Needles everywhere: Group says too much drug paraphernalia left around Moncton

Needle Dogs Moncton is a group of volunteers that scours Greater Moncton, looking for dirty needles and drug paraphernalia.

It brought its latest haul to city hall looking for help on Thursday.

Sherry MacEachern is a volunteer with the group. She helped carry the 12 containers filled with drug paraphernalia to the downtown plaza.

"Anything addicts use to shoot up to snort, what ever, there's cookers in there, I've learned far too much about this stuff in the last year and a half."

The group was started by Richard Hyslop who began in 2007, collecting discarded needles from parks and streets with his dogs. In recent years, MacEachern said the group has expanded to 20 members.

One new volunteer, Ray Kelly joined because of his young daughter Megan. He wants to keep the streets and parks clean for her, and other kids.

"A lot of us just go out in the morning before kids go to school, clear up whatever we find, put them in containers. We'll get a call or a Facebook post saying there's a needle discarded somewhere and we'll go pick it up."

Needle disposal options limited

But the problem is what to do with it. Hospitals stopped accepting needles in December 2016.

Department of Health spokesperson Paul Bradley said, "The Department of Health is currently working on a solution to provide residents with an option for disposing of these items."

But he would not provide any further details.

AIDS Moncton accepts needles, and operates an exchange program that saw a 25 per cent growth in needles handed out in 2015. Many pharmacies will also take in used needles, at a cost.

But MacEachern said the problem they're having right now is the containers don't just hold needles.

"There are needles obviously, we also have crack pipes, zip ties, drugs themselves, baggies of drugs, knives, you name it it's in there.

"They are at the very very top shelf of a closet that's locked so they're safe, but not the kind of thing you want to keep on inventory," said MacEachern.

No help from city

She asked at city hall to leave the drugs and other items with staff, but Isabelle LeBlanc wrote, "Our park staff do pick up needles when they see them as they are doing their maintenance rounds."

LeBlanc said the public works will take away anything found on city property, adding, "private property is the responsibility of the property owner."

Staff Sergant Eric Larose, with the Codiac RCMP said anyone who finds a needle can dispose of it themselves.

"Use pliers and always keep the sharp end pointed away and should place it in a container that cannot be pierced like a coffee tin or a peanut butter jar."

Larose said the needle can be dropped off at AIDS Moncton.

"If you suspect it's an illegal drug, you can always find call your local RCMP and we'll dispatch a member to investigate."

Another option for people in Dieppe is calling the fire department who Larose said has two teams that can deal with used needles.

Larose suggested that everyone follow these suggestions, but MacEachern said sorting the containers after the items are collected is too dangerous considering what's in the containers.

"That's impossible, that's a death sentence."

And she said carrying different containers is too heavy for the volunteers.

After being turned away at city hall, MacEachren and the volunteers collected their containers, and started to leave.

"We're chasing our tail and that's not going to work for us for very much longer at all."

MacEachren said over seven years, the group has collected 57,000 needles. She hopes to find a place to put them soon.