Starbucks has announced it will be adding safe needle disposal boxes in bathrooms in 25 U.S. markets, in areas deemed high-risk.
According to KING 5, the move comes after two employees were stuck by needles in the same store in Eugene, OR.
The Starbucks in Ballard on the corner of Market and 22nd had the sharps boxes installed in December, store manager Chris tells My Ballard.
Chris says employees were finding needles frequently. “They would come in waves. Some days we would find a couple, or we could go weeks without seeing any,” he says. “It was very inconsistent.”
All the same, it put staff at risk every time they found one.
“They feel a lot better now because they don’t have to be afraid of being poked by a needle,” Chris says. “It’s safer for them.”
Since the boxes were installed, Chris said they’re seeing fewer needles. And, they haven’t had to empty it since it was installed.
“It’s hard to tell if the problem has gotten better, but we’re having less incidents,” he says.
![](https://www.myballard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024-My-Ballard-Tile-Ad-Troop-100.png")
While the drug abuse issue will not be solved over night, I think that allowing those that choose to use a place to safely dispose of needles is a good thing.
People will find a way to ease the pain of living regardless, especially if your daily routine involves finding ways to survive the night. I’m not saying that only the homeless abuse drugs, only that wanting to escape that reality by any means makes sense. A few minutes or hours of pleasure in a world that has abandoned you is worth the risk.
LOL. Our vulnerable community members won’t even cross the street to pee in a port-a-potty, what makes you think they’ll take the time to dispose of their needles correctly! And hey, nice job enabling the drug use!
“is worth the risk”…is it worth the risk to the customers and the employees? Let’s all give up our desire to want to live used-needle free for the sake of some homeless individuals. Oh yes, let’s do!
“is it worth the risk to the customers and the employees?”
There is a risk to customers and employees if there IS NOT a way to dispose of them safely. The facts are that there is an epidemic, junkies are going to shoot up in business restrooms, and without a safe means of disposal it’s highly likely they will throw them loose in bathroom garbage bins. I personally would rather see them in a sharps container than loose in a garbage. Until there is a solution to this crisis, isn’t it better to keep people safe.
When I worked in a restaurant on Aurora many years ago, I often found needles loose in the garbage. A co-worker got stuck by one when emptying the trash. a sharp box most likely would have stopped this from happening.
Oh, and Diabetics would also use these boxes if they need so we aren’t strictly catering to junkies.
Yes but I expect an insulin-dependent diabetic would probably re-cap their needle and safely dispose of it to begin with. You provided reasons for having the containers, which is nice, but, do you really think the junkies care? When they just crap and pee in public, right over by the commons? If they can’t be bothered to have any sense of humanity when using the toilet, what makes you think having a sharps container will suddenly activate their civic duty and decency genes?
I don’t understand your opposition to something with very little downside to it. If some people use the sharps container: net win.
your a Liberal. Liberals always close the barn doors “after” the horses are out.(have your mom explain) the more you allow drugs on our streets the more there will be. Your way is easy i get it. Solving problems is always hard, unless you live in seattle.
“your” a conservative, i guess. at least judging by your lack of education (2nd grade spelling error). do you have any sources that show that increased sharps containers = increased drug usage? no you don’t, because that idea is insane.
Terryj – how is a private business trying to protect employees and customers a liberal issue? Since Starbucks is doing this in multiple stores outside of Seattle is obviously isn’t a Seattle issue. As a matter of fact, this can’t be a Seattle issue since it has nothing to do with the city or the city counsel.
I do somewhat agree that liberals tend to be late to act – the electoral college should have been an issue after that GW Bush incident and they should not have waited so long to address the gerrymandering scam. Because Dems expect perfection in their representatives they eat their own for any malfeasance thus we have a lunatic in the Oval Office.
You are arguing that drug users won’t use the sharps container *and* the sharps container would enable drug use. Forgive me if I don’t follow your logic.
Hey can I smoke a cigarette? No?
But heroin in the the bathroom is ok. GOT IT
Here is Liberal Clown World logic on full display.
Guess where the junkies are going to be buying their drugs, Genius? You guessed it, somewhere in the immediate vicinity. How thoughtful of you to care so much about your neighbors.
Think global act local blah blah muh whales
You can’t smoke a cigarette in pubic because of the health risks associated with second-hand smoke. Second-hand dope isn’t a thing. Right, right, there are public health risks with opiate usage like dirty needles, which need a safe means of disposal…
Why are drug users and dealers going to magically cluster around sharps container locations? There is absolutely nothing about them that is essential to consuming drugs. You aren’t making any sense.
