Do you support free injection sites?

[Tracer]

It's a big issue here, local politics will have you believe there's no reason to support drug use. Thing is here there are thousands of homeless addicted to heroin/ opiods. I hate how it costs the city money, but there's really no other answer. Addicts will rob steal and do whatever it takes to get high, but they don't have to re use needles and transfer diseases.

I live in a huge crack city, but opiods are taking over. I myself have taken percs(medic) and they made me feel on top of the world, percs are a VERY weak form of opiods. I've abandoned good friends because of pill use, it drives me nuts.

You get the feeling heroin houses will feed the need, it's a tough subject but why or why not spend govt money on a massive problem that's sweeping your city?

[j....soy.....]

There's no silver bullet....but I think it's part of the mix....it'll get the most attention no doubt.....

Theres so many different types of addicts so there's no single solution.....I think you need a bunch....

Its harm reduction....it saves lives.....

[pinche gringo]

It's a good idea. Offering a safe and clean place for people to use isn't going to encourage or spread the use of drugs but it will reduce the spread of disease.

[shark tits]

if our benevolent government wants to help out that way, it's a good idea. not a panacea because w/ methadone and suboxine clinics, it turns junkies into crackheads. i'd love if i could go down by wormside and get a free shot of dope at the needle exchange. i think it's swell enough that they hand out rigs even though i kinda think it's silly. i've got Hep C already and i don't think anyone owes it to give us free stuff but it's definitely a step in the right direction.
the sucky thing about the clinics as they now stand is you hafta be strung out on government pseudo dope. heroin is my drug of choice but i skate a lot more than i do dope so i'm ineligible for a little methadone now and again. i'm sure the free injection sites would run the same way and make it easy for people to be addicts. they're still gonna steal, panhandle and hook but at least they get a wake up shot on the house.
opiates are rad just not as a lifestyle.

[Durndle]

absolutely. it's been shown to reduce crime and the spread of diseases in europe they should do the same in the states. and it's cheaper than the war on drugs

[Jim and Dan]

if our benevolent government wants to help out that way, it's a good idea. not a panacea because w/ methadone and suboxine clinics, it turns junkies into crackheads. i'd love if i could go down by wormside and get a free shot of dope at the needle exchange. i think it's swell enough that they hand out rigs even though i kinda think it's silly. i've got Hep C already and i don't think anyone owes it to give us free stuff but it's definitely a step in the right direction.
the sucky thing about the clinics as they now stand is you hafta be strung out on government pseudo dope. heroin is my drug of choice but i skate a lot more than i do dope so i'm ineligible for a little methadone now and again. i'm sure the free injection sites would run the same way and make it easy for people to be addicts. they're still gonna steal, panhandle and hook but at least they get a wake up shot on the house.
opiates are rad just not as a lifestyle.

Truth mate (in my particular paradigm).

[felixarguelles]

why does the government prefer having people hooked on methadone to heroin? im hella ignorant about this, thankfully
tried to look it up but i got way more info than i was looking for, can someone dumb this down for me?

[shark tits]

why does the government prefer having people hooked on methadone to heroin? im hella ignorant about this, thankfully
tried to look it up but i got way more info than i was looking for, can someone dumb this down for me?

your taxes into government coffers. then there's the ancillary benefit of still busting junkies/dealers and the prison industrial complex. there's some successful methadone addicts but mostly it's a racket. i was on the flagstaff clinic ever so  briefly and they expected you to pee dirty sometimes, i nodded myself out of a job cause they raised my dosage [no complaints from me there]. keep people strung out on a product is good business, sorry taxpayers.

[SHARPSHOOTER]

The city I live in one has a couple of sites. There's obvious pros and cons. In my opinion they should just machine gun the whole of the DTES, but that's not exactly ethical. I support a cleaner city with no needles laying around, but I definitely don't support my tax money going to heroin addicts for a place to shoot up and collect welfare.

[felixarguelles]

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why does the government prefer having people hooked on methadone to heroin? im hella ignorant about this, thankfully
tried to look it up but i got way more info than i was looking for, can someone dumb this down for me?

[close]

your taxes into government coffers. then there's the ancillary benefit of still busting junkies/dealers and the prison industrial complex. there's some successful methadone addicts but mostly it's a racket. i was on the flagstaff clinic ever so  briefly and they expected you to pee dirty sometimes, i nodded myself out of a job cause they raised my dosage [no complaints from me there]. keep people strung out on a product is good business, sorry taxpayers.

werd, thats fucked up and it makes financial sense so it sounds like some bullshit people would pull.
why did they raise your dosage if you dont mind me asking?

