Dirty-needle kiosks could be installed in every CBRM community – CBC

Ally Centre’s 8 public needle kiosks collected over 78,000 needles last year

Sep 13, 2017

The Cape Breton Regional Municipality and its police commission are considering installing collection kiosks for used needles in every community in the region, following a presentation Tuesday from health advocates.

The kiosks, which are designed like locked mailboxes, allow intravenous drug users to safely discard needles and syringes.

Over the past five years, the non-profit Ally Centre has helped to place kiosks in eight different locations across the municipality: Sydney Mines, Glace Bay, New Waterford, downtown Sydney and four in Eskasoni First Nation.

Of the 608,000 needles collected by the Ally Centre’s needle exchange program last year, 78,000 came from those boxes. The director of the organization, Christine Porter, said the numbers prove needle collection, like garbage pickup, is “a necessity.”