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I don't see the irony. A progressive would tell you that the heroin addict is only harming himself while secondhand smoke is killing everyone who breathes it. That's the way they think.
As I mentioned in a previous thread I am very much against the idea of these safe injection sites. If someone takes part in such a risk taking behavior as needle drug use they must face the consequences including disease and death. If these junkies were concerned about health and saftey they should have led a wholesome lifestyle, not stick themselves with needles.
The government should arrest these criminals, not assist them with their addiction.
And so put addicts in prison? The problem with that is that criminals coming out of prison, if asked about it, will likely tell you that drugs in prison are about as available as they are outside on the street.
Are you crazy? I think you spent too much time at Woodstock.
Really, it's true heroin causes little damage to the body. People like doctors can be addicted to heroin for years. They can go on practicing medicin3 and hardly anyone will know their addiction to heroin.
On the other hand, a drug like meth causes terrific damage to the body when one becomes addicted to it. It's real bad stuff.
I don't see the irony. A progressive would tell you that the heroin addict is only harming himself while secondhand smoke is killing everyone who breathes it. That's the way they think.
As I mentioned in a previous thread I am very much against the idea of these safe injection sites. If someone takes part in such a risk taking behavior as needle drug use they must face the consequences including disease and death. If these junkies were concerned about health and saftey they should have led a wholesome lifestyle, not stick themselves with needles.
The government should arrest these criminals, not assist them with their addiction.
We should spend millions of dollars to incarcerate scores of heroin addicts? Would it not be more cost effective to get them treatment? Instead of a de facto edeath penalty for heroin use, would it not be more compassionate to at least ensure that they don't spread disease or overdose? There is nothing much that we can do in the US to quell heroin use. (Afgahanistan is another story, maybe give some farmers subsidies so they don't choose to grow poppy? Cost effective, a couple million maybe?) Not all heroin users made a bad decision. Some get hooked after prolongued illness or morphene use. Even if they did go awry in their decisions, isn't it preferable for a society to not have them pose threats to PUBLIC health and safety. Arresting all drug users would be like Utah trying to arrest polygamists. Urban Crack dealers, rural meth labs, suburban pharm children, Chief Justice Rhenquist, foreign smugglers, the guy who smokes pot. We are not assisting, we are mitigating outside factors. Give people hope, and they tend to want to better themselves. Once you have AIDS, or once you are in jail it hinders you for life. Heroin addiction can be overcome. Herpes and multiple felonies cannot. You oversimplified a very complex issue.
I visited San Francisco last year and from what I observed that City has a huge drug problem. SF has been so generous with the downtrodden a lot of people migrate there who have no hope left. It is very sad to see these individuals walking the streets looking in trash cans or begging for anything.
While SF is a beautiful City it is also one of the most depressing places I have ever visited. I understand Amsterdam Holland helps the addicts in such a way but Holland is a vastly more enligthened society than the United States. It has never made sense to me that someone should go to jail or be left to suffer on the streets just because they are sick and need help. They don't need prison. How can people be so callous, especially the Churches in not trying to find an answer to the drug problem in this City? I applaud SF for trying anyway!!
I visited San Francisco last year and from what I observed that City has a huge drug problem. SF has been so generous with the downtrodden a lot of people migrate there who have no hope left. It is very sad to see these individuals walking the streets looking in trash cans or begging for anything.
While SF is a beautiful City it is also one of the most depressing places I have ever visited. I understand Amsterdam Holland helps the addicts in such a way but Holland is a vastly more enligthened society than the United States. It has never made sense to me that someone should go to jail or be left to suffer on the streets just because they are sick and need help. They don't need prison. How can people be so callous, especially the Churches in not trying to find an answer to the drug problem in this City? I applaud SF for trying anyway!!
America has more drug treatment clinics than any other country on earth. But we also have more people incarcerated for drugs than any other country.
I am a firm believer in removing felony charges for drug POSSESSION and VERY LOW LEVEL drug dealing. The big boys? Sure, lock'em up for a long time. But most of the users that are arrested for simple possession or low level dealing (think guy trying to make an extra $100-$200 instead of a full time living) are people that have either A) made very bad choices, or B) grown up in a very downtrodden area where drug use is highly accepted.
When our police/DEA/etc. arrest these people for a drug possession and a felony goes on their record, they have now turned them into near unemployable people as far as decent jobs with decent benefits go. This means they are very unlikely to be able to better themselves even if they try very hard, because they keep getting "NO!" at every job they try to get with the exception of some low paying jobs. This leads them right back down the same path and back to prison and or rehab over and over.
We need to stop imprisoning people for drug use, especially marijuana. The funny thing is that the people I hear advocating hardest for hard prison time for drug offenders are the same ones complaining about housing murderers for life costing too much. Very contradictory IMO.
I think there are other solutions that can be tried that would fall between locking them up and helping them get high. It's not an either/or.
I wouldn't be opposed to extended stay rehab facilities. Prison type security without the jail cells, but rather high security lockable rooms. First offense gets a week there instead of 6 months in jail (small possession only type offenses). 2nd offense gets a month. 3rd offense gets 6 months, etc. Give them a chance to be treated without having to have a felony on their record. Don't make it hell like prison, but don't make it a resort or picnic either.
I wouldn't be opposed to extended stay rehab facilities. Prison type security without the jail cells, but rather high security lockable rooms. First offense gets a week there instead of 6 months in jail (small possession only type offenses). 2nd offense gets a month. 3rd offense gets 6 months, etc. Give them a chance to be treated without having to have a felony on their record. Don't make it hell like prison, but don't make it a resort or picnic either.
I could go along with something like that. I might try to add a step for when they leave. When people leave prison, they frequently have parole officers. I think there could be a person that follows them after the program you mention that works to keep them from certain places and people where they're likely to use again, and helps steer them into a more productive life.
Jay F, I said you were narrow minded because you believe that you know addiction and all addicts are corrupt souls.
My point is that an addict isn't just an addict when he steals your TV. You very likely know other addicts (maybe not closely, but people at work, neighbors, etc.) without knowing that they are addicts.
They are still human beings.
There are functional heroin addicts. May possibly be the saddest thing in the world, but I know they exist. It is a myth you everyone is a zombie on smack. The nature of addiction itself should counter this myth - the body "needs" the drug to be normal, therefore long-term users are their most "normal" when on the drug.
While it is basically impossible to be functional on crack or meth, it is possible on heroin. And the folks that do it will break your heart. They carry a heavier load, with a hidden addiction. Because they know reaching out and asking for help means revealing what no one knows. And opens them to hate and judgement.
The guy who steals you TV - he doesn't care, you already know his story. But the person hiding a functional addiction? They are scared to death that people like you ever find out the truth about them.
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Injection
