Quote:
Originally Posted by Griff
By selecting health I have exposed my own bias.
However, nobody was happier than me last week when the local police departments rounded up a bunch of NY/Philly mother-fuckers who've been playing gang-banger is our once quiet rust belt towns.
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Hey Griff, thanks for the thread. I share your bias in this regard.
I hear the most heartbreaking stories about this topic. One part of an interview with someone who'd recently been rescued with medical intervention lamented that they'd rather have been let to die. Another person talked about the cost of his habit. He said he had a $1000 / week habit. Wow. And then I did the math with another tidbit from the same series of programs I'd heard earlier. The upshot was that a dose of heroin went for about $9. That's 16 injections a day, every fucking day. 16 x 9 = $151 / day, just for dope. Jesus.
I've heard stories about people, people who weren't born addicts of course. But circumstances in their lives resulted in addiction. I hear how passive that voice sounds. But I can't believe anybody wants to be an addict, I just can't. I get the sense that people don't want to feel pain, don't want to feel sick. That's not wrong, that's normal. But they have bad, unhealthful, illegal methods to reach those normal ends. That's where the law enforcement aspect often overlaps.
And the legal system, by itself, is woefully ill-equipped to sort out the causes behind the symptom at hand. It's like direct pressure on a gaping wound. It doesn't sew it shut, it doesn't offer any ongoing treatment. The is not law enforcement's fault. They have a job, and they're doing it. But the problem persists, and it continues to be a problem for the addict, for the victims of the crimes committed in the name of getting money to score drugs, for the police, for everybody. Who fucking benefits?
There has to be a better way.
In Seattle, there's an open discussion about a safe consumption site. Yep, a place where people can come and do their illegal drugs in a supervised and safe and clean environment. It's highly controversial, and the discussion is very active. But it's a creative idea that offers a lot of solutions to lots of the horrible side problems of addiction.
And another quick note before I go about naloxone and buprenorphine, one to stop overdoses and the other, like methadone, to stabilize addictions. Not enough time now, but food for thought.
Thanks again Griff.