• Select Your Topic Then Scroll Down
    Alcohol Bupe Benzos
    Cocaine Heroin Opioids
    RCs Stimulants Misc
    Harm Reduction All Topics Gabapentinoids
    Tired of your habit? Struggling to cope?
    Want to regain control or get sober?
    Visit our Recovery Support Forums

Using someone else's needle

raoulduke

Bluelighter
Joined
Oct 18, 2002
Messages
624
Location
Ontario, Canada
Say if i had a needle from someone who uses it ocasionally to shoot himself, but i had it cleaned with rubbing alcohol and water, and he wasn't sick or had any diseaseases, would i be safe from having one shoot with his needle?
 
How sure are you that he is disease and sick free!? You dont see on somebody his forehead that he has got hep b/c or HIV.
Well if you clean it throughly then you will be ok. But a better alternative is to use a fresh needle!
 
raoulduke said:
Say if i had a needle from someone who uses it ocasionally to shoot himself
If he's used it multiple times then it'll be dull and it'll start fucking up your veins from the get go.
Plus as others have said you've no idea he's clean, its not an obvious thing usually. Its "I'll only do it once, where's the harm?" attitudes like that which help spread these diseases!

FFS get your own new needle.
 
Rubbing alcohol isn't a very effective way of cleaning a used needle.

You should use clean needles every time, but if you absolutely have to, there is more effective method of cleaning used neeldes. This method in now way guarantees the elimination of blood borne viruses (like HIV or hep C), but it's more effective than alcohol.

Rinse the needle immediately after use in cool water and dishwashing detergent. Flush several times. Repeat in clean water / detergent. Then pull the syringe apart and let it soak in 5% or higher bleach for 3-4 minutes. You can also draw bleach into the needle and shake it around. It must come into contact with the bleach for some time.

Then rinse the needle thoroughly again in clean, cool water. There's no guarantees, but that method is probably the best available. If the needle has been used several times already, AlphaNumeric is right. It will be blunt. Check out the pic.

Oh yeah. You can't tell if someone has a blood borne virus by looking at them, either. Hep C causes no symptoms for 15-20 years and it's extremely common amongst people who inject. Don't risk it by sharing.
 
Last edited:
It is never safe to use a needle twice, especially someone else's needle. Be safe rather than sorry.
 
^^^ I've never ever used a needle once, but I understand what you're saying (use once and destroy)... but I think that the needle remains perfectly sharp for at least 3 pokes.. not that anybody here would ever dream of using the same spike scores or even hundreds of times
 
txravegirl said:
It is never safe to use a needle twice, especially someone else's needle. Be safe rather than sorry.

Perfectly said.

If you don't have access to the safest of equipment when you shoot, then you shouldn't shoot. Period.
 
Flexistentialist said:
Rubbing alcohol isn't a very effective way of cleaning a used needle.


Rinse the needle immediately after use in cool water and dishwashing detergent. Flush several times. Repeat in clean water / detergent. Then pull the syringe apart and let it soak in 5% or higher bleach for 3-4 minutes. You can also draw bleach into the needle and shake it around. It must come into contact with the bleach for some time.



From a scientific perspective, the best sanitizer is actually 10% bleach, 90% Distilled Deionized water. For practical purposes, distilled is good enough since deionized water is pretty hard to find outside of a laboratory. 10% bleach solution will penetrate and lyse (more or less explode) any organic cells present. Using higher concentrations of bleach will work, but it is not as effective as 10%.
 
From Statement on the Role of Bleach in HIV Prevention Programs for Injecting Drug Users (IDUs):

Full-strength household bleach (5.25 percent sodium hypochlorite) effectively inactivated pelleted HIV at exposures of 30 seconds or greater, whereas 10 percent bleach was effective only after exposures of 2 hours.


Hep C isn't broken down by bleach, because it can't penetrate the outer layer of the virus. By using detergent first to break down the outer layer, the bleach can get it and do its thing.
 
This guy I know caught HIV from his friend who knew he was + but didn't tell him. The guy shot up, refilled and left the needle on the bench when my friend picked it up and used it- hey presto, he now has HIV too.
 
The biggest form of HIV spread in the Western world is IV Drug Users & Gay Man. - You would be a fool to share needles in any case.

Please - Get clean needles. They are cheap as chips (free in most cases) - You don't want to die of HIV.

shals :D
 
Geez-A said:
This guy I know caught HIV from his friend who knew he was + but didn't tell him. The guy shot up, refilled and left the needle on the bench when my friend picked it up and used it- hey presto, he now has HIV too.

Did the guy try to murder the other dude, i mean an eye for an eye right.
Now that's just plain sick and just cause for castration.

THERE IS NO POINT whatsover TO SHARE OR REUSE NEEDLES DUE TO THEIR LOW COST. FUCK.
 
This makes me feel sick thinking about it.... everywhere should have needle exchange programs...

Please don't do that!
 
Hey, if yer even ASKING this question I would wager that you engage in a number of TOTALLY UNSAFE practices when it comes to IV drug use, or hell, drug use in general... you are asking if you can clean a needle using rubbing alcohol (no,use bleach) that your friend has used MULTIPLE TIMES ... ok, so you want to clean a dull needle to shoot up... look, buy yer self a fucking box of new syringes - honestly, they only cost about $15 for the generics ....

But I mean, if you're so sure yer friend if disease free then why even bother cleaning it?

C'mon, it's shit like this that gives IV drug users a bad name ...

Oh, and in the US, the #1 way that HIV is transmitted is through HETEROSEXUAL SEX ...
 
kemikals said:
Did the guy try to murder the other dude, i mean an eye for an eye right.
Now that's just plain sick and just cause for castration.

THERE IS NO POINT whatsover TO SHARE OR REUSE NEEDLES DUE TO THEIR LOW COST. FUCK.

The guy who did it is in jail now for doing it- yes it was intentional because he didn't want to be the only one who had it. My mate only found out he was + because he went to jail for something else and was tested as a matter of course. They were best friends.:(
 
Geez-A said:
The guy who did it is in jail now for doing it- yes it was intentional because he didn't want to be the only one who had it. My mate only found out he was + because he went to jail for something else and was tested as a matter of course. They were best friends.:(
damn...and thats the exact reason why i dont shoot up period...its just not worth it to me period..no matter how i look at it..there are PLENTY of drugs around that get you just as fucked up with a lower risk of some scary sickness just to get high for a little while...pointless if you ask me
 
yeah, you can order pins and syringes online for cheap cheap and in all different sizes, shapes and hell, even colors. filters, plungers...doesn't matter what you need, it can be ordered online and shipped lickity split.

g/l and stay safe.
 
thats really pushing the guideline limits of sourcing, just be careful with that especially if the user is clearly using the "suppliers" for illicit use. be careful, good-luk
 
Top