“A furious mum has sounded a warning after her little boy came within inches of picking up a used needle on a South Tyneside beach.
“Two-year-old Lucas Bain had no idea of the potential danger he was putting himself in when he reached out to pick up the discarded needle.
“The toddler had been running in front of his mum, Rochelle Spiller, during a trip to Little Haven Beach in South Shields last Thursday, when he came across the syringe lying on dry sand.
“Luckily, his 23-year-old mum was quick to react and managed to pick her son up before he had the chance to touch it.
http://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/local-news/video-mum-s-horror-over-needle-on-beach-1-4939207#
In so many seaside towns, it seems inevitable that there is a disproportionate influx of IV drug users. Congregating on the beachfront seems to be particularly common and inevitably sharps will be discarded onto the sand. This creates a high risk for beach users as needles tend to sink into soft sand, ready to trap unsuspecting beach users and children playing barefoot in the sand.