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Title: Seattle plans to open safe spaces for addicts to use heroin — and that's smart
Source:
Vice News
URL Source: https://news.vice.com/article/seatt ... pervised-injection-consumption
Published: Oct 6, 2016
Author: Keegan Hamilton
Post Date: 2016-10-06 19:35:15 by Hondo68
Keywords: None
Views: 17227
Comments: 70
Nearly every major city across the United States has been affected by a wave of heroin abuse and overdoses in recent years, but none have responded with the radical — but proven — approach that Seattle-area officials now plan to take. A county-level heroin task force recommended Thursday that the city and surrounding municipalities open places where addicts can inject or smoke opioids without fear of arrest and with access to clean needles and treatment. After unveiling a 99-page report on the subject, which outlined the myriad public health benefits from similar experiments elsewhere in the world, King County Executive Dow Constantine told reporters why he decided to endorse "safe consumption" sites. "If this is a strategy that saves lives, if there are people who are going to die if we do not do this," he said, "then regardless of the political discomfort, I think it is something we have to move forward with." Nearly every key local official and agency is on board with the plan, including Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, who reportedly did not say precisely when or where the facilities would open, but vowed to fight the potential "blowback" at the neighborhood level. Lindsay LaSalle, a senior staff attorney at the Drug Policy Alliance, said that while cities such as New York, Boston, San Francisco, and Baltimore have all inched in the same direction with harm reduction programs, Seattle is the first to fully commit to establishing supervised injection sites. "It's thrilling," LaSalle said. "The support of someone like a mayor is pretty groundbreaking." Heroin and illicit opioid use will still technically be illegal at the facilities, but police and prosecutors are willing to stop arresting people there and pressing charges. It's the same principal that led to the establishment of syringe exchanges, which are now fairly common across the US. But while some syringe swaps have what LaSalle called "an active bathroom," where users are tacitly allowed to get high, this will the first local government to sanction use. Related: Severe opioid addicts can now get heroin prescriptions in Canada "It's just an exercise of discretion we see law enforcement make all the time," said Patricia Sully, a member of the task force and a staff attorney at Seattle's Public Defender Association. "The public health authority has the power to operate a facility like this as a public health emergency measure." The argument for safe spaces is that it's better for both users and the public to have addicts injecting indoors in a place where they won't die, rather than in a high-risk place like a park, alley, sidewalk, or indoors alone. In addition to providing sterile needles, staff members at safe injection sites typically carry the overdose antidote naloxone. Just a few hours north of Seattle in Vancouver, British Columbia is Insite, North America's first and only supervised injection facility. Insite has seen its guests inject more than 3 million doses of street drugs since it opened in 2003, according to spokesperson Anna Marie D'Angelo, and it has not had a single fatal overdose. Insite also works closely with Vancouver's police, D'Angelo said. "They'll put out resources saying 'There's a bad batch, go to Insite, don't inject alone,'" she said. "There's a partnership." Related: America's new deadliest drug is fentanyl But as advocates like Sully point out, "supervised consumption sites don't exist to prevent just overdoses." Insite visitors are offered comprehensive medical care under Canada's public health system, and, beyond reducing fatal overdoses in Vancouver by nearly 10 percent, the program reversed what one researcher called "the most explosive epidemic of HIV infection that had been observed outside of sub-Saharan Africa." British Columbia now has one of Canada's lowest HIV infection rates. Seattle is expected to place its facilities at locations where users can already access rehab programs, clean syringes, and basic health care. A recent survey of Washington syringe exchange participants found that 75 percent were interested in getting help reducing or stopping their use, but only 14 percent were enrolled in treatment. The city and nearby areas saw 132 overdose deaths last year, a slight decrease from 2014 but still way up from 49 opioid-related deaths just five years prior. The supervised consumption sites in Seattle aren't being pitched as a panacea — the heroin task force report suggests a comprehensive approach that includes county-wide expansions of treatment and prevention programs — but the Drug Policy Alliance's LaSalle says that if the facilities prove successful, they could catch on nationwide. Related: Here's how zero-tolerance drug policies have damaged public health worldwide The mayor of Ithaca, New York proposed opening injection facilities earlier this year, but his plan has faced resistance from some local officials and state lawmakers. Opponents claim giving addicts a place to get their fix will only lead to more drug use, but research from Vancouver's Insite has shown this fear to be largely unfounded. "It seems like a really radical idea, but we need to help people to understand that it's an incremental step," LaSalle said. "[Users] are already going to exchanges to get clean needles, [but] they're still walking out the door and using somewhere. It makes a lot of sense both medically and politically to reduce all the nuisances around public injection. You improve public safety, and there's all these health benefits for the users themselves." Follow Keegan Hamilton on Twitter: @keegan_hamilton Poster Comment:
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 10.
