Lacey Committtee Candidate Berates Official For Bringing Syringe To Meeting

by Patricia A. Miller

It was little more than two weeks ago that Township Committeeman David Most held up a used syringe he found while running on Lacey Road to illustrate how drugs have pervaded the town.

But Democratic Township Committee candidate Gregory Pancza doesn't think the needle ever should have made its way into Town Hall at a public meeting.

Pancza criticized Most for bringing the used syringe to the meeting and said it should have been properly disposed of. He called it "bio-hazardous material."

"It shouldn't have been in here, Mr. Most," Pancza said. "That was irresponsible."

Most should have called the police department when he found the syringe so it could have been properly disposed of, Pancza said

Most - who has been very active in anti-drug efforts in Lacey - said the syringe was bagged in a double-ply zip bag and the needle was inserted into a cork inside the bag. It was later disposed of properly in the police department, he said.

"That's the second syringe I've found," Most said. "I'm not that naive to think that if you're a diabetic, you throw your syringes out the window."

"You almost made it sound like I was derelict in my duties," Most told Pancza.

The number of overdoses in Lacey has dropped from the same time last year.

Officials attribute the drop in overdoses and overdose deaths to community drug forums, the Municipal Drug Alliance, education in the schools, Police Chief David A. Paprota's hard-line stance on drug abuse and Narcan, an antidote to heroin overdoses.