Chicago Tribune columnist Steve Chapman doesn’t think much of Rep. Todd Tiahrt’s thinking about needle exchanges, specifically the Goddard Republican’s legislation that has barred the District of Columbia from using its own money to fight AIDS by passing out syringes to drug addicts. “You can find studies that fail to vindicate needle distribution, just as you can find Sundays when the Detroit Lions win. But they are rare and unrepresentative,” Chapman wrote.
And “when I contacted Tiahrt’s office, an aide said he thinks that regardless of what the studies show, ‘It is a horrible message to send children that it must be OK to do drugs.’ But that’s like saying that when the government pays for lung cancer treatment, it encourages kids to smoke. The existing policy sends a worse message: If drug users can’t conquer their addiction, they deserve to die — and so do their innocent spouses and children.” The new Congress likely will repeal Tiahrt’s ban.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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198 Comments
The phony morality of hypocrites like Tiahrt is noxious and destructive. “A horrible message to send children?” What’s more horrible is when these same childrens’ addicted parents get preventable diseases or DIE for lack of clean needles.
Tiahrt doesn’t seem to have woken up to the fact that he’s an ineffectual, moralizing member of a powerless minority that lacks the ability to impose its legislative pandering on an unwilling electorate. Wake up and smell the coffee, Representative Tiahrt: 1994 is a long, long time ago.
CF2K,
Why stop with providing them needles for an illegal habit?
We should go ahead and offer free drugs too!
The government should ensure that those with an addiction to illegal drugs are able to get good, clean, FDA approved drugs to help save lives.
The government should also make sure those drugs are available cheap if not for free so that those addicted do not have to committ crime to feed their addiction.
I am sure there is more we could do to help make sure that those addicted to illegal drugs are able to get them cheap, easy, and safely.
We should create a panel to come up with more ideas of what the government could do to help!
Of course this will all be anonymous because we wouldn’t want to discourage them from getting all this help feeding their addiction.
DISCLAIMER, THE ABOVE WAS SARCASM
Tiahrt is the same loon who thinks abstinence is the best way to stop the spread of STDs, that’s why Tiahrt voted against funding for passing out condoms in third world countries to stop the spread of AIDS. That worked just as well as Nancy Reagan’s “just say no” program. So now Tiahrt’s “No clean needles” program will cut the spread of infection.
Such brilliant thinking is reason why Tiahrt consistently gets the Eagle’s endorsement every election.
Tiahrt’s Press Release in 1999 hasn’t changed:
Rep. Tiahrt Leads Fight to Ban Taxpayer-Funded Needle Exchange in D.C.
“By handing out needles we encourage drug use. Such a message would be inconsistent with the tenor of our national youth oriented anti-drug campaign.”
- Gen. Barry McCaffrey, Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy
(Washington) Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) led the fight against taxpayer-funded needle exchange programs in the District of Columbia. Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) offered the amendment allowing taxpayer funded NEPs. It was Rep. Tiahrt’s amendment in the last Congress that banned taxpayer-funded NEPs in the District of Columbia. Rep. Tiahrt is a member of the District of Columbia subcommittee of the House Appropriations committee. Rep. Tiahrt’s effort came up short in a 32-23 vote. Rep. Tiahrt will ask House leadership to amend the District of Columbia appropriations bill and strike this language on the floor.
Rep. Tiahrt said, “I agree with Drug Czar McCaffrey that we encourage drug use by handing outneedles to enable drug addicts to further their self-destructive behavior. I support drug treatmentprograms that are proven to be effective; NEPs have not been proven to be effective in either treating drug addiction or slowing the spreading of the AIDS virus. This vote sends the wrong message to America’s children.”
The letter Rep. Tiahrt received from the Office of National Drug Control Policy went on to say:
* The science is uncertain. It would be imprudent to take a key policy step on the basis of yet uncertain and insufficient evidence.
* The public health risks outweigh benefits. Each day over 8,000 young people will try an illegal drug for the first time. Heroin use rates are up among youth. While perhaps eight persons contract HIV directly or indirectly from dirty needles, 352 start using heroin each day and more than 4,000 die each year from heroin/morphine-related causes (the number one drug-related cause of death). Even assuming that needle exchange programs can further accelerate the already declining rate of HIV transmissions, the risk that such programs might encourage a higher rate of heroin use clearly outweighs any potential benefit.
* NEPs place disadvantaged neighborhoods at greater risk. NEPs are normally located in impoverished neighborhoods. These programs attract addicts from surrounding areas and result in a concentration of criminal activity.
07/20/1999
Somebody has managed to control the cut and paste feature. Congrats. Do you want a cookie now?
Nathan,
Don’t try to put words in my mouth. There is all the difference in the world between providing needles and providing drugs. Anyone with any sense knows that.
Folks don’t do drugs because they’re provided with clean needles. They do drugs because they’re addicted to drugs.
Providing people with the MEANS to do drugs as a matter of public health (stopping the spread of communicable diseases) is not any sort of encouragement for non-drug users to use drugs. Giving them the DRUGS would be.
CF,Nathan (and Tiahrt) don’t want disease to go away; they want to use it to enforce their particular view of morality. Their kind tried like hell to ban Penicillin back in the 1940’s, because it cured siphyllis, god’s punishment for fornication, and did what they could to stop research on AIDS in the ’80’s, because it killed gay people. I’ll bet they wouldn’t feel the same way about a disease that was only spread by collection plates!
Has Nathan see any psychiatric counseling after coming home from Iraq? To me it seems like his comments are becoming more disturbing. Seriously …
Nathan,The public health should trump any body’s moral or religious views. Personally, I don’t care for the idea of needle exchanges, either. But it needs to be done because indirectly, it protects people like us too. AIDS is no respecter of class or financial status. Having sex is not the only way you get AIDS. I read about a good upstanding Christian lady who witnessed a man collapsing on the sidewalk as she left her bank. He stopped breathing. She did the Christian thing and preformed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and saved his life. While emergency responders were working on him, they noticed his gums were bleeding. He tested positive for AIDS.
Now this good Christian lady, through no fault or wrong-doing, was exposed to AIDS. Is this God’s punishment brought down on her? Did she somehow deserve to get AIDS? What would you do in the same situation? Let another human being die, or would you offer life-saving care?
