Sudbury 'mentality' a challenge, say outreach workers as needle count on rise

As Sudbury continues to grapple with its opioid crisis, workers with the Sudbury Action Centre for Youth – one of the community groups that pick up discarded syringes – say it's concerned about finding more needles on Sudbury streets.

But one of the bigger challenges workers face is the growing stigma against drug users, and criticism directed towards programs that distribute clean needles.

Fred Dunham, a community outreach worker with SACY, said he estimates that workers will find more than 30,000 of the discarded items in February.

It's a number that he thinks has doubled since last year.

"Our first year we did the sweeps, we were picking up 10,000 a month," Dunham said. "Last year, 20,000 a month and this year it's probably going to be 30,000 a month."

Part of the reason they're finding more, Dunham said, is because teams are getting better at knowing where to look for needles.

"We're going into areas where we know we're going to find more," Dunham said. "We're sitting in the laneways and the alleys talking to these people."

"So they give us tips, too and they say 'hey, you know what I saw?' and off we go. We've got to go pick them up."

In its annual report to the health board, Public Health Sudbury and Districts said it distributed 1,495,919 needles. More than 900,000 were taken in.

That also includes a 63% needle return rate to the health unit, and 11, 710 inhalation kits handed out. 

The numbers are encouraging, Dunham said, as is the community effort to deal with the crisis. 

"Our biggest challenge from day one and it still is today is harm reduction," Dunham said. "Half the people in the city don't get it. The other half we get things like 'stop giving them syringes and they'll stop using'"

"If you have that mentality, something's wrong, you're missing something. We try to tell them we're giving them clean supplies so that people don't end up with infections." 

Dunham said one of the outreach workers is also a nurse, who often encourages users to have their drugs tested if they're unsure. 

"So many people think that if we just stop handing stuff out it's going to end," Dunham said. "It's like saying if we stop handing out condoms to teenagers that teenage pregnancy is going to end."

"That kind of mentality is killing us and every day we have to argue with people and try to explain," he added. "Harm reduction is keeping these people alive and keeping them healthy. "

"We're picking up these syringes for everybody in Sudbury. It's to keep you safe. But we're doing the same thing for them. Harm reduction is to keep them safe."