Safe Injection Sites

[gollum9630]

there have been talks about having a few in Vancouver and now on monday they are finally openng one up. I was wondering what you people thought of these sites, whether they help get people off drugs and keep them from oding or if they wont work and are useless

[Estel13]

I dunno. I haven't heard anything about these. Details please!

[gollum9630]

they are basically places where people who are addicted to drugs suck as heroin can go and take they drugs and be watched as to how much they take so they dont overdose

[azalea]

That sounds like a fun work environment.
So is Canada about to legalize drugs? I don't know, I can't imagine perpetuating a junkie's heroin habit.

[gollum9630]

its not about legalizing heroin. Its about stopping people from oding on it nd slowly easing them off it. If there gonna do it anyways why not let it be in a safe enviroment where they wont kill themselves nor have to result to theft and prostitution to buy the stuff

[azalea]

Oh, the ease off of it thing. They do that in hospitals here, I think, by giving morphine, then something else, so that the addict doesn't have as severe side effects or go into shock or whatever (I don't know the science of it). I think it's a good idea. But I also think they need long-term treatment to stay off of it, and sadly, not all addicts actually want to stop doing it.

[gollum9630]

ttttttttyah, thats the big question here, if they are actually gonna use the sites or is it just gonna be a big waste of money and time. If they get used i think they are a great idea, but it would be a shame if they dont get used

[Ruinel]

Stop junkies from od'ing. What's the fun in that?

[jerseydevil]

Completely useless. I have a friend who has been a severe heroin addict. I don't know if he's used in a while - since he was trying to stop. In Oregon they have meth clinics for the same reason - they don't work there, they're not going to work by giving the "real" stuff either.

Addiction is serious. Without counceling, therapy and a LONG recovery period where the person is seriously worked with it does nothing. I can tell you from personal experience dealing with Jason as to what you're "injection sites" will be used for. When the junkie doesn't have the money or needs a quick hit - they'll go there. Unless there is a way to track them - they will also move from clinic to clinic to get the number of fixes they want. It's an invitation to abuse.

This is the most stupid idea I have ever heard of. Although - on second thought - maybe it'll be good for the United States. I see it now - all our heroin addicts who are homeless (Jason had lived on the streets of Seattle, Portland, Eugene and other cities) and don't have the money to maintain their habits start making their way to Vancouver. If you're going to be homeless and a heroin addict - you might as well go to a city that supports you. Hope you have a lot of homeless shelters.

[Millane]

hmmm i was reading an article in the paper on friday about the safe injecting rooms in sydney...
i wouldnt say it was completely useless. it has its good points aswell as its bad points. Sure its not exactly acting as a deterrent but im sure some people who value any human life would think its good that Heroin users are being monitered by nurses just in case they did overdose. Drug Free Australia reported that there are 36 times more od's than in the surrounding neighborhood, but i dont think thats very reliable. People say "it is the biggest waste of money, leave the sdropkicks for dead" but when you think of the money that is being wasted every time paramedics are called out to the alleyways because someones ****ed themselves again you start thinking whether it is completely useless, i bet the situation is a lot different in America and Canada than in Kings Cross, Sydney but it isnt as ridiculous as it sounds

[Ornelírë Mistë]

(deleted)

[GrayMouser]

The sites serve only to give junkies a safe, clean place to inject.
It doesn't supply drugs; you have to bring your own (so by itself it won't cut down on crime or prostitution).

The law has been changed so that it's legal to possess inside the site.

The purpose is to cut down on ODs and HIV

For more than a decade, harm-reduction programs in Europe have produced compelling results. In Zurich, Switzerland, many streets that were once needle-littered and crime-ridden are no longer so forbidding. And since the country's first safe-injection site opened in 1986, there hasn't been a single fatal overdose at any of the 13 sites operating across three Swiss cities, according to the U.S.-based advocacy group Drug Policy Alliance. Frankfurt, Germany, a city with population and drug-user demographics similar to those of Vancouver, opened five sites beginning in 1994; fatal overdoses there declined from 147 in 1991 to 26 in 1997, and the spread of HIV among drug users declined dramatically as well.

(from Salon, unfortunately subscriber-only)

Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell, who made opening the site part of his election campaign, is a former police narcotics officer and former B.C. Chief Coroner; hardly a bleeding-heart liberal.


If you're gonna criticise, it helps to find out what you're talking about first, no?

[Ornelírë Mistë]

yes, deleting my post.

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by GrayMouser
The sites serve only to give junkies a safe, clean place to inject.
It doesn't supply drugs; you have to bring your own (so by itself it won't cut down on crime or prostitution).

The law has been changed so that it's legal to possess inside the site.

What about when you are on your way to walking in? If they don't supply inside - don't you think that people would be afraid of cops trying to get them as they walk in - or trailing them? If I was them - I think I'd rather take my chances in the streets - then risk the cops setting a trap around the place.

The purpose is to cut down on ODs and HIV



(from Salon, unfortunately subscriber-only)

Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell, who made opening the site part of his election campaign, is a former police narcotics officer and former B.C. Chief Coroner; hardly a bleeding-heart liberal.


If you're gonna criticise, it helps to find out what you're talking about first, no?

Concerning your article - my father went to Amsterdam several times and he thought that the city was dirty. There are also many reasons why drug abuse declines - education, the condition of the economy, etc.

[GrayMouser]

Originally posted by OrnelÃ*rë Mistë
yes, deleting my post.

Ooops, did I cause that? Sorry, didn't mean it to sound that harsh

[Ornelírë Mistë]

Oh no, 'tis fine, I just didn't know that the sites were used for- I thought they supplied the heroin.

[Jonathan]

There has been a similar discussion in Sweden about letting the druggies to be able to get clean needles. The fact that they often share needles makes them vulnerable to diseases like jaundice and HIV.
Even though I despise the heavy druggies (I've even been chased by the bloody bastards!) I support the idea of letting them have clean needles. It is not about fighting the drugs and make less people do drugs, to achieve that it would take lots of education and such. It is about to halt the spreading of diseases. It costs society lots of money to take care of the druggies who catches all these diseases, so giving them clean needles would save money.

[Ruinel]

When I was in Switzerland I went to Lucerne. I went to see this this beautiful monument to the Swiss Guards that protected Louis XVI and his family and died when the French working-class stormed the castle. Near the monument was a small, remarkably clean bathroom. In the sink was a used needle, probably from a drug addict. It always struck me at how ironic it was... such a spic and span bathroom... and there was this ugly, used needle.

[Bombadillo]

Hey I saw that same statue. But that's irrelevant I guess.

Wait a minute, is this gonna be a rehabilitation center? Or just a nice place to go and get drugged up?

[Lizra]

I can't imagine people involved so heavily in drug culture that they are shooting up regularly, to be together enough to care if they are at a "safe site". Users shoot up wherever, whenever they can, when they want/need to get high. People shooting up don't really care about much of anything other than copping their buzz...preferably away from anyone who might give them a hassle. Will there be someone to clean up the vomit? That might be a nice touch? Give them a little cup of methedone instead! I don't get this hand holding of the wastedly pathetic. You've got to get them off drugs.