As a liberal I am kind of torn on this. On one hand, if you are STUPID enough to take up DRUGS whether they be Herion, Meth, Coccaine or Cigarettes, I am not one that thinks you should go to jail as long as you confine your habit to your own 4 walls. But on the other hand, I do not think taxpayers should be forced to help you fund your habit by providing you free needles. We don’t provide free pipes for crack smokers or free ashtrays for cigarette addicts do we?
Although I do see the argument, it is better to provide treatment than free needles to addicts.
Is it a moral decision to enforce the law?
Drug addicts are in possession of illegal drugs, often involved in selling illegal drugs, and often involved in committing crimes to steal the money to buy illegal drugs.
So in trying to help these people avoid getting Aids, in spreading Aids, we perpetuate the drug problem by encouraging and supporting the drug problem.
It’s bad enough that we don’t enforce drug laws, but to actually help advance drug addiction, and foster crime, is worse than waiving the white flag and giving up on solving the problem.
Why not provide the drugs too, to ensure the drugs are pure and don’t contain aids in a vial used by several druggies? Crime would still occur, because they still need to steal money – since drug addiction will not allow them to keep any job, but that’s ok.
Maybe give them more powerful drugs even – send them over the edge – a problem solved thru government assisted suicide.
The problem is stopping the spread of disease. Period.
Just look at the situation in many countries in Africa, where the spread of disease outpaces treatement because of unsanitary living conditions. One of the great triumphs of the 20th century is managing to develop sewer systems and clean-water standards that vastly improve public health. But there are still models out there for what could happen if there is a not a vigilant stance, even if it is something that seems inappropriate first glance, like handing out condoms and clean needles.
The needles aren’t about the drug users–they are about everybody else, so that innocents are not infected by unchecked spread.
To take a stand because it sends a message while people are dying is uncompassionate beyond belief.
In WWI, for examploe, the Allied general staffs wanted the armistice to occur on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month for symbolic reasons, even though one could have been in place at least 10 days earlier. In those several days, many thousands more, civilians and military, on both sides, died – for no good reason.
The message that lives are of primary importance should trump any other message being considered.
Exactly! This is a public health issue.
How many drug addicts overdose or kill themselves because of the bad drugs they use?
We need to ensure those addicted recieve only the best FDA apporoved illegal drugs to feed their habit.
We should also provide free drug administration clinics as well.
Why risk them using bad needles when we can have a paid staff to administer the illegal drugs for them?
This would ensure that only trained government employees who have been certified (Think of all the jobs!) are administering the illegal drugs to those who need them.
All of this would of course be free to the addict because we want to ensure that they are able to get this help.
There is always the problem of transportation too.
We will probably need to purchase mobile units, kind of like the REd Cross Blood Banks, which will drive around administering the free drugs for the addicts.
Perhaps we could even pay for the cab fare for those who still can’t make it to get to the center.
We can’t let any addict slip through the cracks on this one.
It is about public safety by goodness!
We don’t need those holy rollers pushing their morality on us!
We must do whatever it takes to help those addicted to illegal drugs get them for free and safely too.
NEP programs are a farce and having taxpayers subsidize someone’s drug habit is as asinine than having a habit in the first place. The emphasis should be on prosecuting and imprisoning those who make and distribute the poison as well as treating those who are addicted. NEP’s only continue a person’s demise, not release them from their imprisonment.
Nathan,
I see you have discovered sarcasm. Try not to overdo it.
Public health has less to do with the decisions of individuals involving their own behavior, and more with ameliorating the negative effects their decisions may have on others. That’s why those who advocate for free needles to stop the spread of communicable diseases don’t generally advocate for free drugs. Those who USE drugs have a choice of whether to do so or not. Those people who are close to the use and are IMPACTED by the drug use generally have little choice, and little way to protect themselves.
So, Nathan, you’re cool with exposing little children and the spouses of users to hepatitis A-C, HIV and AIDS, when it’s possible to minimize such exposure? You think that’s good public policy?
Willie,
I see. Is it good public policy for the public to act in a way that protects innocents (i.e. spouses and children) from the spread of communicable diseases?
AIDS is a whole other kettle of fish when it comes to public health, Nathan. This is a disease that can, by infecting your neighbor, increase YOUR susceptibility to other diseases.
Just so we’re clear: your “neighbor” has AIDS contracted through drug use, s/he is treated for same, s/he gets TB, any bacterium that survives the AIDS patient’s beefed-up immunity defenses is a bacterium to which YOU are susceptible, and which of course now is drug resistant. Repeat for malaria, for small pox, etc.
This is happening in Africa today. And of course it threatens the world. For example, look at XDR-TB (Extensively Drug Resistant Tuberculosis).
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=extensively+drug+resistant+tb&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
The thing is that my health, YOUR health, his health, her health – all God’s lil childrens’ health – is a part of a vast microbiological ecosystem. The presence of HIV in this ecosystem is a boon to pernicious disease and harmful to all of us.
Wouldn’t it be cheaper and spare you all the bad satire if you just argued we kill off all AIDS patients? Isn’t that exactly where your satire leads us? Why allow all the medical progress made in the past century to fall by the wayside? Why not walk kill HIV by allowing all AIDS-infected mammals to die? Why not just hunt them and kill them outright?
Hush, Pedant. Don’t give Nathan ideas. He may as well do it …
As long as we fail to treat drug abuse for what it is…an illness…we will never make any progress on the drug front. Instead, we try to “treat” the problem by throwing sick people into jail. When they get out, they are not healed, but bitter and sicker. Tiahrt and those of his political pursuasion continue to think that a “war on drugs” can be won. They live in a world of absolutes that real people do not live in.
Steve Chapman has some brain, “It is a horrible message to send children that it must be OK to do drugs.’ But that’s like saying that when the government pays for lung cancer treatment, it encourages kids to smoke.” That is liberal lunacy right there. Self-righteous, pompous and just plain stupid. Poor addicts their life will not improve and neither will socities.
I have a problem with enabling people to stay sick…the idea that giving out clean needles to prevent disease is a little overblown I think. Is there any proof this program actually prevents disease?Anyhing we do to make a it more comnfortable for those in a dysfuctional lifestyle to stay stuck isn’t necessarily a good thing. The drug and alcohol abuse problem in this country is costing us a fortune in terms of our society and our country’s resources. I’d like us to do more to hold addicts accountable, like mandatory drug testing before they receive government benefits and more accessable treatment options. Why is it my responsiblity as a taxpayer to fund someone’s bad choices and lifestyle? Isn’t that just giving them the message that no matter what choice a person makes, they’ll be taken care of? How does that help them to get better?I think there is much more damage done to families by the drug addict’s abuse than by any disease that may or may not be spread.
