Seeking people interested in harm reduction (Loup City: crimes, live in, prices)

[safepointsinnebraska]

Seeking people interested in harm reduction...here's a little about it.


Principles of Harm Reduction

Harm reduction is a set of practical strategies that reduce negative consequences of drug use, incorporating a spectrum of strategies from safer use, to managed use to abstinence. Harm reduction strategies meet drug users "where they're at," addressing conditions of use along with the use itself.
However, This is considered the principles central to harm reduction practice.

• Accepts, for better and for worse, that licit and illicit drug use is part of our world and chooses to work to minimize its harmful effects rather than simply ignore or condemn them.
• Understands drug use as a complex, multi-faceted phenomenon that encompasses a continuum of behaviors from severe abuse to total abstinence, and acknowledges that some ways of using drugs are clearly safer than others.
• Establishes quality of individual and community life and well-being--not necessarily cessation of all drug use--as the criteria for successful interventions and policies.
• Calls for the non-judgmental, non-coercive provision of services and resources to people who use drugs and the communities in which they live in order to assist them in reducing attendant harm.
• Ensures that drug users and those with a history of drug use routinely have a real voice in the creation of programs and policies designed to serve them.
• Affirms drugs users themselves as the primary agents of reducing the harms of their drug use, and seeks to empower users to share information and support each other in strategies which meet their actual conditions of use.
• Recognizes that the realities of poverty, class, racism, social isolation, past trauma, sex-based discrimination and other social inequalities affect both people's vulnerability to and capacity for effectively dealing with drug-related harm.
• Does not attempt to minimize or ignore the real and tragic harm and danger associated with licit and illicit drug use.

[DTO Luv]

I applaud the efforts of getting this done in Nebraska. What are the main struggles of getting a program like this running?

[safepointsinnebraska]

The biggest problem I have seen is finding people who are IDUs (Intravenous Drug Users) and being in a rural community, it would be much easier if I was in a larger city. Eventually I will move to a larger city but for now I can only give out business cards and then when I do get calls it is hard for them to follow through. It may be because of paranoia or that they simply forgot that they have a resource out there.

[Gunluvver2]

safepoints. . .,
The scourge of drugs in our society is not a problem that is easily solved. I worked in a maximum security prison for ten years and I saw just a small part of the damage that drugs are doing to our society. I don't have time to fill in any details on some of my ideas but I am going to make a few statements that I will comment on later if anyone wants to hear what I have to say. I will label them by number:
1. Not all drugs pose an equal threat to society.
2. The problem of drugs is not confined only to economically deprived citizens.
3. A drug user is also a victim although his drug use creates many victims other than him alone.
4. Some drugs should be legalized.
5. Some drugs should never be legalized.
6. A street drug is more dangerous than a pharmaceutical drug.
7. The huge amounts of money in illegal drugs has corrupted our criminal justice system.

Signing off for now.

GL2

[safepointsinnebraska]

Gunluvver2,

well put for sure. I agree with your opinion about the scourge of drugs. I advocate many things about harm reduction and if you want more information, I have flyers on Hepatitis C, speed, heroin...Just send a self-adressed envelope to;

Safe Points In Nebraska
355 N. 10th St.
Loup City, NE. 68853

Enclose what information you would like me to send to you.

[Sandhills Guru]

Originally Posted by Gunluvver2

safepoints. . .,
The scourge of drugs in our society is not a problem that is easily solved. I worked in a maximum security prison for ten years and I saw just a small part of the damage that drugs are doing to our society. I don't have time to fill in any details on some of my ideas but I am going to make a few statements that I will comment on later if anyone wants to hear what I have to say. I will label them by number:
1. Not all drugs pose an equal threat to society.
2. The problem of drugs is not confined only to economically deprived citizens.
3. A drug user is also a victim although his drug use creates many victims other than him alone.
4. Some drugs should be legalized.
5. Some drugs should never be legalized.
6. A street drug is more dangerous than a pharmaceutical drug.
7. The huge amounts of money in illegal drugs has corrupted our criminal justice system.

Signing off for now.

GL2

I would sure like to hear you opinion more on these. I agree with you on all except maybe 6.

[Gunluvver2]

Originally Posted by Sandhills Guru

I would sure like to hear you opinion more on these. I agree with you on all except maybe 6.

Sandhills,
What I meant by #6 is that a drug manufactured for pharmaceutical use has been manufactured in a sterile environment under exact guidelines. Misuse of a drug for other than its intended purposes can be dangerous however. A "street" drug may not have been made in a clean environment and ingredients that are poison or dangerous are often added. As an example Heroin deaths are often caused by varying levels of the potency of the drug. An intravenous user that has been getting Heroin of low potency can overdose fatally when he injects a batch with a higher potency. Another example is marijuana that is often laced with PCP, LSD or other chemicals that increase the "kick" of the product. Unsanitary manufacturing conditions can also contribute to health problems by causing diseases, infections etc.

GL2

[safepointsinnebraska]

Sandhills and Gunluvver2,
I agree with Gunluvver, there atre all sorts of cuts that they cut these drugs with nowadays and a person never knows what they are getting.

[Gunluvver2]

I thought I might explain my comment on #1 further over my Saturday morning cup of coffee (my drug of choice).
"1. Not all drugs pose an equal threat to society."

In my work with corrections there were drugs that scared the hell out of us. The worst was PCP. PCP can turn a mild mannered dweeb into the Incredible Hulk in a very short time. It takes several officers to control an inmate whacked out on PCP. Pain and submission techniques that are used to control most violent inmates are almost useless on a PCP induced tantrum.

Meth or Crack used long term can be almost as bad as PCP but at least a user of those can be identified by their behavior prior to their going Psycho.

In my opinion drugs like Heroin and Marijuana should be handled as a Medical issue. Methadone is often used to treat Heroin addictions but from anecdotal evidence many involved in treatment programs think that Methadone is worse than Heroin. Obtaining illegal Heroin at inflated prices drives many street junkies to crime. If they could obtain their fix from a legal source the incentive for them to commit crimes to finance their habit is removed.

I wonder if you asked 1,000 long term users of MJ/cigarettes, which habit is harder to kick? What would the answer be?

GL2

[safepointsinnebraska]

I have found cigs are harder than meth to quit or any other drug. I have been fighting the nicotine demon for almost ten years. I got down to 1-5 cigs a day. But to completely quit it has been almost impossible.