Syringe disposal at interstate rest area?

Question

I stopped at a rest area on I-90 in southern Wisconsin, and noticed that the men's room had a disposal receptacle for syringes--one of those "biohazard" sharps receptacles. It was 1/2 full of used needles. Why do they have those there? Is that rest area a "shooting gallery"? Are truckers shooting up to stay awake? Do diabetics on the road need to use this area for insulin injections?

Seems like a very strange thing to find there. Anyone could easily go it and fish out the used needles from under the lid through the opening--it's not like it was a very secure thing.

Just wondering.

Answer 1

I saw the same thing in New Orleans....  I concur with your assessment.... It was kinda freaky and caught me off guard.

My mother is a diabetic and she does not need to go to a public restroom to give herself an injection.  It can be done in your car and disposed of properly once you return home.  This definitely has been done for the "recreational" drug users/addicts.

Answer 2

The primary reason those containers have been placed in a LOT of public restrooms (not just rest areas- I am seeing them in gas stations and Wal Marts too) is to protect the people who CLEAN the restrooms from being poked with a needle.  

There are people who go and use restrooms for insulin injections....I know people who use their thigh or hip as an injection site and if they are wearing pants it can be awkward or just plain uncomfortable to do it sitting in a car in plain view of the public.  

And there are people who'll go into public bathrooms to shoot up drugs.  Either way, the janitor who has to clean the bathroom is placed at risk when he removes trash bags- or in the women's restrooms, when he reaches his hand down into the small tampon/pad trash can that is in each women's stall.  Putting the biohazard container there makes it more likely that anyone using needles in the restroom- regardless of their reason- will be more likely to put them in the container instead of the garbage.  

For what it's worth....drug use among truck drivers has plunged since the federal DOT mandated random drug testing in the 1990's.  There are still drivers who do it but with ever stringent enforcement (we can be searched by drug dogs at any time) and the requirements for drug testing (for instance, it's required even in the event of a minor accident, even if someone else was at fault).....the drivers who do it are caught, sooner or later.  

For the minority of drivers who DO engage in such activities, they're hardly going to be likely to carry a needle and illegal drugs into a public place to shoot up, when they can easily do it in the privacy of their sleeper and dispose of the needle out the window.  A drug user in a car is going to be far less likely to shoot up in the car when anyone walking by can look down and see him/her.  

Rest areas and truck stops are also frequented by prostitutes who often use drugs but have no place to take them; rest areas are also a favorite spot for drug deals to take place (typically among people in cars).  Just thought I'd point that out, I know the "drug addict trucker" is a common stereotype but it's really not accurate, at least not anymore :).