Safer Injecting

Equipment
Cleaning your works
Injecting

Use your own works

Blood bourne viruses (including HIV, and Hep. B & C) can be transfered through all injecting paraphernaila, not just syringes. This means that any spoons, filters, water, tourniquets, needles, lighters, cups etc that you have touched can pass tiny amounts of blood from one person to another.

The surfaces that you use to prepare your hit can be contaminated, and you can also pass blood from one person to another through drawing up from the same spoon as someone else.

Equipment

You should always use your own works.

  • Spoons – even if you only use the spoon yourself, wash it with bleach and rinse it well before using it again.
  • Water – try to use sterile water. If you haven’t got any, you can use boiled water that has cooled down.
  • Filters – use your own filters, and use a new one each time. Filters can cause problems of their own by harbouring germs and fibers from the cotton wool may find their way into your veins.

Cleaning your works

  • If possible use clean syringes and needles every time you inject.
  • If this is not possible, clean your works after you inject.
  • Flush out your syringe and needle with clean cold water – repeat
  • Draw bleach through the needle into the syringe – shake and squirt down the toilet
  • Flush out the syringe and needle again with clean cold water – repeat.

Injecting

  • Find a good site – do not inject into muscles or just under the skin (skin popping). Alternate injecting sires so that veins stay as healthy as possible and do not collapse.
  • Use the smallest needle possible. The bigger the needle, the greater the damage. Make sure the eye of the needle faces upwards so it can pierce the skin.
  • One stab should be enough to hit your chosen vein. Repeated stabbing can cause scarring and bruising.
  • Stay away from your groin, neck, armpits and breasts – it is easy to hit an artery by mistake, and the veins in these areas are easily damaged.
  • Before you inject, pull back the plunger. If you have hit a vein a small amount of blood should come into the syringe.
    Inject slowly. You can see how strong the heroin is. If you have used a tourniquet release it before you inject
  • Withdraw the needle slowly to reduce the chance of vein damage.
  • Dispose of the sharps safely
  • Skin popping and muscling can increase the chances of serious infection
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