[shark tits]

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why does the government prefer having people hooked on methadone to heroin? im hella ignorant about this, thankfully
tried to look it up but i got way more info than i was looking for, can someone dumb this down for me?

[close]

your taxes into government coffers. then there's the ancillary benefit of still busting junkies/dealers and the prison industrial complex. there's some successful methadone addicts but mostly it's a racket. i was on the flagstaff clinic ever so  briefly and they expected you to pee dirty sometimes, i nodded myself out of a job cause they raised my dosage [no complaints from me there]. keep people strung out on a product is good business, sorry taxpayers.

[close]

werd, thats fucked up and it makes financial sense so it sounds like some bullshit people would pull.
why did they raise your dosage if you dont mind me asking?

job security. they try to get everyone on too high a dose to quit and you're hooked for life. forget about traveling or sleeping in. to quote DRI out of context 'like an alarm clock our minds know the times, we plan our lives around the lines'
ps jim and dan, what's goin on this wkend? hopefully gonna make providence.

[fulltechnicalskizzy]

Translation: "Because I lied to doctors to get more drugs."

[shark tits]

Translation: "Because I lied to doctors to get more drugs."

nah bitch, what i said. if that were the case i would've said so.
same as drug dealers or cigarette corporations they want you hooked. their plan backfired though cause i nodded out instead of going to work, got fired, got kicked out by my exwife and left the state.

[felixarguelles]

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why does the government prefer having people hooked on methadone to heroin? im hella ignorant about this, thankfully
tried to look it up but i got way more info than i was looking for, can someone dumb this down for me?

[close]

your taxes into government coffers. then there's the ancillary benefit of still busting junkies/dealers and the prison industrial complex. there's some successful methadone addicts but mostly it's a racket. i was on the flagstaff clinic ever so  briefly and they expected you to pee dirty sometimes, i nodded myself out of a job cause they raised my dosage [no complaints from me there]. keep people strung out on a product is good business, sorry taxpayers.

[close]

werd, thats fucked up and it makes financial sense so it sounds like some bullshit people would pull.
why did they raise your dosage if you dont mind me asking?

[close]

job security. they try to get everyone on too high a dose to quit and you're hooked for life. forget about traveling or sleeping in. to quote DRI out of context 'like an alarm clock our minds know the times, we plan our lives around the lines'
ps jim and dan, what's goin on this wkend? hopefully gonna make providence.

if the "success" of these clinics has anything to do with the number of patients they are serving, this makes a lot of sense...
i dont really see much reason to lie about this shit and from your posts you come off as honest, i dont know why dude called you out but whatever

edited it to fix a spelling mistake, and if i come across as hella paranoid thats fine because i guess i am about this type of shit

[weedpop]

Tracer, I am genuinely shocked by your conscientious and thoughtful approach to this issue. I guess nobody's wrong 100% of the time.

Shark Tits, were you actually paying out-of-pocket for the drugs you received from this clinic or was the cost covered by the government/some insurance plan? I don't know exactly how things work in the US but the supervised injection sites I know of don't cost anything to use and don't actually supply drugs to people, just the paraphernalia and a clean, safe, medically supervised environment to use them in. Some clinics in Canada and the EU have actually started regularly supplying free doses to addicts though, and these have apparently been even more successful both in reducing crime and disease and allowing people to get back to some semblance of a normal life (i.e. holding down legit jobs, looking after their health, re-connecting with friends and family etc.) "Your tax dollars into government coffers" is a nonsensical statement anyway. Aren't your tax dollars, by definition, already in government coffers once they're collected? If they wanted your money so bad why wouldn't they just, you know, keep it instead of putting it into expensive clinics to try and squeeze profits out of a bunch of junkies who (newsflash) don't have a lot of disposable income anyway. Sounds like nobody's making much of a profit here except for the drug companies who produce the shit and the private clinics who sell it for a hefty markup to wealthier addicts.

Basically, as Jsoy said, this issue comes down to whether you prefer a harm-reduction or a 'upholding public morals' approach. The morons who support the latter will probably never get past the fact that these places tacitly condone drug use by using public funds to facilitate it (won't somebody think of the children?!) The thing is, for their approach to be justified you need three things: 1) actual moral consensus within society that drug use is inherently bad and must be stopped; 2) cost effective means of preventing the importation and use of drugs and 3) for your anti-drug policies to ACTUALLY WORK. In the current 'war on drugs' none of these three conditions have been met.

