In response to exm who said: Let me check out Rome in that case…. I’ve...
Not sidewalk candy
22
August
Was walking my sweet pooch Oscar the other day, and he tried eating this suspicious medical device on the ground at 13th and Willow. Bad dog!
I don’t have any experience with recreational intravenous drug paraphernalia, can anyone tell from this awful picture I took whether this is just a dropped needle from a nearby medical office, or used by a disease-ridden drug addict?
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August 22nd 2007 - 10:41:54 |
The picture is difficult for me to see from my monitor, but it looks similar to the the Becton Dickinson syringes that my older brother used forever for his diabetes.
So, it could be a druggie, or it could have poked out of someone’s garbage bag.
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August 22nd 2007 - 10:50:42 |
There is a diabetes treatment center 2 blocks north from there. But I’d say Oscar is Hoboken’s newest K9 CSI extraordinaire. He sniffed something fishy in the needle, so I’d guess drugs…
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August 22nd 2007 - 10:51:36 |
It could be from a disease ridden patient at a nearby medical office, or from an otherwise healthy heroin user, a diabetic, or any combination of the above…in other words, don’t touch the sharp end.
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August 22nd 2007 - 11:10:02 |
The place at 15th and Willow is a dialysis center, not diabetes. Granted, one big way for your kidneys to fail and to need dialysis is to be an IV drug user.
This did not come from a doctors’ office. They are required (by OSHA?) to put all “sharps” (needles) in safety disposal containers with the tips broken off and have a lid that once they go in, they don’t come out. They are disposed of as medical waste, and not in regular garbage. This ensures not only that no one gets accidentally stuck, but also that people can’t retrieve the needles to reuse them for illicit purposes.
Unfortunately, diabetics are not required to be as careful with their needle disposal. I agree, that this does look like an insulin needle, but a) that means it might have been used once by a diabetic, b) there is no guarantee that someone didn’t fish it out of a diabetics’ garbage for a second go with something more fun than insulin in what should be a single use syringe. I used to go insane on my Dad just dropping his insulin needles in the bathroom trash, particularly when other people had to empty the trash (read: me). I finally convinced him to start putting his used needles in protective containers like old soda bottles, if not for my protection, but for the garbage collectors, etc. Ugh.
Bottom line: Keep Oscar away from this.
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August 22nd 2007 - 11:46:54 |
a-siren, thanks for the correction
RE: the photo – I think this would make a great addition to the “Where Is This?” series.
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August 22nd 2007 - 13:55:55 |
Another good reason to not walk around barefoot.
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August 22nd 2007 - 14:10:08 |
fawnliebowitz wrote:
who’s walking around barefoot?
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August 22nd 2007 - 15:01:07 |
My old roommate was a diabetic, and always careful to toss her needles into a container that she would have (SHOULD have) then disposed of them properly (I think that you are supposed to take them to a doctors office or hospital??) But, when she moved, she left them all at the apartment for me to get rid of. Since I am not a diabetic, I didn’t know where they were to be disposed of so I did the very irresponsible thing of tossing them in the garbage, because I decided that it wasn’t my responsibility. (I was younger then, and I guess pretty selfish.) I honestly think Oscar is just a puppy, and he wants to eat everything he sees that looks “interesting.”
And yea, who the fuck is running around barefoot in hoboken? I wouldn’t even walk around the “grass” in my bare feet!!
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August 22nd 2007 - 15:21:39 |
chacha17 wrote:
Nobody, I hope. I was just pointing out what a bad idea it is.
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August 22nd 2007 - 15:27:16 |
Guaranteed its not from a medical center. They don’t drop syringes in the park.
Did Oscar actually manage to touch the syringe? I’d take it and Oscar to the vet if he did. I don’t know whether dogs can catch human diseases, but if they can get hep, I’d worry.
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