More and more drug use needles found in city parks

It’s a troubling trend in Kelowna that increases the health risk to the public.

There has been a steady climb in the number of hypodermic syringes found in city parks and pubic spaces.

“We’re seeing over the last four years, since we’ve been carefully counting the number of needles, a trend of increasing,” says city risk manager Lance Kayfish.

“Year over year, the numbers have increased substantially. And in a month to month comparison, most months have shown significant increases.”

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In the first quarter of 2014, 126 needles were found. That jumped to 471 the following year and to 1372 in 2016. For the first three months of this year, the number dipped to 978.

“The city tries to reduce the number of needles by maintaining 36 needle boxes in parks and public spaces. People who are using drugs can dispose of them in those safe boxes,” said Kayfish.

But many end up on the ground.

“So we strongly encourage anyone who finds a needle to let us know about that. You can make a service request on the City of Kelowna website or by calling the parks department, city yards or the fire department dispatch and we’ll get that needle picked up and taken care of.”

Kayfish says just a few prolific drug users can make a considerable difference in the number of discarded needles. Most of them are found during the summer months.

Kayfish says dealing with the issue costs the city more than $30,000 annually.