From Mr J. R. S. Tait, MRPharmS
SIR,—I write in support of Mr Stidolph (PJ, January 22, p132). A local newspaper has published a report entitled "Needles pose a daily danger". Council workers have found nearly 6,000 hypodermic needles in empty properties in Swindon since last April. They are facing growing risks going about their daily jobs as the number of discarded syringes grows in the town.
The needles have been discovered in loft spaces, between gaps in flooring, under skirting boards and behind kitchen cabinets, according to a report that went before a meeting of Swindon contractors. It reveals it costs the council more than twice as much to clean an empty building when needles are found there than when none are discovered. This price is more than three times the cost of paying the team of workers who clean up the properties. Staff also regularly find syringes when they collect rubbish, removing litter in parks and streets, cleaning up public toilets and less frequently when carrying out maintenance on occupied properties. One worker has been pricked by a needle in the past two years and five injured in the past 15. The report says it is impossible to measure the misery and agony staff experience waiting to know if an injury will lead to disease but that the number of incidents is only a tiny percentage of the 100,000 reported throughout the UK every year.
Surely the time has come to reinstate the needle and syringe exchange scheme into our new Code of Ethics. Obviously, the current lip service to the concept of exchange has led to what most of us with a modicum of common sense expected, namely, lubricating the insatiable and irresponsible demand for drug abuse at considerable danger to vulnerable members of our society.
John Tait
Swindon, Wiltshire