Dozens of needles found along Kealia Bike Path shoreline, sparking health concern

Walkers and cyclists along the Kealia shoreline faced a danger that should never have been there: Kauai comedian Zavier Cummings said he found at least 35 to 40 needles scattered across roughly 15 feet of beach near the Kealia Bike Path and Kapaa Swimming Pool.

Cummings said he spotted the needles on Tuesday evening, May 5, in and around the sand near the shoreline corridor that many residents use for exercise and beach access. He saw needles in clusters, mixed with different sizes, and said protective caps were also lying among the debris. By the next day, a community member had cleaned up the area, but Cummings remained worried about what could still be buried in the sand or washed into the water.

The discovery lands in a place built for public recreation. The Kapaa-to-Kealia bike path segment was completed in 2003, and the county describes it as part of a shoreline project meant to connect residents and visitors along the North Shore’s edge. Instead, the scene raised a public health concern for anyone who uses the path, shoreline, or nearby beach.

The incident also points to a larger disposal problem. Kauai County tells residents to place used sharps in a strong, leak-proof plastic container marked BIOHAZARD and then put it in household trash. Needles and syringes are not accepted in county medication drop boxes. The Kauai Police Department hosts those drop boxes at headquarters in Līhue, where the service is free and anonymous, and the county says Drug Enforcement Administration take-back events are held twice a year, tentatively on the fourth Saturday in April and October.

The wider backdrop is an island still struggling with drug harm and unsafe disposal. Hawaii’s Department of Health has supported syringe services since 1990, and statewide legal syringe exchange began in 1992. On May 29, 2025, Gov. Josh Green signed Act 106, which allows needs-based syringe distribution. The Hawaii Health & Harm Reduction Center exchanged 599,683 syringes statewide in 2023, and nearly 18 million from 1993 through 2023. Kauai County’s fentanyl task force page says fentanyl overdoses on the island quadrupled in September 2021, with five fatalities, and that Kauai averaged a fatal overdose every 21 days in the 12 months ending September 2023.

For families, walkers, and cyclists on the Kealia shoreline, the immediate lesson is simple: the beach is not a place to assume is clear, and a handful of needles can become a countywide warning about how dangerous waste is handled, or not handled, in one of Kauai’s busiest public spaces.