When the discarded syringe pierced deep into her heel, Danielle Monk was grateful for one thing — that it wasn’t her 2-year-old son Nolan that stepped on the soiled needle in a Toronto park.

In that same split-second, Monk’s dream of having found refuge from the drugs, shootings and crime of the city’s downtown core was shattered.

“My husband and I realized we didn’t want to raise our son in Parkdale,” said Monk. “So when we visited Mimico three years ago, and saw the beauty and tranquility of the neighbourhood, we decided to move there.”

She calls Mimico her “Eden on the lake” — at least she used to.

The 26-year-old mother stepped on the needle on the morning of Aug. 6, while playing with Nolan in Norris Crescent Parkette located behind their small apartment.

“As soon as I stepped on it, I just grabbed the needle, threw it in the trash and grabbed my son,” she said. “I then rushed to the ER where I ended up waiting for four hours before I could even see someone.”

She has avoided the park ever since.

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“I’m just furious this has happened somewhere that kids play,” Monk said. “There are generations of the same families that have grown up here who say they’ve all seen an increase in drug use in the neighbourhood.”

That conclusion is supported in 18 months of data on discarded syringe-related reports to the city’s 311 service line, obtained by the Star through a Freedom of Information request.

The data reveals 137 requests were submitted to the city’s 311 help centre between January 2012 and June 6, 2013, resulting in the recovery of 571 discarded needles from Toronto parks, sidewalks and alleys. The number may actually be higher, since the Star lowballed the total due to vague estimations within many of the 311 requests.

The consolidated information shows the number of needles reported in Ward 6 — which encapsulates Mimico — increased from one last year to five so far this year — not including the one Monk stepped on. Also, out of 44 wards, this outlying Etobicoke-Lakeshore ward ranks seventh for the most needle-related 311 reports.

The highest number of needles recovered by ward was in Scarborough-Agincourt, with 200 needles found, and York South-Weston, with 104 found. In these cases however, the reports suggest the needles may have been inside an abandoned container, and so may be anomalies.

The two Toronto Centre-Rosedale wards experienced the most reports, resulting in the recovery of 57 needles over the 18-month period.

Torontonians are encouraged to call 311 to report discarded needles . Depending on whether the needle is on public or private property, a service request is issued to one of three departments: parks, solid waste management, or municipal licensing and standards.

Readers can explore the data set through our interactive dashboard , or download the data for their own offline analysis .

James Dann, manager of waterfront parks, called the discovery of needles in Norris Crescent Parkette highly unusual.

“There are only needles found in that park once or twice a year,” said Dann. “We’d expect them more in parks like Allan Gardens and Moss Park that are closer to halfway houses, shelters and needle exchanges in the downtown core.”

Although quick to point out that discarded needles are no more prevalent in Toronto’s parks than broken beer bottles, Dann acknowledged parks staff are finding an increasing number of syringes.

But Matt Johnson, who works at one of Toronto’s downtown needle exchanges, said the situation is being blown out of proportion.

“If one needle gets found in a park — sure, it’s a scary thing — but people will get incredibly angry and incredibly fearful about what is likely a one-off thing,” he said.

Johnson adds it is not just the middle and upper class demographic that get angry about needles being discarded.

“There were some young people who left syringes in a downtown park,” he said. “And it was actually a large number of homeless people who use the park, sleep in the park, let their dogs play there, that complained about it.”

Many in the community are also users, but they expect everyone to dispose of their needles in a responsible way, Johnson said, adding drug users often only dump their needles if they think they’re about to be searched by police.

Even then, they will try and put them out of harm’s way.

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“I volunteered to do needle sweeps in Parkdale a number of years ago,” he recalls. “And we’d find that users would try to not put needles in open areas; we’d find them behind loose bricks and inside poles.”

Nonetheless Johnson, a user of hard drugs himself since he was 14, said the homeless, and the down and out, are an easy scapegoat.

Ian de Souza agrees.

The local musician recalls looking out of an upstairs window in his house near Trinity Bellwoods Park and seeing a black SUV idling outside with two respectable-looking men inside.

“I could see one of them with surgical rubber around their arm, and then I saw the needle come out,” said de Souza. “Then I saw one of the guys just toss the needle right at my front gate, and I thought ‘man, there’s kids living on this street.”

De Souza points out that many Torontonians aren’t aware they can call 311 to have discarded needles picked up and disposed of.

Shaun Hopkins, manager of The Works, Toronto Public Health’s needle exchange program, said a combination of education and issuing clean needles is eradicating the discarded needle problem.

“I’ve been in this job for over 20 years, and I’ve found for the most part if you talk to drug users about the implications of discarding a needle, they get it, and they try to change their behaviour,” she said.

“I don’t think they’re uncaring people.”

More than a million clean needles were issued in 2010 by The Works program and its 35 partner agencies.

“Even if people aren’t returning 100 per cent of the needles they use, they’re still returning a combined million or so needles a year,” said Hopkins. “The most important thing is that needles are being returned, and we’re cutting down on the number out there.”

The data obtained by the Star appears to corroborate Hopkins’ assertion.

Last year, a total of 23 discarded needles were recovered in Ward 28 (Toronto Centre-Rosedale) — typically one of the city’s worst wards for discarded needles — but so far only four have been recovered this year. In Ward 14 (Parkdale-High Park), 21 were recovered last year; so far five needles have been recovered.

That’s still little comfort to Monk.

“I’m actually scared now to let my son play in the grass or stand in the wood chips,” she said.

Monk believes Mimico doesn’t get the attention the downtown core gets. According to a city map there’s only one needle exchange in Ward 6, for women only.

“My husband and I have this dream of living in the countryside, where our son and dog can roam free,” she said.