“Tiahrt and those of his political pursuasion continue to think that a “war on drugs” can be won.”
Ok, then just give-up and surrender to the war on drugs. Legalize drugs, tax them, and we can all sit around fat, dopey, and happy.
Damn, America can’t win any war today.
Tiahrt wins this one on LOGIC alone.
Morality is beside the point.
An addict steals a needle from a doctor’s office, hospital or pharmacy,and uses it himself, then passes it around to his partners in crime.
An addict gets a “Free” needle from a government program, uses it, then passes it around to his partners in crime.
What is the difference?
Did someone install a “Mission Impossible” self-destruct system in this needle, so when it is exposed to different blood or different DNA, it goes up in smoke? “This needle, if you choose to except it, will self destruct 10 seconds after you use it.” — Well, no, that wouldn’t work either, since he is an ADDICT and will use it AGAIN.—-Drug addicts make HORRIBLE decisions every day. Adicts lose their jobs, addicts get arrested for domestic violence, get arrested for theft to pay for their addiction, get their kids taken from them by juvenile aunthorities due to drug use, crime and neglect, drug addicts frequently leave used needles laying on the sidewalk and in public parks, drug addicts cause threats to the public safety on the road and elsewhere —-
HOWEVER, even though the drug addict has FAILED in every other way to be responsible and show respect to his fellow citizens, even though, through addiction itself, it is clear the addict cares little about INDIVIDUAL health, let alone PUBLIC health, you want to give the addict FREE needles, in the naive hope the addict will be uncharacteristically responsible in this area of life?
Tiahrt is in the majority on this one. The arrogance of the left is on display here, on this thread.—–
By the way, every jurisdiction arrests kids for “drug paraphenalia” every day. Do you really want to arrest people for crack pipes, pot pipes, bongs, etc, yet NOT arrest them for IV drug paraphernalia?
Isn’t the point of our drug laws that fact that we believe drugs are bad for individuals, and bad for society?
Aren’t IV drugs MORE dangerous, on balance, than any other drug?
Therefore, would it not be absurd to PROMOTE distribution of paraphernalia for one of the most harmful drug addictions, while putting kids in jail for pot pipes?
Hey, arent there diseases, like Hepatitis, and even many STD’s that could be passed by sharing hash pipes?
What is to stop government from passing out free hash pipes, for the good of “public health”??
You libs are ridiculous.
Tiahrt is on VERY solid ground.
“Ok, then just give-up and surrender to the war on drugs. Legalize drugs, tax them, and we can all sit around fat, dopey, and happy.”
Sounds good to me. I’ll bring the potato salad.
People, it’s not about the drug abusers, it’s about the rest of us. If things like AIDS and Hepatitis would stay in the drug-abusing community it might be different, but they don’t. These diseases spread. One way or another, they get out into the general population.
“I’d like us to do more to hold addicts accountable, like mandatory drug testing before they receive government benefits and more accessable treatment options.”Posted by: Mary Caruso | June 23, 2007 at 10:54 AM
Yeah, like that’s really going to happen. maybe drug testing, but more accessible treatment?
Riiight!Let’s not forget that we live in a country where a poor person can vomit blood for 45 minutes on an emergency room floor and die without receiving medical attention.
Wow, what a load of comassionate conservatism Econ 101, Republican and Germy are showing this morning.
Speaking of warm and fuzzy. I am so impressed.
Thanks Paul for one again making the anti-disease liberals look level headed and reasonable. Gotta love fundy morality, let everyone rot and die of disease so I can save a couple of dollars to buy another Jesus fish for my SUV.
The addict adds to public disease.
The addict funds gang culture and crime.
The addict pollutes with meth lab waste, dirty needles left in playgrounds and parks.
Yet Doug and the libs think they can control the addict. Liberals laugh at “just say NO” programs aimed at drug use or teenage sex.
However, arrogant liberals think that a “just say “NO” to used needles program will work?
Lets pass out a little brochure, explaing the health risks of used needles, that ought to solve the problem!
“Just say NO to used needles” —
Why is THAT a reasonable approach, when you libs think that
“Just say NO to needles” (Or “Just say NO to drugs”) is not reasonable?
Free needle programs don’t work. Most drug users are going to share the needle anyway and most likely re-use it because of their drug-crazed incoherent state.
It’s not like needles are going to bankrupt anyone if they buy it, so let the drug users buy their own.
Look at the prices they pay for illegal drugs!
More than likely according to statistics, drug users are going to get AIDs via sexual contact more than they will shared needles.
The Liberal argument is poor and the ban against providing needles to drug users should stay in place.
And Doug
Don’t own an SUV
Don’t have a “Jesus” Fish.
I am a former EMT, I have sold hundreds of health insurance and Long Term Care Insurance policies. I have sold investments with extra benefits for the terminally ill or the institutionalized.
I know many heroes in health care and in health insurance work, my efforts pale in comparrison.
However, I won’t be talked down to by the likes of you.
Not on this subject.
Paul, you think your solution to have dirty needles out in the public is a good thing? How is that supposed to help? The needle exchange program collects the infected needles and properly disposes of them, dispenses clean needles and educates the people on how infection is spread.
On the other hand you think if an addict just throws his dirty needle on some playground that’s perfectly okay.
Do you neo-cons ever think about anything? It’s just as bad as the neo-con belief that no sex ed and no condoms will prevent the spread of AIDS. Your ideology has been a proven failure and the liberals are trying to fix the mistakes that you guys (thanks to Reagan) allowed to spread.
We still have not changed much since we were clans’ people in the more than thirty thousand years ago, still leaving our sick and weak members straggling behind to be attack by some kind PREDATOR.
Hey Paul, not everything I post is to be taken literally. Sorry the obvious has to be pointed out to you but some people on this planet have grasped the concept of metaphor and sarcasm. Apparently you are still learning.
Oh yes, and the concept of analogy. Normally I wouldn’t point that out but Paul is exceptionally ignorant of most things that everyone else here can reasonably understand.
As long as Doug’s “metaphor” can harpoon someone via personal attack, then he never has to apologize for not making a point on a thread.
He can just post metaphors and blame it on grammatical choice instead of actually debating the topic.
We have had drug education programs for years.
Did those drug education programs stop illegal drug use?
NO!
Now, I don’t doubt that many people DID benefit from those drug education programs. I think those programs should continue.
