By Chad Klassen

Kamloops father being stonewalled by Interior Health after son pricked by needle

Apr 4, 2018 | 5:36 PM

KAMLOOPS — It’s been two weeks since Landon Arlitt was pricked by a needle on the North Shore. The 12 year old was simply trying to help in an effort to clean up the community.  

Since the frightening incident, his dad Jeff, who is also an outreach worker for the social agency New Life Community Kamloops, has started a petition, advocating for vanish point needles. 

“The vanish point needles, once you’ve used them the needle itself retracts inside so the addict can’t use the needle more than once on themselves and they can’t share it once they’ve used it,” he said. “Then of course, when they discard the needle on the ground there’s no point, so you can’t get poked by the needle.”

The petition has garnered about 700 signatures so far in the last two weeks. Arlitt has talked with Interior Health and the B.C. Centre for Disease Control about the idea of vanish point needles, but has been stonewalled. 

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“They don’t think addicts would use these new needles because they won’t be able to share. It completely contradicts harm reduction,” said Arlitt, relaying what Interior Health has expressed to him. “A lot has to do with cost, but their reasoning behind it just doesn’t seem valid to me, so I’m still going to push that.”

IHA Medical Health Officer Dr. Silvina Mema has talked with Arlitt, but says the issues is ultimately up to the province. But she argues vanish point needles are not as safe as he is claiming. 

“The argument is that vanish point needles cannot be re-used because the vanish point will vanish. That is not true,” said Dr. Mema. “They can be re-used because if you don’t inject the whole content of the fluid, then there is still content in it and someone can re-use it.” 

In an emailed statement, the B.C. Centre for Disease Control says they have explored the idea of vanish needles in the past, but can’t quite justifying them. 

“They were primarily developed to prevent occupational needle-stick injuries or accidental syringe reuse among health care providers. Providing single-use syringes for people who inject drugs sounds like a good idea, but feedback from the harm reduction community has revealed a few issues,” the statement said. 

“First, people who inject drugs generally don’t like retractable needles. This means they are less likely to use them, and may decide to share regular syringes instead, which can lead to the spread of disease. Retractable needles are also more expensive than regular syringes, which may affect the long-term sustainability of the needle distribution program.”

For her part, Dr. Mema wants the vanish point needle argument to go away, so Interior Health can focus on other ways to keep addicts and the public safe. 

“I’m concerned that this is getting so much attention when there is a lot of other interventions that are low-hanging fruit that could be implemented with outcomes that we know are going to be beneficial for the community.”

Arlitt says regardless of the type of needle used, addicts aren’t using the disposal bins as widely as hoped, leaving needles on the ground. 

He is going to keep his petition going. Meantime, he says his son Landon is doing fine, just awaiting test results.

“I think he’ll be fine. Of course, we’re still doing some blood work and all the rest, but he doesn’t know the wiser.”