According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an individual who uses drugs intravenously will inject about 1,000 times a year. This means all the intravenous drug users in the United States will inject millions of times a year, contaminating hundreds of thousands of needles with various life threatening diseases. These needles are often not disposed of correctly.

When using in a public place, like in an alley or a park, the addicts will most likely leave the needles hidden in bushes or the grass where they cannot easily be seen. They do this in fear of being caught with the paraphernalia. But this is quite dangerous for the general public, especially the young children who frequent the parks and don’t know what to look out for.

This is why the CDC is continually working on creating a safe and lasting syringe disposal program. They have attempted many different programs in the past, some of which have been successful and some of which have failed. What seems to have been the most successful thus far are the disposal programs in which drug users can drop their needles at pharmacies, doctors’ offices and hospitals.

If you happen to come in contact with an abandoned needle, refrain from picking it up and contact the police so they can dispose of the object correctly. There are different laws on how to do so depending on the states, so it is important to follow protocol to prevent the spread of diseases.