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- Always use your own new injecting equipment including fits, water, bag, spoon, filter and tourniquets
- When injecting at home prepare the area that you are going to inject on (clean the surface, wash your hands and get everything you may need to have your hit).
- Make sure that once you've had your hit that you put the used fits into a sharp safe or similar rigid container immediately. Clean up any fit packets, swabs, filters, bags or any other stuff that may have come into contact with blood. It is recommended that you double bag this stuff where possible.
- Remember to wash your hands before and after you inject.
- When you're injecting outside the home, or in an exposed environment, it's always helpful to have everything ready to go, prepared and within reach.
- If you can't get access to a tap or running water to wash your hands, arms and the injecting site, then use swabs and swab the site that you're going to hit along with your fingers and hands.
- Black box fit-packs (10s or 5s) are a good idea when using outside or in cars. You can usually put fresh fits, water, filters and swabs in them. After using, you can use the disposal side for your used fits and the other side for any other used or blood contaminated material. You can then dispose of the whole black box at your nearest NSP (Needle and Syringe Program) or safe disposal location site.
- Remember if you have trouble injecting or finding veins try to stay as calm as possible; getting all flustered and worked up doesn't help. Use a tourniquet and take time to pump up your veins before you try to inject. Seat belts can double up as a tourniquet if you're having trouble getting a vein or have forgotten your own tourniquet.
- Please - try not to use where children and minors go (like parks and playgrounds). No one needs to see that stuff or find a used fit, especially kids. This sort of thing never looks good for users and just feeds into the user-phobia and discrimination that users face everyday. So always clean up all your injecting stuff once you've had your hit.
- Some places can have a very low light level or none at all, so check out if you can see what you're doing before you even attempt to have a hit there.
- If you are injecting at a venue and you're with a friend let them know what you're doing in case something goes wrong.
- Be careful to choose a place where you're least likely to be disturbed while you're having a hit. If you use in the toilet with a friend lock the door. If you're alone, leave it unlocked in case of an overdose.
- Toilets can be very busy at venues and often there are waiting lines. If you think you're going to take a long time or you know that you'll have trouble finding a vein, it's probably better to wait, if possible, till you can get to a more relaxed environment, so as not to rush and risk poor injecting practices and the increased risk of hep C.
- Remember if you're injecting in a toilet cubicle - wash your hands before and after you've had a hit and make sure that the surface you've mixing up on is clean. It's advisable to cover the toilet with toilet paper or similar, to avoid any of your injecting equipment getting contaminated with bacteria, etc.
- If possible choose a cubicle with the most lighting, one that has a toilet lid, toilet paper and space.
- You may want to lean on a wall or sit on the toilet to steady yourself. If possible, don't lean on toilet door or shared wall as someone might bang on the door and bump you while injecting. Plus, if you overdose you could jam the door and help won't be able to reach you easily.
- If you don't have a fit-pack/black box to put your used fit into, look for a sharp safe that may be on the toilet wall. These safes are in a lot of toilets these days and can be located either inside or outside the toilet cubicle.
- Some toilets have also installed black lights to deter injecting drug users. It's still possible to inject under these circumstances but, if you have trouble getting a vein it's always better to inject where you can relax and take your time.
- Remember leaving used fits and other injecting paraphernalia in toilets is dangerous to others and it gives all users a bad name, so set a good example and do the right thing - clean up all your used gear and help everyone to stay safe!
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