B.C. house with 10,000 dirty needles connected to youth in provincial care

Children as young as 12, some in government care,were "effectively living"at a northern B.C.drug house where 10,000 dirty needles were found last month,CBC News has learned.

RCMP Corp.Craig Douglass called the rental duplex unit on Spruce Streetnear downtown Prince George, B.C., a "crack house" and "flophouse." He said addicts bought drugs there and frequently stayed overnight while using crack cocaine, heroin, and crystal meth.

RCMP raided the home inresponseto a report of a woman being threatened with a firearmon Nov.19. They arrested 15 people and found a vast quantity of used needles inside.

"A staff sergeant estimated 10,000 [needles] in this residence," said Douglass. "They were in every cranny and crevice, in the couch, in bags of garbage, in any spot lying on the floor."

Youth had nowhere else to go: Turpel-Lafond

B.C.'s Representative for Children and Youth, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, saidabout ten young people, aged 12 to 15 years old, were connected to the house.

"They were effectively living in what I can only describe as being a bit of a drug house," she said.

Turpel-Lafondsaidshe hasbeen lobbyingMCFDfor several monthsto findthema safe placeto live,but there are no beds or facilities in Prince George where theycan get help.

"These are young people who are supposed to be in [ministry] care, living in a safe, appropriate home," said Turpel-Lafond.

"These are some of our most vulnerable children, who are likely to come to serious harm. These are kids who've experienced abuse, who need a home and who need safety."

Without a safe place to go, the youth have beensurvivingon the street, couch surfing, returning to abusive homes, or sleeping at a drug house, she said.

Turpel-Lafondsaidthe youth may have been injecting hard drugs.

"They're very easy prey for sexual abuse," she said."They're in peril. This is an issue I've brought to the attention of the ministry repeatedly."

Turpel-Lafond isalso critical of the community's response.

"There must be people [who were] driving by that place every day and knew what wasgoing on," she said.

House previously raided

The ministry declined to comment on these specific allegations, citing privacy issues. It did say that the ministry has strict protocols in place to respond to allegations once youth are in its care.

Douglass said the November raid wasn't the first time officers had been called to the house. A previous raid in August resulted in the arrest of a 14-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy.

"It's not all that uncommon," saidDouglass. "We do find kids of all ages in these [type of]residences at times. Sometimes it's toddlers crawling on the floor, sometimes it's teenagers."

DouglasssaidRCMPcontacted the teenagers' guardians and alerted the Ministry of Children and Family Development.