Art Vandelay wrote:That was a lazy comparison by me. I wasn't trying to compare illicit drug use to drinking/smoking/eating poorly/etc, though I realize that that's exactly what I did. The point I intended to make is that people are allowed to make irresponsible, dangerous, unhealthy choices all the time about what they do with their own body, but as long as the government is able to make money off of it, it's ok. Apparently, our freedom of choice ends when the government isn't taxing the substance that we choose.
And who would end up paying and getting paid for these services?
The article wasn't very clear on the funding, but I would guess that, like many free clinics, the labor will be donated. It certainly won't be a federally funded facility, so local taxes will take care of the building and supplies, and if the guy quoted in the article is to be believed (that 1 in 7 emergency calls that they respond to is for an overdose), it will probably save the community money. I have no idea how much it costs to treat someone for aids, but I bet it cost more to treat someone with aids for 15 years than to run this center for a month.
Also, I think it's important to note that this isn't just about giving junkies a safe place to shoot up, but about keeping the public safe from it happening in parks and alleys and dealing with their discarded needles.
Art Vandelay wrote:Also, I think it's important to note that this isn't just about giving junkies a safe place to shoot up, but about keeping the public safe from it happening in parks and alleys and dealing with their discarded needles.
Discarded needles are a problem? I did a quick Google, and nearly all of the top hits were about the urban myth of infected needles in locations where kids play or people frequent. I can't say I've ever heard a news story about someone walking down the street and stepping on a needle.
StlSluggers wrote:Discarded needles are a problem? I did a quick Google, and nearly all of the top hits were about the urban myth of infected needles in locations where kids play or people frequent. I can't say I've ever heard a news story about someone walking down the street and stepping on a needle.
I don't know what you searched for, but I scanned the first two pages returned on a google search for "discarded drug needles" (http://www.google.com/search?q=discarde ... art=0&sa=N) and there wasn't a single mention of any urban myth. Rather, almost all of the links were to articles about programs to clean up needles that had been discarded in public areas, or on infection rates for people stuck with needles. And I can definitely say that I've heard news stories about someone getting stuck by needles, in fact, I've reported on at least one.
StlSluggers wrote:Discarded needles are a problem? I did a quick Google, and nearly all of the top hits were about the urban myth of infected needles in locations where kids play or people frequent. I can't say I've ever heard a news story about someone walking down the street and stepping on a needle.
I don't know what you searched for, but I scanned the first two pages returned on a google search for "discarded drug needles" (http://www.google.com/search?q=discarde ... art=0&sa=N) and there wasn't a single mention of any urban myth. Rather, almost all of the links were to articles about programs to clean up needles that had been discarded in public areas, or on infection rates for people stuck with needles. And I can definitely say that I've heard news stories about someone getting stuck by needles, in fact, I've reported on at least one.
The urban legends are about hiding infected needles places were innocents can become infected with HIV ( ie intentionally giving out the HIV) not about people sharing needles and contracting Hep/HIV. When I played HS baseball we went to some pretty terrible places in Philly and played the teams there and ALL over the ground by the sidewalk were little empty discarded bags of crack/heroin, and someone on our team found a needle. The point is to reduce the amount of HIV positive people, who will continue to spread it to others.
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by Omaha Red Sox » Sun Oct 21, 2007 10:47 pm 