I am attacking YOUR twisted logic.Needles cost very little. There is little incentive to addicts for them to turn in old needles to get clean needles. The new, “clean” needles WILL get passed around, just like the old needles. You have solved NOTHING, but I know you liberals want to feel better about yourselves.You have not stopped the use of a harmful, illegal substance. You have NOT stopped the common practice of sharing needles.
But YOU feel better about yourself.
And to the liberal, that is ALL that matters.
Yes Republican, I have never once debated the issue here. Apparently your reading comprehension is quite poor or else you also suffer from Paul’s disease of willful ignorance. Too bad there isn’t a brain exchange program because that would go a long way is curing the infected minds of the neo-cons on this forum.
Brilliant Paul, you only look at part of my argument and criticize that although I’ve already addressed your criticisms. As usual you prove yourself incompetent of having a thoughtful discussion. Try again after you take your meds and perhaps you won’t look so foolish a second time.
Actually you haven’t debated an issue here with any objectivity Dough.
If you will note, I go after ideologies of those in my party just as harsh as I do ideologies that are miles apart from me.
I will match up my brain anywhere anytime with yours Doug.
Funny how you have never addressed my arguments. Perhaps it’s above your third grade understanding of the issues. Well, I’ve had my fill of neo-con stupidity for the day. Someone else can deal with these knuckledraggers who embrace ignorance and disease and can never provide a suggestion for a solution to society’s problems (outside of just killing people which they appear to favor in this case).
Drug dealers should run special deals. Clean needles with every $20 purchase. Maybe they could deduct the expense. It’s bad business to kill your customers.
Drug dealers need to be more responsible.
Doug
Where did you prove anything?
Where did you prove that a government-provided needle would NOT be used by more than one person?
Where did you prove that giving away free needles would NOT encourage more drug use?
“Conservatives” such as Tiahrt (what, were his ancestors dyslexic?) are losing their grip on politics because they have no grasp of reality.
Nobody’s gonna run out and become a heroin addict simply because clean needles are available. The reality is heroin addicts are more addicted to heroin than they are to clean needles. If clean needles are available, they’ll likely opt for them and reduce the spread of blood-born diseases (which cost the public far more than free needles).
Will these needle exchange programs be open 24-7?
If not, are you telling me that drug addicts will be responsible and turn in their needles during business hours, planning ahead for their next high?
Doug never posted anything but a couple of questions. That’s not giving an opinion, that’s a cop out.
The rest of his posts were just the same old Doug – 80 percent fluff and 20 percent invalid or irrelevant points.
Repuke,
“I will match up my brain anywhere anytime with yours Doug.”
And Repuke will even invent his own false claims, to support his incorrect opinions.http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2007/05/open_thread_28.html#comment-71041282
Nice contribution to the thread cosmos. Glad you could stop by for your daily ad hominem fest.
Following Steve Chapman’s brilliant logic maybe the taxpayer can fund some cigarette donation programs for smokers.
Repuke, I posted the truth.
Paul F. Rosell,
“Will these needle exchange programs be open 24-7?”
They don’t need to be, because they provide multiple, one-for-one exchanges.
You should research an issue BEFORE attacking it.
http://www.metrokc.gov/health/apu/resources/fneedle.htm
‘Syringe/Needle Exchange Programs’http://www.drugwarfacts.org/syringee.htm
Doug,Take it easy on poor Paul- after all, he’s just an insurance salesman who has to stop and look up every one of your questions in his company’s Book of Answers. And be careful asking him two questions at once; if the book answers conflict, he’ll never admit it, since the book is always right.
cosmos is such a bitter person, I think he’s sad because he hasn’t completed his High School education.
Why did you post the needle exchange policy of King County Washington cosmos?
Are you another one of the Left Coasters like CF who come here to disrupt the Wichita Eagle Blog?
Stay on the Left Coast where you belong.
The troll thinks it owns the blog.
Troll, return to your sh!th01e under your bridge.
Repuke,
You’re back to posting LIES about me again?
“Why did you post the needle exchange policy of King County Washington cosmos?”
Because Rosell asked about the hours open, and “needle exchange” at Google listed it 5th, as “Locations and Times”.
AND the site is very informative.
Actually Tom, it’s CapnAmerica who thinks he owns the blog as he often signs his post with “The Management.”
I find it peculiar that you use those choice of words Tom. Any particular fondness in there for you? :)
Still waitin’ for that boot in my ass to help me get back to the right coast, RepubliKhan.
When are you all coming to reclaim your hallowed flyover ground? …there’s a reason it’s less expensive to live here than on the coasts…it’s called supply and demand.
You do the math.
Those who don’t live here, shouldn’t post here imo.
This is the Wichita Eagle Blog in Kansas.
And as you say delsol, fly over territory, so keep on flying.
If the government gives clean needles to drug addicts, and they keep using drugs like meth, they will die anyway, sometimes within a few months. Needle exchanges attract drug dealers to prey on addicts and endanger the entire community with their violence and recruitment. Our government offers assistance and rehab for those addicts who want to return to decent, healthy, lawful living, and sometimes plea bargains for those who get caught and want to help get their dealers off the streets. The rest buttered their bread and can lay in it.No government needle exchanges. Ever.
Repuke,
“Those who don’t live here, shouldn’t post here imo.”
Then the WEBlog editors should not start this thread by quoting CHICAGO Tribune columnist Steve Chapman.
And Todd Tiahrt, and other Kansas politicians, should not push legislation that impacts the entire U.S. — and the world.
“Goddard Republican’s legislation that has barred the District of Columbia from using its own money to fight AIDS by passing out syringes to drug addicts.”
When a drug addict dies, the dealer loses a customer, which in turn threatens a multi-billion dollar drug industry.
If the addict is shot while trying to rob someone, that in turn threaten a billion dollar drug industry.
The 100,000 addicts which live under New York’s streets are a protected species by New York City’s multi-billion dollar drug industry.
New Yorkers are told to give-up the money when they are mugged, and that keeps the multi-billion dollar drug industry running smoothly and with a good return profit wise.
Giuliani and now Bloomberg’s job is to keep clean needles on the street and guns off the street.
That’s why it was so important to nail Mr. Getz.
Here’s a first – I agree with Cosmos.
I once saw that the WE Blog was rating as one of the Top 5 blogs sites in the country.
Why wouldn’t people from all over America want to share ideas in a very popular and user friendly forum, that is fast and almost never censored, regardless of the State hosting the blog?
