New-look needles could help keep tabs on Wayne County exchange

In 2016, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office charged 84 people with possession of a syringe with intent to inject heroin or another illegal drug. That's a Level 6 felony punishable by a sentence of between six months and 2½ years.

Through mid-November of 2017, that number had grown to 223.

Shipman said he's been told by local law enforcement that the county's syringe exchange is at least partially to blame because participants have sold or traded the needles for drugs.

But because the syringes handed out look no different than those commonly used by local pharmacies and health care providers, it was hard to be sure.

That could change soon.

Lisa Suttle, director of Reid Health's psychiatric service line, is researching two new syringes that would be visually distinctive from those currently given out. 

She's made sure the new needles aren't being used elsewhere in the area and plans to test how well they can be discerned from the more common variety when mixed together in the containers used to gather dirty syringes.