Hotlines are being set up in Cork City to contact specially trained personnel who will safely dispose of the increasing number of dirty needles being discarded on the streets by heroin addicts.
The initiative is being coordinated by the HSE’s Drug & Alcohol Task Force, which is also planning to distribute “drug litter information leaflets” to schools, businesses, and community organisations.
It is estimated that there are up to 500 heroin addicts in Cork City and county. More than 100 of them are not getting treatment and are not involved in needle-exchange programmes.
These are the addicts who are regularly dropping used needles in the city streets, it is believed.
David Lane, the area operations manager of the HSE Drug & Alcohol Services, said a new outreach worker had recently been appointed to work with street addicts and he was also disposing of discarded needles.
Source: Sean O’Riordan, Irish Examiner, 05/06/15
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