How might we provide more accessible resources to clean needles and safe drug waste disposal for addiction users?

Approximately 8,000 people live as homeless on San Francisco’s streets, many as a direct result of substance abuse or mental illnesses associated with it.

 

Due to the high levels of addiction, densely populated areas of San Francisco face issues of dangerous drug waste littered and improperly disposed of into regular waste systems. Injecting drugs such as heroin, fentanyl, and methamphetamine lead to needles and syringes hazardously scattered amongst neighborhoods.

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About two million used needles are disposed of on city sidewalks annually in San Francisco. Between 2009 and 2017, the number of reports of needles and other medical waste on the streets grew from 290 to 6,363 — an increase of 2,194% — according to the city’s database of non-emergency calls.

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Needles disposed of in normal trash cans lead to dangerous contamination, as well as potential injury to trash collectors and those that handle waste in further processes. A combination of drug waste and the practice of using/sharing dirty needles pose a risk to disease spread of HIV/Aids, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and Tetanus.

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There are an estimated 25,000 drug users in San Francisco and in 2020, 621 people died of drug overdoses. 

Unsafe injecting practices and case fatality rates, it is estimated that unsafe injections may infect more than 80 000 people a year with HIV, and more than 10 million with hepatitis viruses.

 

Needle exchange programs have been implemented to give people a safe space to dispose and collect clean needles in their city. While such initiatives have been implemented to address this public health crisis, a large portion of users will not or do not have the resources to travel to medical centers to utilize these services. Individuals also face concerns of anonymity and shame that prevent them from using needle exchange programs. 

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Bendix, Aria. “San Francisco's Dirtiest Street Has an Outdoor Drug Market, Discarded Heroin Needles, and Piles of Poop on the Sidewalk.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 19 Sept. 2019, https://www.businessinsider.com/san-franciscos-dirtiest-street-has-a-drug-market-and-piles-of-poop-2018-10. 

FOUNDSF, https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Needle_Exchange_in_San_Francisco. 

“San Francisco's ‘Progressive’ Drug Policies Kill Hundreds Annually.” Hoover Institution, https://www.hoover.org/research/san-franciscos-progressive-drug-policies-kill-hundreds-annually. 

Steeb, Michele, and Thomas Wolf. “'Safe' Injection Sites Won't Solve California's Homeless and Drug Abuse Crises.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 5 June 2021, https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2021/06/04/california-safe-injection-site-homeless-drug-abuse-crisis/7522320002/.

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