Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Monday 25 June 2018

Retailers experiment with blue lights to deter drug use

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM and security training for
Associated Press store workers.
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) — More than six months after
Colored bulbs cast an eerie the chain began using the
blue glow in the restroom of blue lights in as many as 20
a convenience store where stores, “we’re not finding
people who inject heroin hardly anything anymore,”
and other drugs have been Dorgan said.
seeking the relative privacy “It’s a pretty dramatic re-
of the stalls to shoot up. duction. We haven’t had a
The blue lights are meant single overdose.”
to discourage people from Last fall, Sheetz, a conve-
using drugs in store bath- nience-store chain with
rooms by making it more more than 500 stores in six
difficult for them to see their states, installed a new light-
veins. ing system in the restroom
It’s an idea that’s been of its New Kensington store,
around for years but is get- about 20 miles outside Pitts-
ting a fresh look as a result burgh.
of the nation’s opioid epi- The blue lights are “de-
demic. signed to help our custom-
“The hardest-core opiate ers and employees avoid
user still wants to be accu- dangerous situations,” said
rate. They want to make company spokesman Nick
sure the needle goes in Ruffner.
the right spot,” said Read In this June 22, 2018 photo, a public bathroom bathed in blue light is seen at this Turkey Hill Sheetz, he said, has seen
Hayes, a University of Flor- convenience store in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. “positive steps in the right
ida researcher and direc- Associated Press direction,” and has since
tor of the Loss Prevention Someone in withdrawal man said people have often find used needles or installed the blue bulbs at
Research Council, a retail who obtains heroin is “go- died from overdoses in the even people slumped over a store in Huntington, West
industry-supported group ing to want to use as soon public bathrooms of fast- from an overdose, said Virginia.
that is looking at the lights’ as possible, even if the lo- food restaurants, big-box Matt Dorgan, the chain’s Some health experts en-
effectiveness. cation is not optimal,” said stores and other retailers. asset protection manager. courage interventions that
The purpose of the blue Brett Wolfson-Stofko at the “It can very easily go un- “We realized we need to don’t involve blue lights.
light is to “disrupt that pro- National Development & noticed until somebody do something to protect Installation of needle dis-
cess” and force people to Research Institutes, who else wants to use that rest- our associates and our cus- posal containers can help
go somewhere else to take has studied injection drug room,” he said. tomers,” he said. protect store employees,
drugs, he said. use in public bathrooms. “Other patrons realize they The blue lights were part the public and people who
Turkey Hill Minit Markets, Store owners say they have can’t get in, the manager of a broader set of security use drugs, while stall doors
a 260-store chain based to do something. opens up and we find peo- measures at Turkey Hill that that swing outward can
in Lancaster, is one of two In Luzerne County, where ple deceased.” included brighter exterior make it easier to reach
convenience store chains Turkey Hill has installed blue At some Turkey Hill loca- lighting, new window sig- someone who has over-
and a supermarket chain lights at a store in Wilkes- tions in hard-hit neighbor- nage to make store exteri- dosed and is in need of
working with the loss pre- Barre, Coroner William Lis- hoods, store workers would ors more visible from inside, medical help.
vention group to field-test Stores can also work with
the blue bulbs. law enforcement, social
Hayes, whose group de- service agencies and ad-
vises methods to combat diction services to tackle
theft and violent crime at the problem — a step that
stores, said that the study Hayes, at the loss preven-
is still in its infancy, but that tion council, said retailers
initial feedback from stores are looking to take.
that have been using them Retailers aren’t the only
has been positive. ones experimenting with
Earlier studies have ques- blue lights.
tioned the lights’ deterrent The city of Philadelphia be-
effect, with people who gan distributing kits to resi-
use opioids telling research- dents that include a blue
ers they’d shoot up in blue bulb for the front porch,
light if it meant avoiding no-trespassing signs, a tool
withdrawal symptoms. to pick up used syringes, a
Many public health experts needle disposal box and
oppose the practice, say- contact information for so-
ing blue lights make people cial services.
more likely to hurt them- The city — where overdose
selves and stigmatize those deaths, fueled by the pow-
in the grips of addiction. erful synthetic opioid fen-
And, for people accus- tanyl, surged more than 30
tomed to injecting them- In this June 22, 2018 photo, a sign outside a public bathroom hangs at this Turkey Hill convenience percent to 1,200 last year
selves, there are ways store in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. — has given out more than
around the lights. Associated Press 100 kits since January.q