Maybe the WE Blog should be limited to citizens of Wichita.
Once again cosmos you have failed elementary logic.
We Kansans, of course get to comment on what’s around us and involves us.
We just don’t need “border ruffians” like what happened during Bleeding Kansas to come in and stir up trouble.
A lot of the posters here who are Liberal aren’t originally from Kansas or not from Kansas at all and do not know what makes up Kansas values including the what Kansas Liberal Values are.
People outside of Kansas who weren’t raised here, have no clue of what it means to be Kansan. Therefore they add some good things, but when they start assigning values that are not Kansan or never will be Kansan, then they need to leave.
Kansas has enough of its own Liberals to keep us occupied, we don’t need any outside “coasters” to put their values on a state they no nothing about and usually dismiss as fly over territory.
It’s like KFG. I hardly agree with her, but I admire her ability to be a self-starter, have a working farm and operate a cafe. That’s what Kansans are all about, creativity, pulling themselves up by their bootstraps and minimizing the blame when they know they can do things to change it because of who they are.
For that, KFG gets a gold star.
Dr.Ben Huie is another good example who lives in a comfortable Kansas home and is recognized in the Community as a Professional who gets involved with the community. He is not originally from Kansas, but he lives here and knows the local issues often more than some of those born here.
I suppose if I went to a blog in Texas and started mocking rednecks and cowboys, I would soon be the brunt of the Blog elite.
So, if you “foreigners” don’t like my Kansas comments, feel free to get on your virtual plane and fly on out.
Parkay – in most places there is a huge waiting list to get into any sort of treatment unless the person has good insurance.
Clean needles is only a stopgap; a ‘less bad’ option. As a person who is involved in lay counseling (not paid by the way) for addiction I favor anything that makes the situation less bad.
Actually for once, Ed made one good point.
There are billions of dollars of illegal drug revenue in the US.
Is it not likely that many running government today are reaping some of this non-reportable tax free cash?
Is that why the war on drugs is not seriously being fought?
If we wanted to, we could seal our borders, the Coast Guard could be chasing drug dealers bring in their loads by sea, the National Guard could be intercepting those crossing the border.
Blow a few hundred drug running ships out of the water, blast every drug carrying smuggler with several rounds of lead as they sneak across the border, blockade exports from a few South American countries – and we’ll win the war on drugs. It’s be a few tough months for the addicts when the drug supply dries up, but they’ll come clean in a short time – if they HAVE to.
For once I disagree with you Republican.
I understand you not wanting liberals coming into Kansas blogs, but what about conservatives?
I’m not sure that Kansas has any qualities better or worse then any other state. I think there’s much in common among all Americans. Those Kansas values you mention, are not limited to those who are within its borders.
For once I disagree with you Republican.
I understand you not wanting liberals coming into Kansas blogs, but what about conservatives?
I’m not sure that Kansas has any qualities better or worse then any other state. I think there’s much in common among all Americans. Those Kansas values you mention, are not limited to those who are within its borders.
I’m not a hypocrite on this manner, that goes for all flavors of ideologies.
I lived in San Antonio Texas for about six years off and on, but it doesn’t mean I can or want to go there on one of their blogs and make comments on how to run their business or affect their way of thinking.
So, I keep it here at home, in Kansas.
I think of Blogs as the virtual “barber and beauty shops” of yesteryear. If you aren’t from here that’s fine, but expect to be treated as an outsider who can’t clue into what’s going on here and what our mindset is, regardless of what side of the isle we set on.
manner=matter
LHG
What you’re suggesting only drives-up the price, as that is now being done.
The only way to beat the drug-business is to allow the customers to die and flood the market, thus driving-down the price.
That’s the smart way, if you can find anybody whose not in on it, and making a lot of money, who’ll help destroy it.
Google “Israeli heroin” and see how it starts in Afghanistan, gets refined in Israel and comes in through diplomatic pouch.
I knew Ed would find a way to link the Israelis to this topic. :D
I didn’t find a way, you’re just too naive’ to understand what they’re doing, in so many different ways.
Israel is the largest criminal enterprise this world has ever known. Get your head out of the sand…
ed, drugs are bad – mmmkay?
Repuke,
“Once again cosmos you have failed elementary logic.We Kansans, of course get to comment on what’s around us and involves us.”
Are you “slow”…? Tiahrt’s needle exchange ban does NOT involve only people in Kansas.Note the opening header — from Chicago, and re D.C.
Another example: CO2 from the proposed Holcomb coal-fired plants will spread worldwide, and cause AGW for a century or longer.
Repuke: “If you aren’t from here that’s fine, but expect to be treated as an outsider who can’t clue into what’s going on here and what our mindset is…”
What gives you, in Wichita, the right to post LIES about the levees in far-off New Orleans?http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2007/05/open_thread_28.html#comment-71041282
Unfortunately, your posts are examples of “Kansas values” and Wichita’s “mindset”.
Kansan opinions written in Kansas cosmos…get it?
Not by some left coaster who thinks he is smarter than everyone else because of his proficiency in “hyperlink.”
You’re not wanted here cosmos, leave.
Republican
Let me clue you in as to how far-reaching the Israeli criminal enterprise reaches.
Ed Bradley, before his death, did a piece on 60 Minutes on diploma forgeries, which people were paying upwards on 30,000 dollars for, from non-existent Colleges in England.
Bradly traced a series of “drop boxes” which stretched worldwide and ended-up in an office in Jerusalem. He confronted the man who had been selling the forged diplomas, along with the money to his bank account.
The man brushed Ed Bradley aside and said he knew nothing about it.
Bradley was unable to get the Israeli government to investigate this matter.
That’s just one example of just how bad things are in this criminal enterprise known as Israel.
Check it out. { CBS 60 Minutes Ed Bradley }
Repuke,
Thank you for proving that you’re “slow”.
Read the header at top of the page.”Where The Wichita Eagle editorial board shares opinions and observations”
There’s nothing there about the posts being “Kansan opinions written in Kansas”.
I’m not a “left coaster”, and I’m not leaving.
You also use hyperlinks… but then you add LIES to them.
The problem is not handing out clean syringes to prevent disease spread, it is the government allowing criminal activity. Will the government next hand out naked pictures of children to help pediophiles with their addiction? Or hand out visas to terrorists to help them kill Americans? This is not a government issue. It is a social issue. Why should the government be involved in a social issue? The government should only be involved in running the country. Since this is a social issue and these known addicts are doing illegal activities, maybe they should be jailed and crushed. There, problem solved.
