[lizard]

Island users to get free crack pipes

The crack pipes, or components like mouthpieces and filters, will be handed out at needle-exchange sites in Victoria, Nanaimo, Campbell River and Courtenay, as well as through mobile units in many other Island communities, said Murray Fyfe, medical health officer for the Vancouver Island Health Authority.

The program will be funded through the Ministry of Health, as part of its provincewide harm-reduction strategy, which already includes needle exchanges. Although pilot distribution programs have been in place in Victoria and other B.C. cities for up to two years, they were funded by a variety of organizations on a test basis.

Through their needle exchange program, drug users in major Canadian cities have been getting new clean needles to shoot up with for quite some time. Now, because a study in Toronto showed that 1 pipe from a sample of 22 comes up Hepatitis-C(HCV) positive, crack smokers in Vancouver get free pipes!

What next? Free rolling papers, free bongs, free whatever...because they might be passing that around too.

I think this whole thing is ridiculous. The risk is to this concentrated group and 1/22 does not impress me as a definitive finding. What else was found on those pipes?

These drug users are not going to get better by giving out free needles and pipes!
Clean tools are not going to make them quit, and they certainly won't delay shooting up or smoking if there are no clean tools around.

But it's not all bad news. Apparently the dealers are healthy and doing well.

What do you think?

[valis]

in oregon, they've had the needle exchange going on for years now. I remember when it first started, just a couple of ladies handing them out to the street youth (Portland has both a big problem with homeless teens and an even bigger problem with black tar heroin). At the time, I was wondering the logistics of it, and to be honest, I still am, as my thought has always been to legalize the crap and let it be self cleaning. With dirty needles, it's still self-cleaning, just apparently in a longer, more expensive way.

I dunno. The reasoning behind it is obviously to curb the HIV epidemic, but, again, that is part of the self-cleaning aspect of drug use. Sort of like the Darwin Awards. I've never really had an issue with it, I can see the logic behind it, but to use taxpayer's money to BOTH buy free needles AND eliminate drugs seems sort of redundant, IMO.

[LANMaster]

Stupid Liberals.

[valis]

gonna have to 'splain yourself, loooocy, on that one.

[iltos]

ok....so i was taught as a kid not to put money in my mouth, 'cause "you just don't know where it's been"

just yesterday, i came away from the atm with too much in my hands, and put some twenties in my mouth while if shuffled the rest of the junk around

if i get sick, do you think it'd be ok to ask the gov to start giving me free twenties?.....that's MY habit, and i need some consideration for it.

[Fyzbo]

You would have to trade in your old twenties. I'm pretty sure the government already does this, destroys old currency and replaces it with freshly printed currency.

[iltos]

Originally Posted by Fyzbo

You would have to trade in your old twenties. I'm pretty sure the government already does this, destroys old currency and replaces it with freshly printed currency.

lol....indeed it does

but i'm thinking i deserve FREE ones.....so i don't get a disease

[erick295]

Providing drug users with clean supplies is a common practice and it makes sense. It releases some of the burden on the health care system (ultimately saving taxpayers), and it can also help prevent the spread of certain diseases through the general population. Because needles and pipes are so inexpensive, the benefits outweigh the costs. And, of course, the availability of these needles and pipes does not encourage drug use; addicts will continue to use drugs whether or not they have a source for clean supplies.

lizard, you should read more carefully... the results of the study you are describing were released less than a week ago. This program is unrelated to it. Also, there are several other diseases that this program is intended to prevent.

[Dr. Chauncey]

What about tainted drugs? Shouldn't they be getting free drugs too so they don't have to go through a dealer? I'm all for my tax dollars paying for dropouts to shoot up, but why stop there when we could feed their addiction? And why are we focusing only on them getting sick from dirty needles and pipes, shouldn't we be doing more? I think we should give them an allowance and free housing so they stay healthy AND on drugs.

[erick295]

Why in the world would you use government money to purchase a harmful, illegal, and expensive substance to alleviate a practically nonexistent problem (unless there are more people getting diseases from drugs than I'm aware of)?

[Dr. Chauncey]

No no no. They're drug addicts! We have to save them!

Originally Posted by some guy up above... I think it was LANMaster

Stupid Liberals.

[Fidelista]

Virus doesn't know what morals are ,what is legal, who is guilty , who is innocent , who is liberal , or who conservative.
Virus is not contained by our wishes and hopes , its done by rational action , based on medical science--- and by promoting awareness /education and other intervention --action.
When a daughter/son or loved one gets infected with a disease , no matter how it originated , are we to ignore it ?.
Is collateral damage OK ?.
Should control of a spreading virus be limited by politic ?--Religion ?--or other reasons ?
Some say its choice , but virus doesn't give a damn about who makes a choice , and why . Virus wants to propagate,mutate , spread , and even find new ways to transfer .
Either we can look at it as political /moral issue , or a medical issue .
I believe it should be looked at as a medical issue , unless the politic actually diminishes the threat
I am not prepared to see innocents suffer for others peoples habits or actions .
We are all in this together , are we not ?.
Virus doesn't give a damn about our opinions . >f

[valis]

Originally Posted by Fidelista

Virus doesn't give a damn about our opinions . >f

well stated, fidelista, as always......as I stated above, I've got no issues with it, more the *government* thinking behind it. Remember, in Portland, it was started by a few ladies with the thoughts of assisting the homeless kids avoid the dangers of HIV, as they knew that the odds of them at least using a clean needle were quite a bit higher than that of getting them off of the street, as virtually all of them are there voluntarily. I've known several dozen of them, and to a unit, they were there by choice. As I said, it's a large problem in portland.

But with the government funding it on one end, and then spending cash on the other end trying to stop the drugs, seems to be, well, I guess 'government in action' would be fitting.

[erick295]

Of course it's a medical thing, and you don't even have to go to the sappy we're-all-in-this-together territory to justify it. Certain contagious diseases are spread through contaminated needles and pipes, and it costs less monetarily and socially to provide drug users with sanitary supplies than it does to treat people who are infected because the diseases were allowed to run rampant. The government is doing the responsible thing and addressing a public health issue. If public officials were truly interested in proliferating drug use, they would legalize controlled substances. As I said before, this does not encourage drug use, it simply provides users with a more sanitary way to do what they are going to be doing anyway.

Anyone with even an ounce of intelligence understands that "drug users" are members of the public like anyone else. You can't just draw some line, throw everyone who uses drugs on one side of it, and just do away with them. That's absurd and it goes against pretty much everything that makes a civilized world civilized. Drug use is a large problem that needs a lot of attention on multiple fronts. The solution to drug use is not killing off drug users, it is finding ways to minimize the damage to users and the general public alike. Even throwing aside all morals and values, it makes no sense whatsoever for a society to allow a large portion of its population to fall ill and die.

[iltos]

Originally Posted by erick295

Anyone with even an ounce of intelligence understands that "drug users" are members of the public like anyone else. You can't just draw some line, throw everyone who uses drugs on one side of it, and just do away with them. That's absurd and it goes against pretty much everything that makes a civilized world civilized. Drug use is a large problem that needs a lot of attention on multiple fronts. The solution to drug use is not killing off drug users, it is finding ways to minimize the damage to users and the general public alike. Even throwing aside all morals and values, it makes no sense whatsoever for a society to allow a large portion of its population to fall ill and die.

ummm....this IS that sappy "we're all in this together" territory