,
speed or heroin, doesn't include viruses like hepatitis and HIV.

The system isn't foolproof.

AIDS Calgary, in 2006, determined that at least 43 of 76 new HIV
cases in the city were the result of shared needles.

And it's likely only a portion of the needles actually used in
Calgary are turned in, with many ending up in the regular trash.

A 2008 safe-disposal campaign in Ottawa, where 300,000 needles had
been turned in the year before, resulted in another 200,000 dirty
syringes left in medical drop-boxes, rather than the garbage.

Because of those who do use it, Calgary's needle exchange is counted
as a major success.

Clean needles means fewer shared needles: Ross says the program has
reached a point where the rate of return often surpasses 100%, with
more needles brought back than Safeworks hands out.

"We find our clients are pretty conscientious, and they've really
bought into the concept of community safety," she said.

That addicts have concerns other than getting high -- including their
own safety and the safety of others -- will probably shock most
Calgarians, who picture a desperate world of disease and despair.

Junkies are scary, a point driven home by Calgary's treatment of
those trying to get help for their addictions, from cocaine to
OxyContin, the prescription painkiller known as "hillbilly heroin" on
the street.

The failed struggle of one northeast methadone clinic to stay open in
the face of community furor shows how intravenous drug users are
shunned and loathed by the general population.

Second Chance Recovery, at 41 St. N.E. near Highfield Park, is facing
closure because those living near the clinic don't want drug users in
their community, even if those drug users are trying to get straight.

It means 500 clients currently on a physician-monitored methadone
withdrawal program will soon have nowhere to turn, other than back to
the drugs that hooked them in the first place.

Alcoholics are praised when they work to beat their addiction,
because alcohol is everywhere.

Intravenous drug users are treated as sub-human, because their
addiction isn't understood or acceptable.

But socially acceptable and socially rampant are two different
things, and 360,000-plus used needles show Calgary has a widespread
problem with shooting up.

It isn't just Safeworks collecting dirty syringes. Another program,
sponsored by the city, public school board and others, is meant to
keep needles out of parks and public spaces.

The Calgary Fire Department maintains the 36 yellow collection boxes
found around the inner city, and like Safeworks, the program suggests
many drug users are looking out for others.

Last year, 10,699 needles were dropped in the yellow boxes for safe collection.

By comparison, firefighters were called out only 217 times last year
to pick up needles discarded in public places.

Addicts who care about their fellow citizens?

When it comes to intravenous drugs, both in the sheer number of users
and who the addicts are, it seems Calgary has a lot to learn.