Dramatic increasein needles found on Seabright Beach

It appears that El Nino storms may be responsible for bringing more needles to Seabright Beach. Over the past few weeks, Take Back Santa Cruz’s Needles Solutions Team has seen a dramatic increase in reports of needles found on SeabrightBeach, which is located in Santa Cruz between the Boardwalk and the Harbor near the mouth of the San LorenzoRiver.
A mother and her two children, who live near the County’s Syringe Services Program’s facility, have become accustomed to regularly finding needles in their neighborhood. However, recently after a storm her girls found a bloody needle while they were building a fort at SeabrightBeach.
TBSC Needles Solutions Team reports that 9,694 needles were found in 38 months. The average count of needles found per month has been 262. There have been seven confirmed needle stick injuries (including three children).
Most recently, from December 9, 2015 to January 8, 2016, 242 needles were found in public spaces. The count includes citizen reports, community group reports and reports by Santa Cruz city workers. Of the 242 needles, 81 were found by citizens and community groups; the other 161 were found by City workers.
Take Back Santa Cruz’ Needles Solutions Team says that due to the number of water capsules found along with the needles, they have concluded that the needles were most likely ones that were given out by the County’s Syringe Services Program and thrown away along the San Lorenzo River by drug users.
As well as needles, the SSP regularly gives out cookers, alcohol wipes, antibiotic ointment, tie-offs and water capsules to drug users. Because the SSP refuses to mark its needles, Take Back Santa Cruz is now using the presence of water capsules and other SSP items to track discarded needles.
What should a person do who finds a needle at the beach or in a park? Alert the park ranger if there is one present. If not, call 911 within Santa CruzCity limits or your local non-emergency number for other parts of the county for law enforcement pick up.
For more information, go to  takebacksantacruz.org., “Needles in Public Spaces Report, January 2016 (updated).”