#3. To: hondo68 (#0)
The problem is its the abuse and addiction. Hard drugs are those that you lose control and have not clue what you have done or will do. Heroin is a hard drug that is extremely addictive. Its not like Cocaine or Pot. Once people are hooked on it they become useless and to feed their habit they steal or prostitute themselves or children to get more hard drugs. Im seeing a major disaster heading their way.
So your theory is that there are a substantial number of people who have been thinking they'd like to become homeless, helpless, worthless bums ... if only there were safe injections sites to shoot up at?
Yep. What they are waiting for is someone to give them the drugs so they can kill themselves with this poison. Druggies can think of nothing but the next high. They will pay any price to get it. It blows my mind that they think pot is on the same level as heroin and meth.
Yep. Why do you think so? Do you know any such people? Drugs are not given away (nor even sold) by safe injection sites.
Not any more do I know those people. I stopped hanging around them along time ago. Human waste. All it takes is one bad day and they are on a binge and you have to step in and get them straight. What a life. Right now I got a cousin hooked on meth. OMG even his parents have given up. What a waste. We met a few years ago after not seeing each other for nearly 20 years. He seemed his old goofing way. If he does not move from where he lives he will die there by OD. He has been busted and put in the pen at least 3 times now for a year at a time. He is in the pen right now while he has a 2 year old. I wish I could just drop kick his ass into being sane but as soon as he meets his old friends he will start using again. Such as a junkies life.
"So your theory is that there are a substantial number of people who have been thinking they'd like to become homeless, helpless, worthless bums ... if only there were safe injections sites to shoot up at?" Yep. "Why do you think so? Do you know any such people?" Not any more do I know those people. I stopped hanging around them along time ago. Human waste. All it takes is one bad day and they are on a binge and you have to step in and get them straight. No, I'm asking about people who have refrained from heroin use only because of the previous lack of safe injection sites. The people you're talking about did not refrain from heroin use.
#15. To: ConservingFreedom (#10)
No such animals. Heroin addicts are either pre-addicts or active addicts. There is no refraining from heroin accept through market forces(price & availability). I guess my thought is I know progressives. Once its established they will say hey we can not have them come here and beg for money, steal or prostitute so they can get high. We must prove safe clean needles and drugs.
So you're asking if more people would use heroin if it was safer to use. Sure they would. "However, several sources indicate an increase in new, young users across the country who are being lured by inexpensive, high-purity heroin that can be sniffed or smoked instead of injected." You knew that, right? Yet you asked the question anyways. Typical troll.
