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:17077 Comments:70
(Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
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.
"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."
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.
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."
Next thing you know they'll legalize freedom, and we'll be the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Oh no, we can't have any of that! Those are only words for the 4th of July. /s
Legalize it and take the profit motive out for the pusher man. Deal with the issue in a serious manner, as a medical/spiritual problem, not by fear mongering and political gamesmanship.
May God bless and protect those suffering from government attempts to "help" these troubled souls by throwing them into prison, breaking up the community, family, and congregation.
The D&R terrorists hate us because we're free, to vote second party
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.
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?
A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them.
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.
Seattle plans to open safe spaces for addicts to use heroin
Let em die and be rid of them. They knew what the consequences were when they started playing with that stuff. I'm sick of a government that feels the need to rescue people from the consequences of their foreseeably self destructive behavior. It's time to grow up in this country. In the adult real world you avoid the forseeable consequences by not engaging in the behavior that causes the consequences, not by subsidizing and cushioning those consequences once they occur.
"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?
What they are waiting for is someone to give them the drugs so they can kill themselves with this poison.
Drugs are not given away (nor even sold) by safe injection sites.
A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them.
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.
A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them.
They're not saving lives. They're merely postponing deaths.
Besides, is this the best use of taxpayer dollars -- saving the lives of heroin addicts? How about using that money to save the lives of innocent children from abusive parents?
And what about those who say, "Drug use only affects the user and should, therefore, be legal"? Looks like it affects the taxpayers, too, when the bleeding heart liberals get involved.
No, I'm asking about people who have refrained from heroin use only because of the previous lack of safe injection sites.
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.
"Drugs are not given away (nor even sold) by safe injection site sites."
Of course not. Not right away. That's not how liberals work. Citizens would object.
But they will give away heroin when addicts become sick or die from the contaminated heroin they bring with them. Plus, they'll proclaim, free heroin at the clinic eliminates the crimes committed to purchase the heroin on the street.
That has been the experience of the heroin clinics in foreign countries. Then again, those are socialist countries, so this program fits right in.
"No, I'm asking about people who have refrained from heroin use only because of the previous lack of safe injection sites."
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.
[Article] Legalize it and take the profit motive out for the pusher man.
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?
[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.
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.
[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."
No, it is not an exercise of discretion. It is a Federal crime.
Gonzales v. Raich 545 U.S. 1 (2005) at 14:
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).
United States v. McIntosh, 15-10117 (9th Cir. 16 Aug 2016)
Footnote 5 at 32-33:
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.
The same goes for every controlled substance, including heroin.
"No, I'm asking about people who have refrained from heroin use only because of the previous lack of safe injection sites."
No such animals. Heroin addicts
I'm not talking about heroin addicts or even heroin users. I'm talking about people who have refrained from heroin use (NOT users, NOT addicts) only because of the previous lack of safe injection sites ... the people on whose existence in substantial numbers your statement "Im seeing a major disaster heading their way" logically depends.
A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them.
"No, I'm asking about people who have refrained from heroin use only because of the previous lack of safe injection sites."
So you're asking if more people would use heroin if it was safer to use. Sure they would.
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?"
"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."
No evidence that this is about "safety" rather than an instinctual aversion to needles.
You knew that, right? Yet you dragged in the red herring anyways. Typical troll.
A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them.
I'm not talking about heroin addicts or even heroin users. I'm talking about people who have refrained from heroin use (NOT users, NOT addicts) only because of the previous lack of safe injection sites
I think that is a mute point. Either you are a users/addict or not. Will people run up there that have never used heroin and start using because its a safe haven. No. What you will have is many junkies go up there because they will not be harassed.
Because everyone has a right to free college, free health care, and free heroin.
So we should ban everything we don't want the government to give away for free?
[ConservingFreedom #7] Drugs are not given away (nor even sold) by safe injection sites.
How is it "safe" to shoot up heroin bought off the street?