That Starbucks is a hobo junkie hangout with constant police calls.
Yeah ok I’ve never feared getting HIV or Hep from secondhand smoke, Genius, and needles are everywhere, containers or not, because we have created a healthy ecosystem (there’s your newspeak) for addicts here. You get more of what you spend money on, permit, tacitly support, and even advocate with this nonsense about “safe injection sites”.
“Why are drug users and dealers going to magically cluster around sharps container locations?”
Yeah this “cluster” is called the CITY OF SEATTLE now, thanks to all the regressive insanity. Thanks for enabling the heroin dealers, who gosh golly gee, are not exactly “woke respecters of liberal values”. They’re ghouls, and we’ve given over the city to them in an effort to out-virtue each other. Pathetic.
You are skilled at complaining about what is wrong but not so much at explaining what you would do to solve the problem. What would you “spend money on”?
That’s standard for Uncle Buck/Censorship/InsertUserHandleHere. He’s part of the small group of people that show up to the town halls and shout down each and every homeless solution the City comes up with, like 2 year old toddlers having a temper tantrum.
Then they flood the neighborhood blogs and complain about the homeless problem.
muh hate for the mentally ill says lil bucky….ban this troll again
I never said the sharps containers would enable drug use. I did say the drug users, who have trouble using port-a-potties, would have the decency to dispose of their used needles properly. I have no problem with having a sharps container, I have a problem with some people assuming that’s going to fix the problem of used needles lying around. The presence of one does not solve the problem of the other.
Fair enough
You get more of what you spend money on. Liberals here seem not to understand this basic fact of life.
you seem not to understand basic humanity. or mental illness. or how not to be a racist. or misogynist. ban this troll again!
Ah yes, defending the Heroin Economy. So woke! So impressive!
you don’t understand how reducing harm works. you don’t understand how housing works. you don’t understand how zoning works. you don’t understand how private businesses work. you don’t understand how acting like a human being works. what precisely are you good at besides being a hateful imbecile spreading lies, bigotry, and racism?
you have any evidence on sharps containers increasing the use of drugs? or are you just peddling hatred for the mentally ill?
I have a question for you:
When Islam takes over in the West, do you think they’re going to let you guys run the West Coast like a rainbow flag open addiction circus?
Because they don’t permit that shit in their zones, and frankly, I don’t blame them.
so…no evidence. gotcha. muh fake news!
by all means drugs are good for you. who abandoned whom?
I have an idea – BAN THE USE OF HEROIN IN PUBLIC.
Hey Liberals, you guys foam at the mouth about smoking but don’t care about HEROIN USE IN YOUR BUSINESSES? What kind of CLOWN WORLD is this?
Putting sharps boxes everywhere enables the use of hard drugs and normalize all the associated dangerous and disgusting behaviors. This is a pathetic and dangerous half measure on the part of Starbucks – not surprisingly one of the flagship Liberal corporations – who are too cheap and PC to employ security guards at their stores when they know that many addicts spend they entire day loitering, using, and waiting for the dealer or buyers. How stupid or blind is Schultz?
Perhaps he knows he is hemmed in by his customer base of lunatic Twitter liberals.
I find it laughably pathetic that Seattle can’t even clean up itself yet preaches to the rest of the world about “progressive” nonsense. We’re a city of dog mommies who would prefer to cower behind locked doors than elect people who could make the streets, shops, and parks safe again. It is not Trump, Russia or anything else that caused this insanity, it is simply a cult-like mindset of the modern “progressives” who have veered so far the left and wield so much power here thru shame and intimidation that they have chased away any sensible solutions to the problems they have created.
The “capitalism” that you progressives think is causing the decay in our city is, in fact, a corrupt City Hill and its coterie of dubious consultants and “non-profits” who make a living off our taxes and the misery of the ever-swelling legions of addicts and criminals they fund.
Public use of illegal drugs is *already* not allowed. What is your plan for stopping people from using in public restrooms? Should we allow cameras in these spaces to monitor the activities within? Barring such surveillance, mitigating the downstream risk seems like a worthwhile plan B.
It is not enforced. Police will tell you this. They are short staffed and under a de facto stand down order from the Dukan’t Brigade.
We have turned the whole city into a “downstream risk”. The same folks who demonstrate about the “extinction rebellion” and want to stop climate change immediately in all countries can’t figure out how to enforce the law in a city?
