Abstract

A Spatial Analysis of Needles Discarded by Drug Users
Track: Health and Human Services
Authors: Luc de Montigny

Used syringes or needles can be harmful. When discarded by drug users in public places, soiled needles have important negative social and public health effects. Why do these harms afflict certain areas more than others?

ArcGIS was used for the high-precision geocoding of discarded needles collected over a period of five years in the most active hard-drug use neighborhood of Montreal, Canada, and to quantify 35 suspected attractors and deterrents of injection drug use. Logistic regression showed that significant differences existed between discard locations (1,472 case sites) and non-discard locations (4,416 control sites). Discard locations were found to have stronger associations with physical factors than with social factors, with visual exposure and proximity to a payphone or a single-room occupancy hotel being the most important physical predictors.

Understanding the micro-environmental context of discarding helps target clean-up and safe disposal programs, and provide health services to injectors.