37 people have already died of overdoses in Vancouver alone this year.
As of September 15, Vancouver has opened its first 'official' safe injection site. There was some other non-official sites set up before, but this is the first one set up by the government. The idea is a safe place for users of hard drugs, namely heroin, to shoot up with a much smaller risk of getting HIV or other drug related diseases or ODing. The centre will supply injection kits and will have nurses there to supervise. They will also have places where they can receive counselling and peer referrals.
"Health Canada has committed $1.5 million to pay for research during the pilot project and the B.C. government will also give $2 million to help cover costs."
People that are against this idea are mostly saying that the money should go to education to prevent the re-occurance of this promblem (addiction) in our society, and that having the government support this will simply encourage more people into addiction.
Those who agree think this will save lives, and thats all that matters. More money would be spent treating people for HIV, and thats where the money will be saved.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/s ... hub=Health
Discuss.
Safe Injection Sites
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Henrietta
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Mechanical Thought
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Venom
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Why can't you take my view on it seriously? I see it as the government saying "ok you can abuse drugs but only if we are present." How is this a good thing? This isn't gonna decrease drug use its just gonna make it easier for people. Obviously they aren't gonna be arrested if they come to this "clinic" and so if anything it will increase drug use. Basically they are making it legal if you do it under their supervision. I can see this becoming a huge legal problem in the future. They should be focusing this money and effort into putting these junkies in jail not supporting their habit.
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Axtech
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This is stupid. Quit being so easy on the fucking drug users. There's no way you can live in a society where you can access drugs without knowing the risks. If you shoot up and die from it, it's your own damn fault.
I don't understand how anyone would stand for such hypocracy. "Doing drugs is illegal... buuuut, we'll give you a nice little place to shoot up where you won't, you know, die."
I don't understand how anyone would stand for such hypocracy. "Doing drugs is illegal... buuuut, we'll give you a nice little place to shoot up where you won't, you know, die."
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Every now and then I fall out into open air just to feel the wind, rain and everything.
And though the hum and sway gets me down, I'll find the way to peace and openness.
"Robbo" - © Alex (happeningfish)...^5 ^5 v v
Every now and then I fall out into open air just to feel the wind, rain and everything.
And though the hum and sway gets me down, I'll find the way to peace and openness.
"Robbo" - © Alex (happeningfish)...^5 ^5 v v
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faninor
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Axtech wrote:This is stupid. Quit being so easy on the fucking drug users. There's no way you can live in a society where you can access drugs without knowing the risks. If you shoot up and die from it, it's your own damn fault.
I don't understand how anyone would stand for such hypocracy. "Doing drugs is illegal... buuuut, we'll give you a nice little place to shoot up where you won't, you know, die."
Pretty much.
-Josh
I <3 Kiwi
"The fundamental thing about music is its destiny to be broadcast or shared." -Colin Greenwood of Radiohead
I <3 Kiwi
"The fundamental thing about music is its destiny to be broadcast or shared." -Colin Greenwood of Radiohead
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ihatethunderbay
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I think you guys are confusing exactly what safe injection sites are. The government is not giving people drugs. There has also been talk about a goverment-ran study where they would, but thats not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about health centres where people would bring in the drugs they had bought and have them tested for purity, and exchange dirty needles for clean ones.
You are saying that people deserve to OD, deserve to die just because they have a physical addiction to a drug, are you not? Thats the part I don't think you understand. An addiction is a medical condition. Not only is it mental, its physical. If they stopped doing heroin all of a sudden, they would go through withdrawl and become violently ill. People really don't have a choice once they get addicted. It's a disease.
The most important thing is that they need to turn their whole lives around, and I think as a society, its our responsiblity to give them the push they need. They can't do it alone, and we have the ressources available to help them. I don't understand how we can stand back and let them die when 2,000 people have OD'ed in Vancouver alone since 1992. Many people that OD die because their bodies have been used to taking a certain purity of the drug, but then suddenly are faced with a much stronger strain of it. Sometimes they don't even know how much could kill them. That's why the nurses are there. To give moral support and counselling, and to test the purity of the drugs, so that they know what they're shooting up.