Does shooting up at a government sponsored shooting gallery make it safe?
I didn't invent the term; I agree that clean needles still leave heroin use dangerous.
[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.
What addict has ever refrained from shooting up because he lacked a "safe" injection site?
Exactly my point - since the absence of "safe" injection sites didn't decrease heroin use, their presence won't increase it.
A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them.
I agree - so why are you "seeing a major disaster heading their way"?
Because I see half the junkie population going there because its a safe zone for junkies. They will have no job or the ability to hold job. Which means stealing and prostitution. Then I see progressives saying we have to help these people by providing clean needles and clean drugs.
"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?"
I'm saying there are a number of people who have been thinking they'd like to try heroin if it was safer and consequence-free.
"No evidence that this is about "safety" rather than an instinctual aversion to needles."
Just as there is no evidence that this is about an "instinctual aversion to needles" rather than about safety.
"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?"
I'm saying there are a number of people who have been thinking they'd like to try heroin if it was safer and consequence-free.
Using heroin will never be consequence-free - for reasons that matter much more to any remotely sane person than does needle hygiene.
"No evidence that this is about "safety" rather than an instinctual aversion to needles."
Just as there is no evidence that this is about an "instinctual aversion to needles" rather than about safety.
Exactly my point: it proves nothing.
A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them.
Because I see half the junkie population going there because its a safe zone for junkies.
Ah, so by "their" you meant the vicinities of the 'safe consumption' sites rather than the city as a whole. Sure, the sites will attract some users from elsewhere in the city ... but the greater the number of sites, the less the impact at each one. Also, police can be redeployed accordingly. I'm not seeing a "major disaster."
A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them.
So we should ban everything we don't want the government to give away for free?
Son, the government does not give away anything for FREE. Somebody PAYS for it. I'm not interested in paying for your drugs or drug-related expenses. If you can't pay for your own habit, quit. If you steal to pay for your habit, prison. There is no right to be a junkie on the government tit. You should rehandle as ConservingLiberalism. Your tagline can be "Free drugs for everybody."
How is it "safe" to shoot up heroin bought off the street?
Does shooting up at a government sponsored shooting gallery make it safe?
I didn't invent the term; I agree that clean needles still leave heroin use dangerous.
You are the one who used the impossible to be true term.
You are the one who supports the establishment of state government sponsored shooting galleries for unsafe injection of heroin. Heroin is not only unsafe, it is deadly. We have no plague of elderly lifelong heroin addicts. Lifelong for a heroin addict just isn't that long.
What addict has ever refrained from shooting up because he lacked a "safe" injection site?
Exactly my point - since the absence of "safe" injection sites didn't decrease heroin use, their presence won't increase it.
Government subsidizing of anything increases consumption. Government sponsorship of heroin use will increase its use. Your tortured logic appears to come from an addled brain.
Some of the points you hid from:
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.
- - - - - - - - - -
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?
If the government sponsors a shooting gallery, at what age do children have a right to shoot up heroin?
When is the parents' right to intervene overcome by the child's right to use heroin?
Do pregnant women have the right to shoot up heroin at a state sponsored shooting gallery?
If the government sponsors heroin use, and heroin addiction, who pays the living expenses for the addicts?
What possible defense would any participant have to Federal criminal charges?
United States v. McIntosh, 15-10117 (9th Cir. 16 Aug 2016)
Footnote 5 at 32-33:
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.
While the CSA remains in effect, states cannot actually authorize the manufacture, distribution, or possession of marijuana, heroin, or any other controlled substance.
[misterwhite #17] So you're asking if more people would use heroin if it was safer to use. Sure they would.
[ConservingFreedom #22] 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?"
More people would remain homeless, helpless, worthless addicted bums if encouraged to use state sponsored shooting galleries to continue their addiction until they die.
"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?"
More people would remain homeless, helpless, worthless addicted bums if encouraged to use state sponsored shooting galleries to continue their addiction until they die.
