Love In Vein –

June 24, 2018 – Colored bulbs cast an eerie blue glow in the restroom of a convenience store where people who inject heroin and other drugs have been seeking the relative privacy of the stalls to shoot up. The blue lights are meant to discourage people from using drugs in store bathrooms by making it more difficult for them to see their veins. It’s an idea that’s been around for years but is getting a fresh look as a result of the nation’s opioid epidemic. “The hardest-core opiate user still wants to be accurate. They want to make sure the needle goes in the right spot,” said Read Hayes, a University of Florida researcher and director of the Loss Prevention Research Council, a retail industry-supported group that is looking at the lights’ effectiveness. The purpose of the blue light is to “disrupt that process” and force people to go somewhere else to take drugs, he said. Turkey Hill Minit Markets, a 260-store chain based in Lancaster, is one of two convenience store chains and a supermarket chain working with the loss prevention group to field-test the blue bulbs. Hayes, whose group devises methods to combat theft and violent crime at stores, said that the study is still in its infancy, but that initial feedback from stores that have been using them has been positive.

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