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The City of Saskatoon doesn't give needles to drug addicts, so it shouldn't have to pay for picking them up after they're used and tossed away in playgrounds and parking lots, a city councillor told a committee meeting Monday.

"I have a problem with someone doing something like that and then sending us the bill," Coun. Myles Heidt told the administration and finance committee, referring to the health region's needle exchange program.

"There should be some responsibility in this . . . when you have the health provider for the province giving them out to people who don't care where they leave them."

The Saskatoon health region, which operates a needle exchange program, pays for disposal of all the needles collected by the fire department, regardless of where they may have originated. The report estimates about a million needles are distributed by various sources every year -- to illicit drug abusers as well as legitimate needle users such as people with diabetes.

"Many needles used for intravenous drug use are not acquired through the needle exchange program and in fact many are purchased at drug stores," the report notes.

Heidt said the city should at least get reimbursement from the health-care system for the fuel used when fire trucks are deployed for needle collection. A deposit fee similar to the charge on beverage containers could help recover some costs, he said.

That might place an unfair burden on legitimate users and would not address the problem of needles brought into the city by visitors and transients from rural areas, Bentley told the committee. He added the total cost of treating a person after accidental contact with a used needle is much higher than the cost of collecting it before an accident can happen.

A single sharps incident could result in firefighters collecting hundreds of needles at the same location, or just one, so the actual costs incurred by his department would vary from incident to incident, Bentley said.

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable working out what (deposit) fee would be appropriate."

The committee voted to send a report to city council recommending the city write to Health Minister Len Taylor requesting compensation for the cost of needle collection.

"Let's see what the minister says and go from there," Mayor Don Atchison said.

© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2007