Provide evidence that any junkies quit because of lack of state sponsored shooting galleries.
A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them.
Meaningless. You want to give away FREE shit that other people pay for. Rehandle as ConservingLiberslism.
I used the common (albeit inaccurate) term for something - what of it?
You use inaccurate terms for everything. In other words, you constantly try to bullshit the reader.
What addict has ever refrained from shooting up because he lacked a "safe" injection site?
"Exactly my point - since the absence of "safe" injection sites didn't decrease heroin use, their presence won't increase it."
Government subsidizing of anything increases consumption.
You're contradicting you previous statement - do let me know when you make up your mind.
Unscramble your drug addled brain.
Addicts do not refrain from shooting up because they lack a "safe" injection site. They are addicts.
When government subsidizes something, consumption of that something increases.
Those statements do not conflict or contradict each other.
And what you continue to hide from:
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?
If the government sponsors a shooting gallery, at what age do children have a right to shoot up heroin?
When is the parents' right to intervene overcome by the child's right to use heroin?
Do pregnant women have the right to shoot up heroin at a state sponsored shooting gallery?
If the government sponsors heroin use, and heroin addiction, who pays the living expenses for the addicts?
What possible defense would any participant have to Federal criminal charges?
United States v. McIntosh, 15-10117 (9th Cir. 16 Aug 2016)
Footnote 5 at 32-33:
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.
While the CSA remains in effect, states cannot actually authorize the manufacture, distribution, or possession of marijuana, heroin, or any other controlled substance.
Don't run and hide, child. Step up to the plate and take responsibility for the alligator mouth that overloaded your canary ass.
Do pregnant women have a right to shoot up at one of your state-sponsored inspirational shooting galleries?
You want to give away FREE shit that other people pay for.
False.
"I used the common (albeit inaccurate) term for something - what of it?"
You use inaccurate terms for everything.
Witless blather.
Addicts do not refrain from shooting up because they lack a "safe" injection site. They are addicts.
When government subsidizes something, consumption of that something increases.
From which it would follow that in the absence of a subsidy consumption is less than it would otherwise be - yet you say the opposite in your first sentence.
And what you continue to hide from:
I'm under no obligation to play 20-stupid-questions with you.
What jobs are heroin addicts eligible to have, and capable of keeping? How do they make the money to support their habit?
Stupid question - nobody here endorses heroin use or addiction.
Does the right to use, and be addicted to heroin, come with a free house and food?
Of course not - another stupid question.
Does an addict's right to use heroin extend to a pregnant woman shooting up at a government-sponsored "safe" injection site?
Stupid question - nobody has a "right" to use the site; the issue is whether turning away or arresting pregnant women who show up at the site has a good or bad outcome. Once the word gets out and pregnant addicts avoid the sites and shoot up where they always did, is that better or worse for their babies?
If the government sponsors a shooting gallery, at what age do children have a right to shoot up heroin?
Stupid question - the sites confer no "right" to use heroin.
When is the parents' right to intervene overcome by the child's right to use heroin?
Same as the age for using the deadly addictive drug alcohol, I suppose.
If the government sponsors heroin use, and heroin addiction, who pays the living expenses for the addicts?
Stupid question - the sites are not sponsoring heroin use or heroin addiction.
What possible defense would any participant have to Federal criminal charges?
Stupid question - to refrain from arresting a user is not to authorize the manufacture, distribution, or possession of heroin.
A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them.
"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?"
More people would remain homeless, helpless, worthless addicted bums if encouraged to use state sponsored shooting galleries to continue their addiction until they die.
Provide evidence that any junkies quit because of lack of state sponsored shooting galleries.
Unscramble your drug addled brain.
Addicted junkies do not quit because of a lack of state sponsored shooting galleries. Addicts look for their next fix wherever they can get it.
[nolu chan #18] What addict has ever refrained from shooting up because he lacked a "safe" injection site?