What about the kids that live on the downtown east side? Kids that watch people shoot up right beside their homes? How are they ever going to feel safe when there are criminals who steal from, rape and murder drug-users when they can't defend themselves? When a child picks up a dirty needle from the ground and gets HIV, maybe then we'll begin to realize the problem doesn't just affect those who use.
Do you know that many drug-users, especially women, shoot up right on the front steps of the police station on hastings and main just so they wont get murdered while they're tripping out? But who cares, right? They deserve to die, they're just junkies.
The thing about safe injection sites is that they're a stepping stone for people to start getting off the street and get their lives together. Many women are in bad relationships and can find help to get out of them, people can find information about detox centers ect.
You are saying that people deserve to OD, deserve to die just because they have a physical addiction to a drug, are you not? Thats the part I don't think you understand. An addiction is a medical condition. Not only is it mental, its physical. If they stopped doing heroin all of a sudden, they would go through withdrawl and become violently ill. People really don't have a choice once they get addicted. It's a disease.
The most important thing is that they need to turn their whole lives around, and I think as a society, its our responsiblity to give them the push they need. They can't do it alone, and we have the ressources available to help them. I don't understand how we can stand back and let them die when 2,000 people have OD'ed in Vancouver alone since 1992. Many people that OD die because their bodies have been used to taking a certain purity of the drug, but then suddenly are faced with a much stronger strain of it. Sometimes they don't even know how much could kill them. That's why the nurses are there. To give moral support and counselling, and to test the purity of the drugs, so that they know what they're shooting up.
What about the kids that live on the downtown east side? Kids that watch people shoot up right beside their homes? How are they ever going to feel safe when there are criminals who steal from, rape and murder drug-users when they can't defend themselves? When a child picks up a dirty needle from the ground and gets HIV, maybe then we'll begin to realize the problem doesn't just affect those who use.
Do you know that many drug-users, especially women, shoot up right on the front steps of the police station on hastings and main just so they wont get murdered while they're tripping out? But who cares, right? They deserve to die, they're just junkies.
The thing about safe injection sites is that they're a stepping stone for people to start getting off the street and get their lives together. Many women are in bad relationships and can find help to get out of them, people can find information about detox centers ect.
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faninor
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We aren't confusing anything... assuming the possession of these drugs is illegal, (I guess I don't know enough about Canadian law to say that they are, but that's what I would expect) why is the government providing a place that is essentially off limits for enforcing their laws?
We aren't saying they deserve to die, we're saying the government is being hypocritical.
We aren't saying they deserve to die, we're saying the government is being hypocritical.
-Josh
I <3 Kiwi
"The fundamental thing about music is its destiny to be broadcast or shared." -Colin Greenwood of Radiohead
I <3 Kiwi
"The fundamental thing about music is its destiny to be broadcast or shared." -Colin Greenwood of Radiohead
Sorry, I misread what someone had wrote, and I thought someone said that the government was the one giving out the drugs. My bad.
Instead of thinking of it as a place for the government to get people to do drugs, think of it as a detox clinic. Methadone is used in clinics as a treatment to get people off harder drugs, but as far as I know, it’s not legal for someone who's not in the clinic to have it.
Whether or not the drugs are illegal is not really the point. The point is that the government is offering those who have nowhere else to go protection from getting hurt or killed.
It may be hypocritical, but the government is dealing with reality. Instead of ignoring the problem and pretending it doesn’t exist or just letting their citizens die, they’re attempting to find a solution. The government is acting more like a concerned parent trying to help their children get better and find their way out of the problem then just punishing anyone who has fallen into this deadly cycle of abuse. There are all sorts of other problems associated with drug abuse, including spousal and child abuse, poverty etc. that also need to be looked at in the whole picture. Drug users are people, not just criminals.
Instead of thinking of it as a place for the government to get people to do drugs, think of it as a detox clinic. Methadone is used in clinics as a treatment to get people off harder drugs, but as far as I know, it’s not legal for someone who's not in the clinic to have it.
In Frankfurt, Germany, the rate of recovery for those using safe injection sites is more than four times higher than for North Americans using traditional treatment therapy source
Whether or not the drugs are illegal is not really the point. The point is that the government is offering those who have nowhere else to go protection from getting hurt or killed.
