The North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit has a new program in place to encourage the safe disposal of used needles, and to discourage reuse or sharing, and it's using the lure of free grocery cards.
Throughout the month of November, the health unit is running a pilot initiative called Sharps Buy-Back Month.
It offers drug users $5 grocery store gift cards for every 100 used needles or syringes that are returned.
“So far, we've had about 1,100 needles returned in the first 10 days of the program, or so. And we're hoping that as word of mouth spreads, that more and more people come and bring in their needles." said Auburn Larose, of North Bay Parry Sound Health Unit.
The program is meant to engage members of the public to get involved in a harm reduction approach to drugs.
"It's modelled after two initiatives: one in Kamloops and one in Penticton. And the goal is to incentivise people into bringing back needles into the health unit and they can get other services and get clean needles." said Larose.
The local AIDS committee is backing this initiative saying it will also encourage people to return used needles for proper disposal instead of throwing them away.
“They can actually find them in a place where they know where they are in the community and carefully bring them to dispose of them." said Stacey Mayhall, of AIDS Committee of North Bay and Area.
Health unit officials says anyone who finds a needle should use tongs to pick it up, place it in a puncture proofjar, label it and bring it to the health unit so they can take care of it safely.