Read it again. Where does your bullshit question come from?
What you are avoiding:
More people would remain homeless, helpless, worthless addicted bums if encouraged to use state sponsored shooting galleries to continue their addiction until they die.
Come on, you little weasel. Deny it. You would just keep them addicted until they die.
They develop tolerance and need more and more to achieve the same effect. They destroy various body organs in the process. They die young.
In one of the less glorious aspects of being a junkie, heroin is a very powerful anti-diarrhea medication. Junkies get to suffer fecal impactions. They may help each other in pairs at manual removal. Perhaps you could volunteer to help a junkie out.
More people would remain homeless, helpless, worthless addicted bums if encouraged to use state sponsored shooting galleries to continue their addiction until they die.
"Provide evidence that any junkies quit because of lack of state sponsored shooting galleries."
Addicted junkies do not quit because of a lack of state sponsored shooting galleries.
Exactly my point: the number of those who remain homeless, helpless, worthless addicted bums has nothing to do with state sponsored shooting galleries.
A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them.
You want to give away FREE shit that other people pay for.
False.
You are the first to give government goods and services for free. You must tell everyone how the government provides good and services for free and nobody pays anything. And, while you are at it, you could rehandle to ConservingLiberalism.
"I used the common (albeit inaccurate) term for something - what of it?"
You use inaccurate terms for everything.
Witless blather.
Is that what you want to call your bullshit? Witless blather? Ok. You use witless blather for everything. I would say terminological inexactitudes, but Winston Churchill objects from the grave.
Addicts do not refrain from shooting up because they lack a "safe" injection site. They are addicts.
When government subsidizes something, consumption of that something increases.
From which it would follow that in the absence of a subsidy consumption is less than it would otherwise be - yet you say the opposite in your first sentence.
Your response is that of a doper asshole without an answer.
Your logic is obviously drug addled.
When government subsidizes something, consumption of that something increases.
Addicts do not refrain from shooting up because they lack a "safe" injection site. They are addicts.
One does not contradict the other.
And what you continue to hide from:
I'm under no obligation to play 20-stupid-questions with you.
Your response is that of a doper asshole with not answers. As we know, it you had answers, you would jump at the opportunity to serve one up.
What jobs are heroin addicts eligible to have, and capable of keeping? How do they make the money to support their habit?
Stupid question - nobody here endorses heroin use or addiction.
You endorse and encourage the continued addition of addicts until they die. There are no elderly lifelong heroin addicts.
As you encourage continued addiction at state-sponsored shooting galleries, how the junkie gets the money to pay for his smack is not a stupid question. Is he supposed to hold a job? Is he supposed to steal? Or is he supposed to be given free money to buy heroin?
Your response is that of a doper asshole without an answer.
Does the right to use, and be addicted to heroin, come with a free house and food?
Of course not - another stupid question.
You encourage junkies to continue their addiction at state-sponsored shooting galleries until they die.
How is a junkie supposed to support himself? The really messed up junkie is as close as we come to the walkers on The Walking Dead. And that is alright with you. They should continue that existence with as government sponsorship.
As the government would sponsor lifelong addiction, what would it do about the housing and food needs of the sponsored addict?
Your response is that of a doper asshole without an answer.
If the government sponsors a shooting gallery, at what age do children have a right to shoot up heroin?
Stupid question - the sites confer no "right" to use heroin.
Who is permitted entry into the state-sponsored shooting gallery for the purpose of shooting up heroin?
Is this a public facility whose access is governed by equal rights laws?
Is there any criteria whatever for who gets to shoot up at a state-sponsored shooting gallery?
Your response is that of a doper asshole without an answer.
When is the parents' right to intervene overcome by the child's right to use heroin?
Same as the age for using the deadly addictive drug alcohol, I suppose.
So, when the child turns 21, the parents can no longer seek intervention.
I have known old drunks, but have never known an old heroin addict. They do not live to get old.
