Clean Instruments

Why are sterile syringes and clean instruments overall necessary for health reasons?

It's really important that when doing anything that involves bodily fluids (durg use, sexual acts, sharing toys, sharing smoking devices, etc.) that we take extra careful care of ourselves and the people around. We never able to see the kind of diseases or conditions that are transmittable, so you have to try very hard to clean and keep the instruments you are using clean. When thinking about our places to be safe when using drugs in public, there are very few. However, we know that a lot of private infrastructure is not accessible by lower income areas, and sometimes these actions happen in parks or public areas. It's important to approach parks and areas of public with caution for exposed needles, used condoms, and other exposed human fluids that could otherwise harm you if accidently ingested somehow. 

As adults or people who use drugs, we have to make sure we are doing our best to keep our community safe from our actions, so we can be extra careful about the impact we have on the community around us. We are not encouraging the removal of homeless individuals or drug users from public parks or areas, when they are behaving in a safe nature. We also believe that anyone should be able to enjoy the public areas due to the inaccessibility of private areas. Making sure we pick up any trash, dangerous materials, and other hazards in our parks, (with PPE) is a great way for us to show our love and care for the community.

Check out the Harm Reduction Resources page for state by state and national resources on naloxone, clean instruments & syringe drop-offs.