(no subject)

[nathanjw]

Sharps disposal bins in airport and hotel bathrooms: Friendly accomodation to the self-medicating, or paranoid fear of junkie-infected needles?

Comments

[crs.livejournal.com]

Why can't it be both?

[alphacygni]

The hotel in-room bathroom? Or a public one? The airport suprises me much less.

[nathanjw]

Today I only saw one in the public airport bathroom, but it reminded me that I had also seen one in the in-room bathroom in my hotel in Vegas.

[katybeth]

My guess is it's primarily intended for razor blades.

[nathanjw]

I'm not sure about the Vegas ones, but the airport ones were definitely marked with pictures of hypodermic needles.

[cheechako.livejournal.com]

paranoid fear.

who accomodates the self-medicating? don't we lock those people up? :P

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

Well, I personally know a over dozen people who need to inject themselves with prescription drugs at least once a week and no needle-using-junkies.

Not that the plural of anecdotes is data :)

[ocschwar.livejournal.com]

'bout time, too. When you're a janitor and you get jabbed by a needle stickling out of a garbage bag, you get paranoid no matter how clean the guest looked.

[awfief.livejournal.com]

yes, that was going to be my statement -- it's neither, they're there to prevent being sued by janitors if/when a needle or other sharp object sticks them. Probably unions made the airports put them there.

[fes42.livejournal.com]

FYI - Diabetics do still travel - they are not under house arrest of anything.

[nathanjw]

Sure, and they were the major class of self-medicating people I had in mind. That I've only seen these in a very few places is what makes me suspect paranoia on the part of various local populations. I don't know, but would expect that diabetics have well-established ways of safely disposing of their needles that don't depend on the charity of the local public bathrooms.