Harm Reduction frontier medical group - syringe with filter in the cap

just moved and went to my new local needle exchange, they have these all in one packs made by frontier medical group, similar to the nevershare steripack kits.

i've never seen them before, but they are pretty good, they have a 1ml syringe/needle (29g, integrated) with a filter in the cap, which looks similar to the sterifilt, spoon, alcohol wipe, & citric. only thing missing is sterile water.

in practise, the filter/cap works great. easier to use than a sterifilt as it clips on easier, draws up nicely and so far hasn't got "stuck" like the sterifilt sometimes does. ends up black (starts white) after its filtered, so it's doing something, better than a cotton at any rate.

the only downside is it's got a 29g needle and i prefer the 30 or 31g of the nevershare or whatever. i'm not sure how the cap would be when loaded in your pocket, as obviously something sharp could poke thru the filter, allowing bacteria in. but you could just put on a normal cap.

anyone else come across these? what do you think?

sorry for the crappy phone pix

they might just be a european thing, the company is based in wales.

another minor issue, the spoon isn't curved, so you can't get that last little bit easily. not really an issue tho as the amount left over is so tiny.

pretty sweet. problem I see is those would never be allowed in the U.S. because they are clearly paraphernalia.

^ aren't spoons paraphernalia?

If they have drug residue then yes

the cooker could be taken out and you could travel with everything else. i think the citric acid may attract a little unwanted attention, though.

fantastic idea, i like the look of them! aren't they essentially the same as the sterifilt's though? going by the looks, yeah, they are.

can you post a pic of the box if you still have it iai?



in my exchange im forced to deal with chemist assistants whose collective knowledge on the subject extends to asking whether one wants the red or the blue packets





nice find.

I wish my area had needle exchange programs. The US is so anti drug it's crazy. I looked up needle exchange sites in my area and there are none.

Are there needle exchanges in America? Any in the Houston area?

I wish the syringes I buy from the pharmacy are like this. I think it should be a product stocked regularly in pharmacies across the world along with them being available at exchange programs. A law requiring pharmacies to sell this style of syringe (filter caps) to anyone who asks, would be nice as well, as it would prevent pharmacists who take issue with Harm Reduction/supplying junkies with needles from denying their sale.

I'm honestly surprised I've never ran into any pharmacies in TX that wouldn't sell me needles. Even though we don't have any exchange programs for whatever reason, with a price range of $1.00-$3.19 usd there is almost no reason not to have clean needles in possession (range for a 10 pack of insulin needles at cheap locations to more expensive locations [walgreens for example]). Granted I've never lived in rural texas so I don't know how more isolated pharmacies would respond.

down508 said:

pretty sweet. problem I see is those would never be allowed in the U.S. because they are clearly paraphernalia.

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They already offer clean 'cookers' at needle exchange programs in the USA, so it is still seen even if people could get busted for paraphernalia for a used cooker. I do feel they need to have needle exchange programs give out a card for exchange members preventing them from being able to be charged with paraphernalia if possessing their handed out supplies (apparently if say the needles found on an individual are from exchange program, the defense in court could potentially get them off from the paraphernalia charges). Paraphernalia charges are stupid enough as it is, IMO, that this would be a step in the right direction.

BlindHelperMonkey said:

can you post a pic of the box if you still have it iai?

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the box from the manufacturer? there's a link to the company in my first post if that helps. i just picked up 20 kits, as in the bag in the top pic, which looks like this unopened:

tentram said:

aren't they essentially the same as the sterifilt's though? going by the looks, yeah, they are.

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yea they are pretty similar, except the filter area is smaller, but the filter seems a bit thicker, and they attach/remove from the syringe with less effort.

Cloudy said:

They already offer clean 'cookers' at needle exchange programs in the USA, so it is still seen even if people could get busted for paraphernalia for a used cooker. I do feel they need to have needle exchange programs give out a card for exchange members preventing them from being able to be charged with paraphernalia if possessing their handed out supplies (apparently if say the needles found on an individual are from exchange program, the defense in court could potentially get them off from the paraphernalia charges). Paraphernalia charges are stupid enough as it is, IMO, that this would be a step in the right direction.

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the company's twitter lists itself as "the UK's leading supplier of harm reduction packs and paraphernalia

Coraline said:

I wish my area had needle exchange programs. The US is so anti drug it's crazy. I looked up needle exchange sites in my area and there are none.

Are there needle exchanges in America? Any in the Houston area?

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I can't speak for Texas (lol) but quite a few other states do have needle exchanges, it's pretty common out here in California and I know they do it in other states too.

Needle exchanges are illegal in Texas unfortunately. At least 35 states currently have a legal syringe exchange program. 48 US states either have authorized needle exchange in some form or allow the purchase of syringes without a prescription at pharmacies. Some US states still criminalize the possession of syringes without a prescription. However, there are some covert needle-exchange programs in the US, one example being Colorado. The law in Colorado is unclear on the requirement of a prescription to purchase syringes, so the majority of pharmacies will not sell them without prescription, and police have arrested people in possession of syringes without a prescription. However there are exchanges operating covertly which are funded by donations and operated by volunteers. I have no idea if there is anything similar in Texas though. I would say ask other IV drug users.

To me it seems like the UK is very advanced when it comes to HR supplies. I often see cool HR supplies, such as the one in the OP, which are available in the UK.

^ that seems totally crazy. illegal to own a syringe?! that is just totally backwards thinking that if there is less access to safer drug use that people will be put off. not cool at all.

I remember when I was 16 and I got a bunch of insulin syringes for my boyfriends chickens. I pulled them out of my pocket and he threw a fit. Yes they were for his pets medications but in the car they were illegal as can be. I had to dump them. I didn't know. I thought I was helping him.

i against i said:

they might just be a european thing, the company is based in wales.

another minor issue, the spoon isn't curved, so you can't get that last little bit easily. not really an issue tho as the amount left over is so tiny.

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Add an additional 10 units or so to what's left, and then draw that up. Then what's left will be next to nothing.

down508 said:

pretty sweet. problem I see is those would never be allowed in the U.S. because they are clearly paraphernalia.

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I'm not sure what you mean? The needle exchange I go to hands out cookers, cottons, tourniquets, alcohol wipes, insulin syringes of varying gauges, as well as ties so you can heat up the cooker without burning your fingers.

Coraline said:

Are there needle exchanges in America?

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Of course! There are probably none in the entire state of Texas however. There's a handful of them in California.

Yeah we have had them over here in Scotland for a while. They are pretty good.