“maybe they should be jailed and crushed.”
That’s the system which has failed in the passed. An “adjusted version” of that is now in play.
It still doesn’t work.
DEA eats-up 50 billion a year and all their efforts do, is to stabilize illegal drug markets.
England came up with a “You want drugs, here, they’re free, roll-up your arm.” The bottom fell out of the price. No drugs could be imported or expected to recover expenses, getting them to England.
Republican,
“Tiahrt’s Press Release in 1999 hasn’t changed:”
Maybe Tiahrt does not want to admit that his old information is wrong?
‘Misusing the Evidence 8/07/98′http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/053/misuse.shtml
http://www.drugwardistortions.org/distortion3.htm“On March 26, 1998, ONDCP Director Barry McCaffrey gave testimony to a House subcommittee in which he misinterpreted the results of two Canadian needle exchange studies in order to justify his opposition to syringe exchange.”
And maybe Tiahrt does not want to look at the studies done since then?
It has failed in the past because it was not handled correctly. Who was jailed and crushed? Nobody. That is the problem. In Muslim countries, steal and you get your hand cut off. Their crime rates are low. If we jailed and crushed all drug offenders, then possibly there would be less of a problem.
dtc,
Brilliant!!! Let’s see, we can cut out a tongue for perjury, cut off an hand for stealing…What should we cut off for adultery? Hmmmmm
But seriously dtc,
Maybe you need to read a little history. Some of the most horrific punishments you can think of were imposed for virtually every crime, petty on up in 17th and 18th century Europe.
In England, for example, it was common to hang a thief. It was also standard practice to draw and quarter people for somewhat more serious crimes, and then to post the 4 quarters on the gates of London, for example, or London Bridge.
In France, a deranged guy stabbed Louis XV in the butt with a pen knife. His punishment, to have lead poured down his throat, be beheaded, and then be drawn and quartered.
None of these horrendous, public punishments, had any effect of stopping crime.
BTW, if you think the Muslims have solved the crime problem, why do you hear the explanation for the burkha as a garment for modesty…but also, to protect the woman from rapists and criminals on the street.
“and more than 4,000 die each year from heroin/morphine-related causes (the number one drug-related cause of death)”
Sorry Republican…caught you in another lie!
According to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention more than 100,000 people die each year from properly administered prescription drugs.
The July 2000 issue of JAMA attributes 250,000 deaths per year to doctors and pharmaceuticals with prescription drugs being the third leading cause of death in the US.
Many of you have missed a salient point – you can’t just trot into your local Walgreen’s and buy a supply of hypodermic needles – you need a prescription. Intravenous drug users steal, borrow, share and reuse needles because they are somewhat difficult to get. Providing a needle exchange program only ensures that users will be using safe needles.
“…you can’t just trot into your local Walgreen’s and buy a supply of hypodermic needles – you need a prescription.Posted by: WSClark | June 23, 2007 at 09:10 PM
Yes you can trot into Walmart and pick up needles and syringes. I did it last week for my sister who is a diabetic.
The free needle program is hogwash. If you can afford to waste your money on drugs, then spend some of it to buy a box of syringes and needles.
Happy,
You caught me in nothing, I didn’t write that article.
You Libs need to get a clue about life.
Walk on by, he gets worse everyday, so just walk on by……….
Yeah, WSClark recoils when I give accurate facts.
happy,
That’s a copy/paste of Tiarht’s old 1999 press release. I posted about it at http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2007/06/no-fan-of-tiahr.html#comment-73676106
Republican,
“The free needle program is hogwash.”
Studies, science, and common sense prove you wrong. But I guess you prefer Tiarhrt’s falsehoods.
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/syringee.htm
“Yeah, WSClark recoils when I give accurate facts.”
What a joke you are Republank – you have to have doctors orders/prescription to get needles from a pharmacy. Joe Blow meth user can’t walk into Walgreen’s and ask for a box of needles.
You sure about that WSClark? Is that why the pharmancy I went to had syringes and needles out on the aisle and not behind the counter? So, I just picked them up, paid for at the register and walked out.
The joke is on you Clarkie.
cosmos,
I guess you should step right up into Congressman’s Tiahart’s face and tell him that his press release is about falsehoods. You know the one where the Drug Czar of the United States is referenced.PPerhaps you are more qualified than both of them eh cosmos?
Republican,
“PPerhaps you are more qualified than both of them eh cosmos?”
The authors of the study ARE more qualified than both of them.
‘Misusing the Evidence 8/07/98′http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/053/misuse.shtml
http://www.drugwardistortions.org/distortion3.htm“On March 26, 1998, ONDCP Director Barry McCaffrey gave testimony to a House subcommittee in which he misinterpreted the results of two Canadian needle exchange studies in order to justify his opposition to syringe exchange.”
It’s nice to see that when the evidence is presented the pro-disease people don’t alter their position.
http://www.metrokc.gov/health/apu/resources/fneedle.htm
Yeah! More disease and death. It’s the platform of the Republican party. Personally I think Paul and his ilk had no idea about what the program is but figured that if Democrats are in favor of it it must be bad.
Now for the Republicans. Can you explain to me why encouraging the spread of disease is a good position to hold?
“Of all the states, only New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Delaware, Kansas, Vermont and the District of Columbia require a prescription to buy syringes.”
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-10-02-nj-needle-ban_x.htm
My workplace has places to dispose of used needles. Goodness, that must mean my workplace encouraging illegal drug use. It can’t possibly be to keep medical waste, possibly infected with blood borne illness, away from people to avoid contamination.
I’m wondering if the neo-cons have any solutions to problems. Everything they do tends to lead to failure. When Reagan was confronted with the AIDS problem his belief was that if we did nothing then the problem would go away. How’s that neo-con solution working these days? Time to move aside Republicans and let the responsible adults take over where you have failed.
cosmos,
Nice research, but it just says that McCaffrey made a mistake evaluating the studies.
Let’s educate ourselves on some history shall we? I remember when Clinton made a speech about AIDS research and I don’t recall his exact words, but it was something to the effect of “Look we spend ten times the amount on AIDS research now as opposed to Cancer research and cancer kills more people.”
Clinton’s policy at the time was relayed to Secretary Shalala (spelling?) and then passed on to McCaffrey that the Governments position was not to fund the needle exchange program.