[shark tits]

well weedpop, technically yes they already have your money and they invest it how they like. some things are for the public good such as libraries and paved streets. some are in certain people's interests, war, prisons etc. some are experimental. in my experience working around state employees they let their vehicles idle all shift because if they don't use up a bigger budget than last yr they won't get a bigger one next yr. GDP equals progress.
not to say everything the government does is wrong but none of it is altruistic. my exwife was paying $70 a wk for it but regardless, they were subsidized by AZ's taxes. kind of like hospitals, i never pay em but they stay in business somehow.
this was maybe 7ish yrs ago, no insurance.

[Owen]

If the economic benefits of harm minimisation programs (needle exchange, pharmacotherapy programs etc) were promoted, it would be far more popular amongst the general populace. I can't be bothered looking the exact figure up, but I read a paper that stated that for every $1 spend on harm minimisation programs in Australia there was a health care saving of approx $37. People having hepatitis and other blood borne diseases is a huge burden on the health system.

There are major societal (and economic) benefits to people being able to experiment with/use drugs and come out of it without a lifelong disease that will likely kill them if not treated.

[Ollie Ringwald]

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why does the government prefer having people hooked on methadone to heroin? im hella ignorant about this, thankfully
tried to look it up but i got way more info than i was looking for, can someone dumb this down for me?

[close]

your taxes into government coffers. then there's the ancillary benefit of still busting junkies/dealers and the prison industrial complex. there's some successful methadone addicts but mostly it's a racket. i was on the flagstaff clinic ever so? ? briefly and they expected you to pee dirty sometimes, i nodded myself out of a job cause they raised my dosage [no complaints from me there]. keep people strung out on a product is good business, sorry taxpayers.

[close]

werd, thats fucked up and it makes financial sense so it sounds like some bullshit people would pull.
why did they raise your dosage if you dont mind me asking?

[close]

job security. they try to get everyone on too high a dose to quit and you're hooked for life. forget about traveling or sleeping in.

Unless you're being titrated the only reason a Methadone clinic would raise your dose is because you're using Heroin (or similar) on top of your Methadone.

[Owen]

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why does the government prefer having people hooked on methadone to heroin? im hella ignorant about this, thankfully
tried to look it up but i got way more info than i was looking for, can someone dumb this down for me?

[close]

your taxes into government coffers. then there's the ancillary benefit of still busting junkies/dealers and the prison industrial complex. there's some successful methadone addicts but mostly it's a racket. i was on the flagstaff clinic ever so? ? briefly and they expected you to pee dirty sometimes, i nodded myself out of a job cause they raised my dosage [no complaints from me there]. keep people strung out on a product is good business, sorry taxpayers.

[close]

werd, thats fucked up and it makes financial sense so it sounds like some bullshit people would pull.
why did they raise your dosage if you dont mind me asking?

[close]

job security. they try to get everyone on too high a dose to quit and you're hooked for life. forget about traveling or sleeping in.

[close]

Unless you're being titrated the only reason a Methadone clinic would raise your dose is because you're using Heroin (or similar) on top of your Methadone.

Why would they do this? Raising the dosage would only increase the risk over overdosing.

[Ollie Ringwald]

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why does the government prefer having people hooked on methadone to heroin? im hella ignorant about this, thankfully
tried to look it up but i got way more info than i was looking for, can someone dumb this down for me?

[close]

your taxes into government coffers. then there's the ancillary benefit of still busting junkies/dealers and the prison industrial complex. there's some successful methadone addicts but mostly it's a racket. i was on the flagstaff clinic ever so? ?? briefly and they expected you to pee dirty sometimes, i nodded myself out of a job cause they raised my dosage [no complaints from me there]. keep people strung out on a product is good business, sorry taxpayers.

[close]

werd, thats fucked up and it makes financial sense so it sounds like some bullshit people would pull.
why did they raise your dosage if you dont mind me asking?

[close]

job security. they try to get everyone on too high a dose to quit and you're hooked for life. forget about traveling or sleeping in.

[close]

Unless you're being titrated the only reason a Methadone clinic would raise your dose is because you're using Heroin (or similar) on top of your Methadone.

[close]

Why would they do this? Raising the dosage would only increase the risk over overdosing.

It would be orally administered methadone which is pretty hard to overdose on unless you're taking huge doses which a clinic wouldn't give you.. this is why they make people collect it daily, take it under supervision and do a breathalyzer test before they're given it.

[Owen]

The risk of overdosing comes from people using both methedone and heroin, which loads of people do. Heaps of people overdose this way due to the long lasting nature of methedone. If someone is using heroin, raising their methedone dosage seems very dangerous.