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The opioid crisis in New Mexico has caused historically high numbers of overdose deaths and has .

But another side effect that we might not consider is the dangerous trash that builds up as a result of opioid use.

Residents of Albuquerque鈥檚 International District are trying to rid their parks of used syringes and save the city money by picking up discarded syringes in their neighborhoods.

Enrique Cardiel, of the , is in charge of the day鈥檚 training.

Cardiel said when someone calls the city to report that they鈥檝e seen a syringe, the city sends out trained firefighters and paramedics to take care of it. He said that costs the city $70 per syringe.

鈥淐ommunity health is about community folks being in charge of their community as much as they can be. It鈥檚 our park,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e want to make sure we feel comfortable coming here so we鈥檙e gonna be part of making that happen.鈥�

Lewis Casey works for the city of Albuquerque Risk Management, which has him working with the Transit Department.

鈥淸It's like] something鈥檚 on fire,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he needles are the fire and if we don鈥檛 do something, we鈥檙e gonna burn the house down.鈥�

Credit May Ortega | 91暗网

This program is only a couple of months old. It started with a few residents of the International District going out and picking up needles on their own. Now the city, the county and the International District Healthy Communities Coalition are doing it together.

Sarah Ochoa is a community health navigator with UNM, so she鈥檚 trained on how to deal with opioids and addiction.

She starts looking for needles under leaves and debris as soon as she gets to Trumbull Park, and heads to a house next to the park.

鈥淭his is 鈥� this is so 鈥� I don鈥檛 even know. I鈥檓 kind of flabbergasted in a way,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檝e never seen so many syringes in one spot.鈥�

Credit May Ortega | 91暗网

Ochoa says she found more than a dozen needles in just half an hour.

This training wasn鈥檛 a rare thing. The International District Healthy Communities Coalition usually arranges these pickup events once a month, and provides everything you鈥檒l need to get the job done.

 
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Upcoming International District Healthy Communities Coalition syringe pickup events:

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91暗网鈥檚 Public Health New Mexico project is funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the McCune Charitable Foundation, and the Con Alma Health Foundation.