I don’t see how I can make it any clearer than that, the needle exchange program was unfunded.
Republican, Clinton is not the President anymore. I hate to have to break that to you.
Doug,
I was discussing with cosmos and referencing Tiahrt’s press release and why it was made in 1999. It was policy during the Clinton administration and the non-funding still carries forth today.
Learn to read Doug.
AIDS problem?
What is that?
AIDS is possibly the most preventable and avoidable disease known to man.
The only problem is that it is spread due to social behaviors which if anyone dares talk about are immediatley attacked as trying to push their morality around.
Lets face it. If you are not sharing needles while doing ILLEGAL drugs and you are not sleeping around with people you don’t know anything about you are not going to get AIDS.
The only PROBLEM is that we refuse to look at the social behaviors which lead to AIDS.
There is no social health risk for sharing needles.
Those of us who are not partaking in this illicit activity or permiscous behavior have no health risk of contracting AIDS.
All these delesions about protecting the children from needles is a joke.
Can you even give me a number of children who contract AIDS each year from using a discarded needle infected with AIDS?
Sigh…
Republican,
It says McCaffrey “misinterpreted the results of two Canadian needle exchange studies in order to justify his opposition to syringe exchange.”
Tiahrt then used McCaffrey’s falsehoods to justify his opposition.
This thread is about Tiahrt, not Clinton, but…http://www.drugwarfacts.org/syringee.htm“10. Donna Shalala, Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Clinton Administration, stated: “A meticulous scientific review has now proven that needle exchange programs can reduce the transmission of HIV and save lives without losing ground in the battle against illegal drugs.”
“Those of us who are not partaking in this illicit activity or permiscous behavior have no health risk of contracting AIDS.”
Nonsense, Nathan. Normal, heterosexual people get AIDS. A recent survey indicated that the average adult individual has had seven sexual partners. That is certainly not excessive or immoral by any means. It certainly is not promiscuous. Simple math tells you that any NORMAL person could be at risk for HIV/AIDS.
Having sex should not be a death sentence, no matter how the fundamentalists try to paint it.
Nathan,
The larger the # of people who have HIV, the faster it spreads.
Add this fact to WSClark’s 11:10 PM post.
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/syringee.htm“In 1999 alone, the CDC reported there were at least 2,946 new injection-related HIV infections.”
So the needle sharing is making the AIDS problem worse!
I meant – The free needle giveaway is making the AIDS problem worse.
“In 1999 alone, the CDC reported there were at least 2,946 new injection-related HIV infections.”
Wahawk, I don’t see how your argument follows. Perhaps you ignored the numerous figures presented by the data.
Among them, which refutes a number of the baseless claims by the pro-disease people (all there claims tend to be baseless on any subject).
“After reviewing all of the research to date, the senior scientists of the Department and I have unanimously agreed that there is conclusive scientific evidence that syringe exchange programs, as part of a comprehensive HIV prevention strategy, are an effective public health intervention that reduces the transmission of HIV and does not encourage the use of illegal drugs.”
If the evidence points to lower transmission rates in areas with exchange programs compared to those without then the data suggests the programs are successful. It’s an open and shut case, Tiahrt and the neo-cons want to spread disease and they have yet to give a justification for doing so.
Nathan, I dont know how you can be so blasted narrow sighted… Of COURSE AIDS is a problem for both hetero and homosexual communities… Just because you are Straight does not exempt you from being a candidate for AIDS…
I have NO idea where you ever heard that wacko idea, but it is NOT TRUE!!! You are smart enough to check that out with your own personal physician, therefore, you dont need to take anybody’s word for it on this Blog…
And, furthermore, this is not a Right/Left issue… This is a Life/death issue…
Chas,
I didn’t say one thing about homosexual vs heterosexual in relation to AIDS.
I agree, AIDS is a problem for those who engage in social behaviors like illegal drug use and promiscuous sexual activity and the homosexual community.
I am sure things have gotten much better compared to the 70’s and 80’s.
My point is that AIDS is probably the most preventable disease known to man.
It is not a problem for me and it never will be.
AIDS is not a problem for the majority of the population in this country who do not engage in illegal drug use with unclean needles and do not engage in promiscuous sexual activity.
Chas,
I didn’t say one thing about homosexual vs heterosexual in relation to AIDS.
I agree, AIDS is a problem for those who engage in social behaviors like illegal drug use and promiscuous sexual activity and the homosexual community.
I am sure things have gotten much better compared to the 70’s and 80’s.
My point is that AIDS is probably the most preventable disease known to man.
It is not a problem for me and it never will be.
AIDS is not a problem for the majority of the population in this country who do not engage in illegal drug use with unclean needles and do not engage in promiscuous sexual activity.
WS Clark,
How is it nonsense?
Explain to me how someone who doesn’t do illegal drugs with unclean needles or who doesn’t engage in promiscuous sexual activity gets AIDS?
The odds of someone getting AIDS who doesn’t do any of those things is less than getting struck by lightning or attacked by a shark.
The whole idea that “AIDS can happen to you” crap they spout in AIDS awareness campaigns is pure BS.
How can AIDS happen to me?
If someone with AIDS came up and assualted me with their blood and gave it to me… that is about the only way I know how I could ever get AIDS.
This needle program isn’t doing anything other than allowing left wing liberals to feel good about themselves as if they are helping solve the “AIDS problem.”
You might as well piss in the wind if you actually think having a needle exchange is seriously stopping the spread of AIDS.
Lets take a poll, how many of you who support this needle exchange also support making illegal drugs in this country legal?
Lets hear it, don’t be afraid.
It must be nice to live in naive world like Nathan. Keep on believing that the only people who get AIDS are the people who deserve it. The Teletubbies are real too Nathan, you just need to click your heels and believe.
The rest of us (neo-cons excluded) live in the real world. Have you ever thought a wife could be completely faithful to her husband and still get AIDS when she has sex with him after he comes home from a Promise Keeper convention? Have you thought about the fact that people do get raped? Have you thought about anything at all? It must be lovely in your little narrow world that if we just live in an isolated reality nothing bad will ever happen. Some of us don’t rely on wishful thinking but actually want to solve problems. Step aside and let the grownups take over, you go hide in your closet.
Doug,
If you can actually show me how many wifes get AIDS from husbands who return from a Promise Keepers convention?
Nope, didn’t think so. Your typical anti-religous bigotry at work.
I already said that about the only way you could get AIDS other than illegal drug use with unclean needles and/or promiscuous sexual activity would be assualt.