It may be hypocritical, but the government is dealing with reality. Instead of ignoring the problem and pretending it doesn’t exist or just letting their citizens die, they’re attempting to find a solution. The government is acting more like a concerned parent trying to help their children get better and find their way out of the problem then just punishing anyone who has fallen into this deadly cycle of abuse. There are all sorts of other problems associated with drug abuse, including spousal and child abuse, poverty etc. that also need to be looked at in the whole picture. Drug users are people, not just criminals.
We aren't saying they deserve to die
If you shoot up and die from it, it's your own damn fault.
Venom wrote:Why can't you take my view on it seriously? I see it as the government saying "ok you can abuse drugs but only if we are present." How is this a good thing? This isn't gonna decrease drug use its just gonna make it easier for people. Obviously they aren't gonna be arrested if they come to this "clinic" and so if anything it will increase drug use. Basically they are making it legal if you do it under their supervision. I can see this becoming a huge legal problem in the future. They should be focusing this money and effort into putting these junkies in jail not supporting their habit.
Could you please explain to me how the fuck throwing people in jail is going to fix anything?
We, as tax-paying citizens, are going to have to pay millions of dollars for the police, courts, jails etc. Also, chances are, especially if they're female, which makes the chances pretty high that they're sex workers, they probably have children, which in turn makes the chances pretty high their babies are going to be born already hooked on drugs or HIV positive.
So, money will have to go taking care of these children. Because we've decided to simply not deal with the problems, those children born addicted will not be treated, will get sick and possibly die. Once people get out of jail they will simply go back to doing drugs, its a deadly cycle, ya see. There's no possible way we can police everything, so then they'll get back on drugs have/father a few more children, and get thrown back in jail. No one will ever get better, because we'd rather deny it, and pretend the problem doesn't exist. I get cha! Brilliant plan, man!
OR we could try to get people to turn their lives around, find help on getting off the street, not die, find information on support centers and employment oppurtunities and maybe, just maybe, we could start to move foward.
*shrug*
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faninor
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It is their fault. If you don't use drugs you won't be shooting up and overdosing. That doesn't mean it /should/ happen, but by doing it they're accepting the risk. There's a difference between saying what Rob said and "I hope they all die."
And I honestly don't see how a safe injection site would help with any of that unless the users kick their habit.
There are all sorts of other problems associated with drug abuse, including spousal and child abuse, poverty etc. that also need to be looked at in the whole picture. Drug users are people, not just criminals.
And I honestly don't see how a safe injection site would help with any of that unless the users kick their habit.
-Josh
I <3 Kiwi
"The fundamental thing about music is its destiny to be broadcast or shared." -Colin Greenwood of Radiohead
I <3 Kiwi
"The fundamental thing about music is its destiny to be broadcast or shared." -Colin Greenwood of Radiohead
Venom wrote:Why can't you take my view on it seriously? I see it as the government saying "ok you can abuse drugs but only if we are present." How is this a good thing? This isn't gonna decrease drug use its just gonna make it easier for people. Obviously they aren't gonna be arrested if they come to this "clinic" and so if anything it will increase drug use. Basically they are making it legal if you do it under their supervision. I can see this becoming a huge legal problem in the future. They should be focusing this money and effort into putting these junkies in jail not supporting their habit.
I would take your view seriously if you would say for example 'i don't believe this will work', rather than 'this will not work'. This is a new idea that hasn't been tried yet. Admittedly it is an unconventional idea but as drug problems have persisted in in British Colombia we could assume that conventional means of stopping the drug problem haven't worked. So perhaps it's time to try something new. You may be right though, it may turn out to be a complete disaster, but why don't you wait and see before you pass sure decisive judgements.
Drug addiction happen from one bad mistake. these people are our neighbors, our daughters and or mothers. They arn't those bad people that live in the bad end of town. Drug addiction is a serious problem that can't just be quit, you can't just "not take drugs". It's the hardest experience the human body can endure. In some cases you can even die from withdrawl
If your child came home and told you he had a drug addiction, would you sit by and let him die? Would you be concerned about what he was getting and how safe he was? Or would you kill him outright? Or disown him? Or would you send him to jail for a mistake anyone could make.