Your response is that of a doper asshole.
If the government sponsors heroin use, and heroin addiction, who pays the living expenses for the addicts?
Stupid question - the sites are not sponsoring heroin use or heroin addiction.
The state-sponsored shooting galleries would be perpetuating the drug addiction of the addicts. They must support their habit and pay for living expenses somehow. As you encourage their continued, state-sponsored addiction until death, how do they pay the bills? Do they hold down a job that pays the bills, do they steal, do they engage in prostitution? Or do you give them someone else's money to pay for their smack?
Your response is that of a doper asshole.
What possible defense would any participant have to Federal criminal charges?
Stupid question - to refrain from arresting a user is not to authorize the manufacture, distribution, or possession of heroin.
A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them.
Your response is that of a doper asshole.
To establish a state-sponsored shooting gallery is a federal crime.
The possession of heroin is a federal crime.
You did not answer the question of what possible defense would anyone involved have to a federal prosecution.
A government strong enough to impose current federal standards did exactly that it imposed those federal standards on every Federal jurisdiction in the nation, and that includes all 50 states.
That government is strong enough to change those standards. It has NOT done so.
What possible defense would any participant have to Federal criminal charges? Heroin is contraband.
United States v. McIntosh, 15-10117 (9th Cir. 16 Aug 2016)
Footnote 5 at 32-33:
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.
While the CSA remains in effect, state cannot actually authorize the manufacture, distribution, or possession of marijuana, heroin, or any other controlled substance.
Opening a state-sponsored shooting gallery is a federal crime as set forth in 21 U.S.C. § 856.
2014 US Code Title 21 - Food and Drugs (Sections 1 - 2252) Chapter 13 - Drug Abuse Prevention and Control (Sections 801 - 971) Subchapter I - Control and Enforcement (Sections 801 - 904) Part D - Offenses and Penalties (Sections 841 - 865) Sec. 856 - Maintaining drug-involved premises
21 U.S.C. § 856 (2014)
§856. Maintaining drug-involved premises
(a) Unlawful acts
Except as authorized by this subchapter, it shall be unlawful to
(1) knowingly open, lease, rent, use, or maintain any place, whether permanently or temporarily, for the purpose of manufacturing, distributing, or using any controlled substance;
(2) manage or control any place, whether permanently or temporarily, either as an owner, lessee, agent, employee, occupant, or mortgagee, and knowingly and intentionally rent, lease, profit from, or make available for use, with or without compensation, the place for the purpose of unlawfully manufacturing, storing, distributing, or using a controlled substance.
(b) Criminal penalties
Any person who violates subsection (a) of this section shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not more than 20 years or a fine of not more than $500,000, or both, or a fine of $2,000,000 for a person other than an individual.
(c) Violation as offense against property
A violation of subsection (a) of this section shall be considered an offense against property for purposes of section 3663A(c)(1)(A)(ii) of title 18.
(d) Civil penalties
(1) Any person who violates subsection (a) of this section shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than the greater of
(A) $250,000; or
(B) 2 times the gross receipts, either known or estimated, that were derived from each violation that is attributable to the person.
(2) If a civil penalty is calculated under paragraph (1)(B), and there is more than 1 defendant, the court may apportion the penalty between multiple violators, but each violator shall be jointly and severally liable for the civil penalty under this subsection.
(e) Declaratory and injunctive remedies
Any person who violates subsection (a) of this section shall be subject to declaratory and injunctive remedies as set forth in section 843(f) of this title.
(Pub. L. 91513, title II, §416, as added Pub. L. 99570, title I, §1841(a), Oct. 27, 1986, 100 Stat. 320752; amended Pub. L. 106310, div. B, title XXXVI, §3613(e), Oct. 17, 2000, 114 Stat. 1230; Pub. L. 10821, title VI, §608(b)(1), (2), (c), Apr. 30, 2003, 117 Stat. 691.)