DENVER — The City of Denver's strategy to battle the opioid epidemic includes what's called harm reduction.
It focuses on reducing the number of people overdosing, increasing the number of people discarding needles safely and reducing the number of people throwing them away in public places, like parks, streets, and alleys.
The Denver Department of Public Health & Environment (DDPHE) said the city increased the number of syringes it collected from 2017 to 2018 at seven downtown locations. They include:
- Central Branch Library
- Colorado Convention Center
- Denver Art Museum
- Denver Police District 6
- Health & Human Services
- Lindsey Flannigan Courthouse
- Police Administration Building
Each of the locations is equipped with a sharps box in restrooms, a place that people can securely dispose of needles and syringes.
Between a combination of sharp boxes and staff picking up syringes, in 2017 the city collected 81,232 syringes and in 2018 that number went up to 144,595.
People can dispose of syringes and needles used for both medical purposes and drugs.
9NEWS took the numbers to drug addiction expert Dr. Rob Valuck who said while the number of syringes collected shows the demand for these kinds of facilities he also sees a silver lining.
"It gives me some comfort people are willing to use these kinds of facility," said Dr. Valuck. "And not share needles."
Valuck also said this could help stop viruses like HIV from spreading.
DDPHE also pulled the number of needles found in the public right of way, which includes parks and through contractor services.
In 2017, city workers collected 5,964. The following year they collected 6,611 syringes.
Part of the city's opioid epidemic strategic plan included installing four kiosks as of May 2019. At the kiosks, people can also dispose of needles and syringes at any time of night and day.
The kiosks are located at:
- Fire Station 4 at 19th Street and Lawrence Street
- Governor's Park at E. 7th Avenue and Logan Street
- Lincoln Park at W. 13th Avenue and Osage Street
- McIntosh Park outside of the Webb Building
Alicia Cardenas, who owns a small business, said the real problem for her is lack of access to public restrooms. She owns Sol Tribe Tattoo and Body Piercing on Broadway and said people have tried to flush needles down the toilet of her business bathroom or throw them away in the trash.
"It's a common misnomer," said Cardenas. "To use the toilet as a disposal site."
Cardenas said it's gotten to the point she's willing to open up her business to more than just her customers.
"If you are a user," she said. "And you need to dispose of a needle your local tattoo shop would be a good drop for needles. We have them at our stations because we use them for tattoo needles."
Cardenas added this could be an alternative to throwing away used needles in less-safe locations and that none of her employees would blink twice if someone came into use the sharps disposal box.
While she appreciates the kiosks, she said it would be great to see more public restrooms and more sharps disposal boxes closer to her business.
"Small businesses like myself are left to deal with people coming in off the streets needing to use public restrooms," Cardenas said.
In an e-mail, Ann Cecchine-William, DDPHE Deputy executive director of DDPHE, said they want to wait before expanding the kiosk program.
"We want to see how the community responds to the current kiosks and then we will decide if it makes sense to add to the inventory. The kiosks can serve the community in a variety of ways: The kiosks can accept small containers with sharps inside, like from a neighborhood or park clean up."
"We have heard from many neighborhood groups that they would like to know where they can safely dispose of sharps collected at neighborhood clean-up events – this is becoming a common volunteer activity around town, and it increases in popularity in the summer months. We encourage those who use syringes for medical conditions such as hormone injection, diabetes or MS, or who provide medication to pets to use the kiosks for their syringe disposal."
Cecchine-Williams said the four kiosks, installed in May, are around half full judging on weight. But the city doesn't know the contents yet, whether they are trash or discarded sharps.
Cechhine-Wiliams said a contractor will most likely empty them later this year.
As for the collected needles and syringes they are collected by city employees or a contractor and disposed of by a professional medical waste disposal company.
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