How do you prevent people from using the bathroom to inject drugs? Hidden surveillance? Pat-downs at the front door? Drug sniffing German Sheppards roaming about? Can you think of a good way to do this that doesn’t make everyone suffer?
How about we move the entire problem outside of Starbucks? Supervised injection sites would at least give the users someplace other than a public lavatory to consume. It would promote harm reduction to users and the public for that matter.
I love dogs. Drug sniffing German Shepherds wouldn’t bother me as I go about my business…not one bit! And safe injection sites are sites of enablement. Let me ask you a question…during the times the site/van/what have you isn’t open/available, do you think our junkie population are going to ‘stand down’ from shooting up, or from looking for a non city-provided dose? Do you think they’re just gonna wait to shoot up until the place opens in the morning, like they’re going to a job every morning? Or are they going to find a dealer to help them fix, and, while at it, rob someone to pay for said ‘after hours’ fix? You assume a junkie uses logical thought…they don’t. A safe injection site will bring all the junkies for free junk, but when the free junk isn’t around, don’t be so naive as to believe they’ll all be tucked away in their tents/rv’s/houses, just waiting patiently for the site to reopen.
“Enablement” is a flawed concept. The drug addict isn’t going to miraculously stop using if it is inconvenient. They *are* more likely to do stupid, risky shit if they become desperate though. Let’s treat the problem as a public health issue rather than merely condemning it as an illegal activity. The war on drugs has been recognized as a failure for decades. Why don’t we treat the problem rationally rather than just doing more of what has been shown not to work?
I don’t disagree with the concept, but I do believe that those pushing most heavily for these public consumption sites seem to want us to believe addiction will stop when the clinics shut down at night, and that the addicts will be patiently waiting for their next fix come sunup when the clinics reopen.
Safe injection sites are one of the main solutions that Portugal used to solve their drug epidemic decades ago. If drug users are going to use, give them a safe place to do it and offer them services to get clean. Turns out most drug addicts want to get clean, they just don’t know how to or have the ability.
They are a proven solution there and across Europe, so I’m not sure why certain people here are so convinced they won’t work.
Tell me how the Vancouver BC is doing with the “Portugal Method”.
I’ll wait over here. I’m sure the areas by the injection sites are really really nice!
Fun fact: Europe, well much of it at least, has police that ENFORCES THE LAW. We don’t. What planet do you live on?
perfect…let’s put drug sniffing dogs in every single business. sounds like some good conservative logic.
probably because there’s some real winners who don’t get how reducing harm = better for everyone, and they go around ranting about everyone who is different than them. hard to make progress when constantly getting nagged by the scum of the earth lil bucky types out there.
Oh lil bucky, please do tell us how to stop heroin use in business bathrooms? And also tell me about the conservative Republican cities that are doing so and are resolving heroin addiction problem?
Hey pal. Trying ANY logic or using ANY facts or trying to talk to 99% of Seattle/Ballard residents is useless. Totally USELESS. Their virtue signaling is more important. They all are too busy hating POTUS and binge watching their favorite celebutard show. Never mind they can’t take their kids to the park or go pretty much anywhere without witnessing massive amounts of shreds of human debris and their residue’s. Sad they’ve all been conditioned and pretend they can’t see certain things. This, all in the name of being a “good liberal democrat”. Now, if there was an “R” beside any name on the city or county councils this would end tomorrow. Yet because all of our neighbors select the very same ilk of people every time, why would they EVER take ownership of the disarray today? They all FEEL everything is fine and dandy, until their place or auto is broken into, or worse. It’s us that are the problem: we don’t think like they do. This my friend is totalitarianism.
Hey pal, here are some facts for you… FACT: There is currently an addiction issue. FACT: Intravenous drugs are being done in public and private business restrooms, which provides a public safety risk, and is nearly impossible to stop without creating serious privacy concerns for everyone. FACT: Starbucks is a private business. FACT: Starbucks (and many others) think that sharps boxes one way which will help keep their patrons safer. FACT: Starbucks can choose to install sharps boxes in their stores in to keep their if they want. FACT: None of this has has anything to do with Totalitarianism or virtue signaling.
Now, trying to dictate how a business chooses create a safe a environment for their patrons, does fall in line Totalitarianism.
Your statement, “Trying ANY logic or using ANY facts or trying to talk to 99% of Seattle/Ballard residents is useless. Totally USELESS. Their virtue signaling is more important.”, is actually a perfect example of virtue signaling.
you got one thing right…the percentage. however, it’s the 1% of the crazy folk that rant and rave on social media about mental illness being the fault of the mentally ill..it’s those 1% that need an attitude adjustment. entitled narcissists, just like their fearless leader.
