Surf and syringes: Needles wash up on popular Nova Scotia beach

Syringes and vials were found scattered on a popular Halifax beach.

A dangerous situation is popping up on Crystal Crescent Beach, just outside of Halifax.

Syringes and mostly empty vials, with a label that identifies the contents as testosterone, have been found over the last two days.

“My partner Sarah noticed something in the sand, and we picked it up and, sure enough, it was a syringe, a needle. It had a cap on it, but it was a syringe,” says Jeff Sutherland.

In total, the pair cleaned up about two dozen needles and a couple of vials.

“It looked almost as if things had washed ashore. I walked a couple lengths of the beach, picking them up, and I continue to find them almost as if they were coming in with the waves,” Sutherland says.

“There was a lot of wave activity yesterday, so it looked as if they had come from offshore and they weren’t, it wasn’t someone who just left them at the beach.”

The Halifax man says he and his partner reported what they found to the Department of Natural Resources and were told someone was sent there Wednesday to check for more and none were found.

When CTV News arrived Wednesday afternoon, two more needles were discovered — one on the sand and another half buried, pointing upward.

“I can’t believe that a human being would potentially be that low to dump stuff in the water that is hazardous to people’s health,” says Halifax Atlantic MLA Brendan Maguire.

“If this was done purposely, it’s disgusting and it’s sick.”

Maguire has asked the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, as well as the Coast Guard, to get involved.

“We’re going to do our part and go down there and monitor and can continue to clean up and hoping that, I’m sure they will, the feds will come aboard and send the Coast Guard down and take a look and see if the stuff is floating in the water and if it is, clean it up,” he said.

Maguire says this could be an issue for the RCMP if the debris can be traced back to where it came from.

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