Hi Everyone,
There are some things in life I just can’t make up. This is what I mean.
So it was pretty early Sunday morning when I was out for one of my 6ixwalks. A black and white flyer taped on a brick wall caught my eye. I wanted to stop and read it yet the blaring of a fire truck distracted me. After a short walk I saw another flyer yet was again distracted and kept walking. I saw the third one stuck to the ledge of a telephone booth and grabbed it as I walked by. The flyer says, Needle Hunters Volunteers Needed Come Out and Help Clean Up Our Community!! Please contact Ouz & Chelsea for more information on this exciting new opportunity!
There isn’t a phone number or any other form of contact information which is kind of weird considering the flyer is selling the idea that volunteering to pick up used needles is a great opportunity. Like there is some kind of career in cleaning up the community after the drug users, drug abusers and drug addicts. The only thing someone volunteering to clean up used needles is going to get is lucky if they don’t get stabbed with a dirty needle.
But people are doing it. Yep! When I told someone about the flyer they said that they saw two people armed with small garbage like bags and kitchen tongs searching the grounds of Bond and Dundas. There is a boys school there that has been in the newspapers as having an alarming number of used needles on their property. So yes, people are volunteering to put their lives at risk of catching one of the three forms of Hepatitis C, AIDS or HIV because the drug users, drug abusers and drug addicts can’t be bothered to properly dispose of their needles that the city provides to them for FREE!
Other opinions from my mentioning this great opportunity of Needle Hunting are in the same vein. Everyone thinks that the city should clean up the used needles since it is allowing people to illegally use drugs at places like Safe Injection Sites and Overdose Prevention Sites which the drug users, drug abusers and drug addicts CLEARLY are not using.
One city employee for Parks and Recreation told me that as she, lacking a proper needle disposal kit, used a plactic bottle and got stabbed with a needle. She has had to take time off of work and use her days off to finish up her testing of any diseases. Another Parks and Recreation employee told me that after he and his team collected used needles into their portable needle disposal box, they caught someone not only taking used needles out of it but also shooting up with a used needle!
Okay I understand that there are some people who would want to volunteer to clean up the city we live in. But here is the thing, if one of those people got pricked, stabbed with a dirty needle, and they got one of the three forms of Hepatitis C, AIDS or HIV what are they going to do? How is it going to negatively effect their life?
Toronto Public Health needs to know where the used needles are and they need to properly dispose of them. It is not worth anyone risking their life and the lives of their family to pick up after drug users, drug abusers and drug addicts. If the city is allowing the drug use, let them clean up the mess. Maybe one day they will figure out just how expensive it is and start investing in drug rehabilitation programs.
Just for the record, I will not be picking up any needles, used or unused any time soon.
Thank you for reading, A. Rebel’s Rant! ;D
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