Nope. The city has been run by retarded f*khead virtue clowns for decades.
Your types owns this mess. Own it!
still haven’t remembered how to get to your therapist’s office? you seriously need some help. fortunately there aren’t many of “your types” you racist backwards scumbag junkie (i’m assuming these words are fine since you’re allowed to use them constantly)
i have an idea – BAN THIS TROLL AGAIN.
well thank god the diabetics will finally feel comfortable at starbucks! (remember when o’brien was claiming that the needles everywhere were from diabetics?)
as others have said – these are the same scumbags that would crap on our streets rather than use the “urban rest stop” (such a cute name!). junkies don’t care about anyone or anything besides their fix.
Now that is profound! No wonder you and others are so upset at Starbucks for doing what they want and think is right for their own stores.
LOL exactly. we support private enterprise, up until the point they make a decision on their own that conflicts with my personal beliefs. typical conservative logic.
Tell me more about zoning laws. Is there a “heroin zone” somewhere?
I never got the memo but the city SURE SEEMS to make Ballard on of them.
GTFO with your fake “free market” nonsense. Starbucks is already cancer, this is just double cancer, and your nonsense is leukemia.
Ah, you forgot how to read. What did I say about zoning laws? What did Starbucks have to do with the city “making Ballard” anything? I understand you have severe mental illness bucky, but that doesn’t mean everyone else has some serious disease as well. You “family values” cons spout your holier-than-thou attitude all over while voting against services that actually make a dent in the problem. let me guess, you want the police to “actually do something” and go against the federal courts?
And there you go: obsessing over “gender pronouns” and recycling is IMPORTANT but heroin use is NO BIG DEAL BIGOT. Nice.
Honk honk!
hey you backwards racist misogynist hate-spewer, you’re the bigot. everyone knows it. you’re barking up the wrong damn tree and you will be banned again. you are THE cancer of our community and we want you gone.
where did anyone say heroin use is no big deal? that’s the OPPOSITE of what everyone is saying, except for you! put the sharps containers in place because heroin use is NOT GOOD and creates dangers. you’re saying DON’T put them in because apparently you think there is no problem. GTFO of here with your hate.
FACT-Drug Campers POO and PEE wherever and whenever they want without consequences…
FACT-Drug Campers run open-air injection and dealing sites wherever they want without consequences…
FACT-Drug Campers dump garbage & scatter needles wherever they want for FREE without consequences…
FACT-Drug Campers constantly shoplift, car/bike and alley prowl for their addiction without consequences…
FACT-Drug RV Campers park where and when they like with autonomy and without consequences….
FACT- Since there are no consequences & no jail deterrent for the Drug Campers, they reproduce like rabbits following the I-90 & I-5 carrot trail to Freattle, thus compounding the problem…
FACT- If YOU leave your garbage can lid slightly open on delivery day you get fined $12 on top of your bill…
FACT- If YOU litter or dump garbage anywhere you can get fined $250…
FACT- If YOU park your car illegally or late anywhere, you get fined and then towed…
FACT- Seniors & the tax paying middle class are being driven out of Seattle by these thugs and our tax-happy politicians, willy-nilly spending a BILLION on their own self-created problem. Then they proceed to try and place blame on Amazon with infrastructure issues to divert attention from their own ineptness…
FACT- There are 2 different sets of laws for these 2 groups of people…the Lawless and the Citizens…
FACT- Our people-hugging mayor & council fully allow the Lawless to live like this, how does this jive with their constant happy-happy message about all is well here with diversity, sanctuary, compassion and inclusiveness? What is compassionate allowing the Lawless folks living in squalor, and please don’t conflate them with the Homeless, they are not!
Enough of the naive, insipid, butt-hurt opines that continue to minimize or insist these problems don’t exist, you must be drinking too much Jenny’s Kool-Aid.
tl;dr
This is why we can’t have nice things like legal cannabis, Seattle. Your idiocy about law and order has turned this place into a giant scared straight campaign.
Our city is pretty much the best argument against legalization now.
Way to show the rest of the world HOW NOT to do things.
This is the hill you decided to die on, Seattle Liberals: allowing junkies to take over the streets while also re-zoning the old neighborhoods into generic condos after driving out the old residents. Nice work. A real legacy of accomplishment!