A walk down any street in the core of the Downtown Eastside reveals the telltale discarded needles, signals of robust drug activity in the area.
But, since last July, you’ll also see some sky blue, metal boxes, similar to small postboxes, sprinkled throughout the area and covered with graffiti-designed stickers inviting intravenous drug users to drop their used needles into the boxes.
The boxes are the latest effort to collect used needles from the streets of Vancouver.
Bob Ross, a retired City of Vancouver Engineer, said the issue of collecting needles first arose around the time City Council endorsed, A Framework for Action, the 2001 document outlining the Four Pillars Drug Strategy. The marked increase in HIV and Hepatitis C infections sparked an interest in finding ways to stop the growth in infections.
Ross said the boxes were not user friendly and were easy to break into, so he worked with users and the City’s works yard to create sturdier, quarter-inch metal boxes users helped to design both in terms of function and appearance.
The engineering department set up a few boxes around the Downtown Eastside, to collect needles, and various groups organized needle pick-ups along the area’s streets and alleys.
Ross said the boxes were not as user friendly as possible, and were easy to break into, so he worked with users and the City’s works yard to create sturdier, quarter-inch metal boxes users helped to design both in terms of function and appearance. He had hoped to buy appropriate boxes but a worldwide search did not turn up anything suitable.
“I couldn’t find any manufacturer that could produce a box that could withstand the abuse they get in Vancouver,” Ross said. He explained the boxes must be able to withstand attacks by users who may be in a psychotic state, thinking they can get traces of drug residue from the barrels of used needles.
The boxes each cost about $500 to make and $400 to install.
Sheena Campbell, Coordinator of Harm Resource Programs at Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), said VCH paid for construction of 26 boxes, which were placed in a four-block radius within Main to Carroll Streets, between Columbia and Hastings last July. Those four blocks account for 85 percent of needles found in boxes and on the ground in Vancouver.
VCH ran an awareness campaign where it handed out matchbooks, tee-shirts and lighters in the same colour blue as the boxes and with the slogan, “Make it your gig to return your rig”. Peers walked the alleys, talked to users, gave them lighters and told them about the boxes. VCH also hired an artist to produce a graffiti design for stickers to place on the boxes.
Vancouver Coastal Health will pick up discarded, used needles. Those who find a needle can call the Needle Pick-Up Hotline at 604-657-6561 and VCH will pick up the needle within 24 hours.
In September, VCH started collecting data on needle pickups. Now, Campbell said about 35 percent of the needles found in alleys are left in the 26 needle boxes in the DTES. “The needles we’re collecting in those alleys are more and more in the boxes,” she said. “We’re aiming for 100 percent.”
Campbell said most needles are left in the DTES, but VCH receives calls from all over the city, on its Needle Pick-Up Hotline at 604-657-6561. VCH keeps statistics on the locations and frequency of needle pickups. If it gets a call about discarded needles, it sends in a crew to do regular sweeps and investigate. After about two weeks, it determines of the area needs to be put onto a regular needle sweep route.
Now, VCH is working with a few communities outside of the DTES that are interested in having boxes installed. She said the first boxes outside of the DTES will likely go into Grandview-Woodland. She’s also working with a group in East Mount Pleasant, near Fraser Street, and one in Davie Village.
VCH is also consulting with community centres, the North Health Centre, the Crime Prevention Centre, the local Business Improvement Association and individual businesses in the Commercial Drive area.
Campbell said the boxes can be controversial, “because (some people) don’t want drug users around.” They sometimes think that the boxes will attract users. But, she said, if there are needles left in an area, that’s where users are using. Typically, users want to get rid of their needles as quickly as possible, after injecting, “They don’t want needles on them because they feel the police will target them.” If there is a box nearby, they’re more likely to toss the needle into a box, rather than discarding it on the ground.
Campbell added that adding more boxes around the city will normalize them, so they will become more familiar to people; they’ll also be more convenient and users will be more likely to use them.
Boxes hold about 300 needles so, although they’re checked twice a week, some of the boxes may only need to be emptied once or twice a year but they will still keep a substantial number of needles off the streets.
Campbell said that, with changes to provincial policy, needles have become more available, so there are more of them around. That means more are left discarded on the street.
Campbell said as the boxes are installed in areas beyond the DTES, they should be placed in every Skytrain station. “My long-term vision would be to link up with Translink and work with them.”
