Though it would be unthinkable to wish a sharps or needlestick injury on anyone, there is just a hint of poetic justice in the report from the Exeter Express and Echo.

“A DRUG dealer was caught red handed after being seen acting suspiciously in an Exeter supermarket carpark.

Two police officers followed the man behind a set of recycling bins behind Morrisons in Beacon Heath.

They caught the dealer and buyer the heroin and crack cocaine exchange took place. The buyer tried to throw the drugs away but the dealer was found with £100 which had just been paid to purchase five wraps of heroin and two of crack cocaine.

The 42-year old man from Exeter admitted two offences of supplying class A drugs and one of possessing criminal property.

He was jailed and suspended for 18 months and ordered to undertake an intensive drug rehabilitation course by Recorder Mr John Williams at Exeter Crown Court.

His sentence was suspended because the dealer had already started to address his drug problem and had been working well with probation and the police ‘Turnaround’ team.

Police recovered five wraps of heroin and two of cocaine weighing a total of two grams.

Miss Kelly Scrivener, who defended the dealer said he was doing well on a previous probation order but the drug treatment element had ended shortly before this offence and he started using heroin again.

She said: ”He was exploited by his dealer. He was deliberately over supplied and took the drugs and the next day told he owed him money and asked to deliver these drugs for him.”

She said he had been employed at the Gabriel House homeless hostel in the past but been forced to give up his job after suffering a needlestick injury.

The man is now receiving drug rehabilitation and working with the Turnaround team.

http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/Exeter-drug-dealer-road-recovery-caught-dealing/story-26470122-detail/story.html

So, the addict becomes a dealer, and while working at Gabriel House, the charitable support organisation that delivers an invaluable residential resettlement project for men and couples, aged 18 – 65, who are homeless, suffers a sharps injury.

Gabriel House will, I am sure, have a strict ‘no drugs’ policy. However, in this case someone’s IV drug use resulted in sharps injury to an addict and dealer.

Poetic justice?  Perhaps.

A dramatic example of the complexity and almost inevitable downward spiral and widespread collateral damage caused by drug abuse.