http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=48095 Yeah, treat it like it was a mob racket. They took the numbers racket and turned it into a government program to benefit education. They can turn the pushers into government civil service workers and tax the stuff to assist with Obamacare. They can even have Obamacare provide free counseling for parents whose child turns of age and has a legal right to go to the government shooting gallery. The parent cannot intervene without violating the addict's right to use heroin. Of course, the government facility must ensure the quality of the smack or face liability claims, so it will have to step in and regulate the manufacturing and distribution of the stuff. And before we know it, the junkies will buy their government approved smack with their EBT card, paid for by the taxpayer. Because everyone has a right to free college, free health care, and free heroin. What jobs are heroin addicts eligible to have, and capable of keeping? How do they make the money to support their habit? Does the right to use, and be addicted to heroin, come with a free house and food? Does an addict's right to use heroin extend to a pregnant woman shooting up at a government-sponsored "safe" injection site? http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=48095&Disp=7#C7 How is it "safe" to shoot up heroin bought off the street? Does shooting up at a government sponsored shooting gallery make it safe? http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=48095&Disp=10#C10 What addict has ever refrained from shooting up because he lacked a "safe" injection site? Because a state-sponsored shooting gallery would be a criminal enterprise under Federal law, it would invite Federal charges against all involved, including government officials and those at the "safe" sites. http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=48095 No, it is not an exercise of discretion. It is a Federal crime. Gonzales v. Raich 545 U.S. 1 (2005) at 14: United States v. McIntosh, 15-10117 (9th Cir. 16 Aug 2016) Footnote 5 at 32-33: The same goes for every controlled substance, including heroin.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestNearly every major city across the United States has been affected by a wave of heroin abuse and overdoses in recent years, but none have responded with the radical — but proven — approach that Seattle-area officials now plan to take.
#4. To: Justified (#3)
Im seeing a major disaster heading their way.
#5. To: ConservingFreedom (#4)
So your theory is that there are a substantial number of people who have been thinking they'd like to become homeless, helpless, worthless bums ... if only there were safe injections sites to shoot up at?
#7. To: Justified (#5)
(Edited)
"So your theory is that there are a substantial number of people who have been thinking they'd like to become homeless, helpless, worthless bums ... if only there were safe injections sites to shoot up at?"
What they are waiting for is someone to give them the drugs so they can kill themselves with this poison.
#9. To: ConservingFreedom (#7)
#10. To: Justified (#9)
Im seeing a major disaster heading their way.
Replies to Comment # 10. No, I'm asking about people who have refrained from heroin use only because of the previous lack of safe injection sites.
#17. To: ConservingFreedom (#10)
"No, I'm asking about people who have refrained from heroin use only because of the previous lack of safe injection sites."
#18. To: ConservingFreedom, Justified, redleghunter, Gatlin, misterwhite (#10)
[Article] Legalize it and take the profit motive out for the pusher man.
[ConservingFreedom #7] Drugs are not given away (nor even sold) by safe injection sites.
[ConservingFreedom #10] No, I'm asking about people who have refrained from heroin use only because of the previous lack of safe injection sites. The people you're talking about did not refrain from heroin use.
[Article] "It's just an exercise of discretion we see law enforcement make all the time," said Patricia Sully, a member of the task force and a staff attorney at Seattle's Public Defender Association. "The public health authority has the power to operate a facility like this as a public health emergency measure."
In enacting the CSA, Congress classified marijuana as a Schedule I drug. 21 U. S. C. § 812(c). This preliminary classification was based, in part, on the recommendation of the Assistant Secretary of HEW “that marihuana be retained within schedule I at least until the completion of certain studies now underway.” Schedule I drugs are categorized as such because of their high potential for abuse, lack of any accepted medical use, and absence of any accepted safety for use in medically supervised treatment. § 812(b)(1). These three factors, in varying gradations, are also used to categorize drugs in the other four schedules. For example, Schedule II substances also have a high potential for abuse which may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence, but unlike Schedule I drugs, they have a currently accepted medical use. § 812(b)(2). By classifying marijuana as a Schedule I drug, as opposed to listing it on a lesser schedule, the manufacture, distribution, or possession of marijuana became a criminal offense, with the sole exception being use of the drug as part of a Food and Drug Administration preapproved research study. §§823(f), 841(a)(1), 844(a); see also United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers’ Cooperative, 532 U. S. 483, 490 (2001).
Nor does any state law “legalize” possession, distribution, or manufacture of marijuana. Under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, state laws cannot permit what federal law prohibits. U.S. Const. art VI, cl. 2. Thus, while the CSA remains in effect, states cannot actually authorize the manufacture, distribution, or possession of marijuana. Such activity remains prohibited by federal law.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 10.
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