Behavioural Patterns of Drug Users In Highland

Sixty-two (81.6%) respondents reported keeping their injecting equipment at home. Of the fourteen (18.4%) keeping their equipment elsewhere, 4 carried them on their person, 4 disposed of them immediately after use, 4 kept them at a parent’s or friend’s house and 2 would not say where they kept them.

The most common way of disposing of used injecting equipment was by taking needles and syringes to the needle exchange (19, 25%), 11 (14.5%) put them in a bin at home for refuse collection, 6 put them down a drain and 39 (51.3%) disposed of them in some other way. Of these 39, 15 put them in a bin in the street, 11 stated that their needles and syringes were given to others to take to a needle exchange, chemist or hospital and 6 said that they destroyed them.