Needles puncture drug strategy rhetoric

By Duncan McAllister –

It was part of a daily routine for Corktown resident Joanne Nelson, walking her Jack Russell terrier in Sackville Park,  except she certainly didn’t expect what was about to happen next.

She was throwing a ball to her dog Jack, when he came back limping.

“I lifted him up and a needle was all the way in, through his foot. I pulled it out and rushed him to the vets. His foot has been cleaned. Let’s hope he doesn’t get an infection.”

The needle was on the west side of the kids’ pool. Twenty minutes beforehand, 15 children were running on the grassy area.

“There were kids skateboarding without shoes on.” says Steve Behal, resident and vice president of the Corktown Residents and Business Association.

Children in the park found two more needles later that day.

Corktown residents such as Francine Barry often find needles and drug kits discarded around their neighbourhood. “If you haven’t seen a crack kit or the detritus from one, they include crack pipes, needles, lubricants, condoms, cleansers and all kinds of stuff. Everything but the drugs,” she says.

According to Nelson, drug users are often seen loitering in the park at King and Sackville, in close proximity to the children.

“We have had crackheads in the park and we also have had quite a few drifters from the methadone clinic who’ve been in the park.” says Nelson, who has a warning for people who frequent the park: “Watch when you’re walking your children, be very careful where their feet are going and also be careful where your feet are and where your dogs, your pets are walking.”