these people need our help, not our hate. They don't need to be thrown in jail( where they will still get drugs). Many of you people like to pretend that it doesn't happen, but it does! It happens in every city, and people get aids and die because of it. And all because they don't have a safe way to get needles. They are wrong in being drug users, and they do need to be stopped. But before we can help them, we need them alive
If your child came home and told you he had a drug addiction, would you sit by and let him die? Would you be concerned about what he was getting and how safe he was? Or would you kill him outright? Or disown him? Or would you send him to jail for a mistake anyone could make.
these people need our help, not our hate. They don't need to be thrown in jail( where they will still get drugs). Many of you people like to pretend that it doesn't happen, but it does! It happens in every city, and people get aids and die because of it. And all because they don't have a safe way to get needles. They are wrong in being drug users, and they do need to be stopped. But before we can help them, we need them alive
Last edited by I AM ME on 11/2/2003, 2:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
"How can we justify spending so much on destruction and so little on life?" Matthew Good
"The white dove is gone, the one world has come down hard, so why not share the pain of our problems, when all around are wrong ways, when all around is hurt, i'll roll up in an odd shape and wait, untill the tide has turned.....with anger, i'm dead weight, i'm anchored"- IME, God Rocket (Into the Heart of Las Vegas) ^ Some say this song is about a terrorists thoughts before 911
"Pray for the sheep" Matt Good
"But it's alright, take the world and make it yours again" Matt Good
I felt it in the wind, and i saw it in the sky, i thought it was the end, i thought it was the 4th of July.
"Hold on, hold on children, your mother and father are leaving, hold on, hold on children your best freind's parents are leaving, leaving,.......*AHHH*! " - Death From Above - Black History Month
"The white dove is gone, the one world has come down hard, so why not share the pain of our problems, when all around are wrong ways, when all around is hurt, i'll roll up in an odd shape and wait, untill the tide has turned.....with anger, i'm dead weight, i'm anchored"- IME, God Rocket (Into the Heart of Las Vegas) ^ Some say this song is about a terrorists thoughts before 911
"Pray for the sheep" Matt Good
"But it's alright, take the world and make it yours again" Matt Good
I felt it in the wind, and i saw it in the sky, i thought it was the end, i thought it was the 4th of July.
"Hold on, hold on children, your mother and father are leaving, hold on, hold on children your best freind's parents are leaving, leaving,.......*AHHH*! " - Death From Above - Black History Month
*bows* thank you Yannic, your fight has been admirable, and i think we should all at least be glad that someone as young as yannic is using her head and free thought.
Remeber people, i'm against drug use with a passion, but i'm realistic enough to admit it happens, no matter how many laws we put on paper, instead of using paper to solve the problem, lets try to help these people
Remeber people, i'm against drug use with a passion, but i'm realistic enough to admit it happens, no matter how many laws we put on paper, instead of using paper to solve the problem, lets try to help these people
"How can we justify spending so much on destruction and so little on life?" Matthew Good
"The white dove is gone, the one world has come down hard, so why not share the pain of our problems, when all around are wrong ways, when all around is hurt, i'll roll up in an odd shape and wait, untill the tide has turned.....with anger, i'm dead weight, i'm anchored"- IME, God Rocket (Into the Heart of Las Vegas) ^ Some say this song is about a terrorists thoughts before 911
"Pray for the sheep" Matt Good
"But it's alright, take the world and make it yours again" Matt Good
I felt it in the wind, and i saw it in the sky, i thought it was the end, i thought it was the 4th of July.
"Hold on, hold on children, your mother and father are leaving, hold on, hold on children your best freind's parents are leaving, leaving,.......*AHHH*! " - Death From Above - Black History Month
"The white dove is gone, the one world has come down hard, so why not share the pain of our problems, when all around are wrong ways, when all around is hurt, i'll roll up in an odd shape and wait, untill the tide has turned.....with anger, i'm dead weight, i'm anchored"- IME, God Rocket (Into the Heart of Las Vegas) ^ Some say this song is about a terrorists thoughts before 911
"Pray for the sheep" Matt Good
"But it's alright, take the world and make it yours again" Matt Good
I felt it in the wind, and i saw it in the sky, i thought it was the end, i thought it was the 4th of July.
"Hold on, hold on children, your mother and father are leaving, hold on, hold on children your best freind's parents are leaving, leaving,.......*AHHH*! " - Death From Above - Black History Month