Local surfer warns of ‘junkie needles’ on the beach

A DURBAN surfer who visits the beach daily to catch a few waves was shocked yesterday morning when he stepped onto a needle, believed to have been discarded by drug users, while running on the beach.

John McCarthy told Berea Mail that while this was not the first time he’s heard of needles lying on the beach, he was shocked by his misfortune while running between Wedge and South Beach. “This is a warning to all Durban beach-users. Parents, please be especially vigilant with your kids. A little while ago I was disgusted when I learnt of drug addict needles lying on Dairy Beach. The discarded syringe with the needle still attached lay buried unseen in the soft sand above the high water mark.

“I had to stop and pull it out of my heel. Thankfully it was where the epidermis is pretty thick, but I don’t know exactly how deep it penetrated or what was on the needle when it did. So as a precaution I took myself off to casualty to get checked out.”

McCarthy said doctors recommended normal preventative protocol for dealing with such cases, which entailed a tetanus injection, hepatitis B vaccination, immediate commencement of prophylactic antibiotics (one week) and anti-retroviral medication for one month.

Adding to the inconvenience and medical intervention, McCarthy had to undergo an AIDS test yesterday and will have to follow-up with another one in six weeks and a final one in three months.

“I’m irritated that I have to put all these drugs in my system just to be on the safe side. I haven’t taken antibiotics in five years, now I’m on antibiotics and anti-retrovirals and have sore shoulders from the tetanus and hepatitis vaccinations.”

As a beach-user his whole life, McCarthy said he only just become aware of this problem in the last month, which indicates that something has changed on the beach. “What it is, I’m not quite sure,” he said. After warning friends and surfers on Facebook, there were many eye-witness reports on his post of people seeing drug addicts ‘shooting up’ on the beach.

According to McCarthy, the highest risk area is in the soft sand above the high water mark, because the needles can easily be buried there. “My advice is that if you want to use the beach, do so below that line as it is much easier to see dangerous debris on the hard, compacted sand. Hopefully this awareness will spur the authorities to take serious and definitive action to address the issue, while at the same time preventing more people like me from suffering the same fate,” he added.

Last month, some surfers found eight syringes, some still with bent needles on them, while walking along the Durban beach water line.