Why did American stores light blue latrines

Colored lights in the toilets in supermarkets have become a problem for people dependent on drugs.

Photo: depositphotos.com

Blue lights are designed to discourage people from using drugs in toilet rooms. With blue light it is hard to find veins. This fact has been known for many years, but it is becoming increasingly relevant during an opioid epidemic in the country.

“The hardest drug addict still wants to be precise. They want to make sure the needle hits the right spot,” said Richard Hayes, a University of Florida researcher and director of the Loss Prevention Research Council, a retail-backed group that monitors lighting efficiency. The purpose of the blue light is to "disrupt this process" and force people to go somewhere else to take drugs.

Turkey Hill Minit Markets, a network of 260 stores, based in Lancaster, is one of two supermarket chains that test the effectiveness of blue light bulbs. Heys, whose group is developing methods to combat theft and violent crime in the shops, said that the research is still under development, but the initial response from the stores that used it was positive.

Many public health experts oppose this practice, stating that blue lights make people more likely to harm themselves.

More than six months after the network Turkey Hill Minit Markets began using blue lights in 20 stores, "we're not finding anyone else," Dorgan said. “This is a pretty dramatic reduction. We haven't had a single overdose."

Last fall the company Sheetz, a chain with more than 500 stores in six states, installed a new lighting system in the restroom of its store in New Kensington, about 20 miles from Pittsburgh. The blue lights "are designed to help our customers and employees avoid dangerous situations," company spokesman Nick Ruffner said.

SheetzHaving seen “positive steps in the right direction”, has since installed blue light bulbs in a shop in Huntington, WV.

Some health experts encourage extra precautions other than blue lighting.

Installing containers for used needles can help protect store employees, the public and people who use drugs, while door locks that go outside can facilitate access to someone who needs medical attention because of an overdose.

Retailers are not the only ones who experiment with blue lights.

The city of Philadelphia began to distribute kits for residents, which included a blue porch light, a tool for collecting used syringes, a needle box and contact information for social services.

The city — where overdose deaths caused by the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl rose more than 30 percent to 1200 last year — has issued more than 100 kits since January of this year.

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