Blue lights in bathrooms - why?

I always thought the blue lights in heavily-used bathrooms served some sort of disinfectant purpose. (UV light?) But then I heard that they're there so that IV drug users can't find a vein to shoot up. Anyone know for sure?

Well, if you believe the gospel of Wikipedia

"In areas with an intravenous drug abuse problem, public toilets often have dark blue lighting, as this makes the location of veins much more difficult."

quote:

Originally posted by Totleigh-in-the-Wold:
I always thought the blue lights in heavily-used bathrooms served some sort of disinfectant purpose. (UV light?) But then I heard that they're there so that IV drug users can't find a vein to shoot up. Anyone know for sure?

It is UV light (although they tend to produce a very 'flat' blue light), yes, and its specific intended purpose is indeed to make it as difficult as possible for IV drug users to locate a vein. This is a fairly well known phenomenon in the UK, although one tends to see them fairly randomly. For example, there is a branch of Waterstone's bookshop on George Street here in Edinburgh. They have a little coffee shop at the back. They have a toilet. The toilet is fitted with aforementioned lighting. One can only assume that they don't want people bleeding all over the Irvine Welsh whilst seeking inspiration. Or a vein.

If you snort heroin, at least you won't die in vein.

There goes Static, trying to needle us again.

I once had to explain to my mother why the public toilets at Flinders Street station in Melbourne have these dark blue lights. She was a bit miffed at the strange light as she couldn't see if her lipstick looked OK.