Yet here you go acting like I didn’t think of rape.
If you took the time to read my comments instead of foaming at the mouth to attack them you might catch some of what I say.
I live in the real world Doug.
Do you?
Do you get AIDS tests after you cheat on your wife to make sure you don’t give her AIDS?
Do you insist on your wife getting AIDS tests when she leaves the home and her whereabouts are not accounted for?
Do you sit at home in your bed wondering if this could be the fateful day that AIDS CAN HAPPEN TO YOU because your wife gives it to you?
LOL
Go put on your tinfoil hat and hide from the AIDS monster which you apparently are deathly afraid of.
I am more afraid of getting hit by a meteor than getting AIDS.
Because I don’t engage in the behaviors which place me at risk.
It is a simple concept.
Many of you have missed a salient point – you can’t just trot into your local Walgreen’s and buy a supply of hypodermic needles – you need a prescription. Intravenous drug users steal, borrow, share and reuse needles because they are somewhat difficult to get
A prescription is not required to buy syringes at any pharmacy. I beleive Walgreens wants you to put your name and address on their log but that is the store’s policy – not any state law.
Syringes can be purchased as an over-the-counter item – just like insulin for the diabetics.
Hey nathan – do you even have a wife? Do you think people are truthful everytime they speak? There are alot of things in life that are not black and white – and this issue is one of them.
One thing I don’t see here is the number of drug addicts that are upper middle class people. You know, those ones that hide in the churches to make themselves presentable.
My dog died last August. 6-8 months before that, he was diagnosed with diabetes. I had to give him insulin twice a day. I bought lots of needles at Dillons and never had to have a prescription.
Sam,
Do you get an AIDS test regularly every 6 months just to make sure?
Do you make those you come into contact with get an AIDS test regularly?
Do you sit at home wondering how AIDS can happen to you and worry?
What do the clinical trials show?
Do free needles slow rates of disease or not?
If they do, then we should use them.
If they don’t, then we shouldn’t.
In Nathan’s dream land there is no such thing as a prostitute, there are never any spouses cheating, la la la la la, Nathan’s happy land of ignorance and magic.
I don’t think a clean needle program makes much difference in disease control. People who abuse drugs and alcohol take all sorts of risks without much thought to the consequences to themselves, much less anyone else.I think programs like free needle giveaway just make those who care feel as if they’re doing something that makes a differnce, but the reality is that it probably saves no one from anything.The real problem needs to be addressed, and that’s drug and alcohol addiction. We need to focus more on prevention and treatment, not bandaid solutions like this one.Just like the article in the paper this morning about overloaded foster care…how much you want to bet most of those kids are at risk because their parents are addicted? The problem of people getting disease from dirty needles pales in comparison to the damage done to families (and children in particular) by drug and alcohol abuse. We need to focus on the real issue, not enabling people to use drugs safely, because there really is no way to do that.
It is obvious from Nathan’s last posting that he does not have a clue as to what AIDS is. Of course he thought Reagan was a great president too. Reagan considered AIDS as a punishment by God for being homosexual. Obviously these fundies are no where nearer the truth now than they were in the 80’s when good old Ronnie was in charge. Of course, Ronnie also considered ketchup a serving of fruit for the kids’ school lunches. (that nutwing thought went out the window also).
Don’t believe Nathan when he says his fundamental Christian world does not have prostitutes or cheating spouses. One only has to look at these phoney church leaders to see which ones are caught with their mistress or even the gay male prostitute and of course there are drugs involved.
These phoney bible thumpers like to tell everyone else how to live but yet their own backyards are so filled with lies, deceit and filth that it would make the worst of us heathens look better in the eyes of the world.
PS Anyone can go to a pharmacy and purchase needles, at Broadway pharmacy you don’t even have to get out of your car, they have a drive through and I see people do it all the time. Needles are really cheap, much less than the drug being purchased for abuse from a dealer.It’s no harder than getting a hamburger at McDonald’s.
Nathan probably believes Ted Haggard never cheated on his wife or did any drugs. Ted Haggard speaks directly to God, is a fundamentalist bible believing Christian, loves George Bush, etc. Not like he’d do meth right before giving a male prostitute anal, because he’s a married Christian. Those things are impossible in Nathan’s dreamland.
Mary, if a program works to lower drug use and lower the spread of disease then why are you against it? What’s the real motivation for people like you and Nathan for wanting to end this program? Does it just kill off people you don’t like so your Christian morality finds it acceptable?
Yeah Mary, convince WSClark that you can go to a pharmancy and pick up needles and syringes. He’ll most likely call you a liar like he did me.
But what do I know, I actually made a purchase of syringes and needles.
Mary Caruso,
“I don’t think a clean needle program makes much difference in disease control.”
So you disagree with all of these health experts, and studies?http://www.drugwarfacts.org/syringee.htm
I’m not sure I want it to end, I just didn’t see how it was that effective. Maybe it is citing the link above. I still don’t like the idea of enabling people in their addiction, it sends mixed messages.The more we enable, the more people stay sick. But I don’t want to condone something that would put innocents at risk.So if you provide people access to IV drug paraphernalia, where DO you draw the line? And should the government pay for this? I’m not sure I want my tax contribution going to help fund someone’s addiction.I worked in addiction treatment for a long time, so I guess I see it differently.
PS Doug, I’m not a Christian.
Mary, the link has been provided three times on this forum. Where are you seeing that this program is actually continuing people’s drug consumption? Besides, it’s a disease issue, not a drug issue. The government’s business is to care for the safety and security of the people, stopping the spread of disease would fall under that category.
Since the data shows that it lowers drug use and the spread of disease how can you still be opposed to a program that works?
CosmosI am sure you are NOT a junkie.
However, Cos, have YOU ever run out of milk?Have you ever forgotten to fill your LEGAL prescription for some drug?Have you ever forgotten to buy your beer or whatever on Saturday, and not been able to stock up for a Sunday party without going out of Wichita?
Have you ever run out of checks in your checkbook before reordering more?
My point?
Though I disagree with you on nearly everything, Cosmo, you probably FORGET, or fail to plan ahead, at times in your life.
However, Cosmo, you EXPECT the junkie to be MORE responsible than you are.The JUNKIE, under your needle plan, will ALWAYS plan ahead?
DougReagan was the FIRST President to fund aids research.You are a bitter liar and cant be trusted with the facts.Also, when AIDS first surfaced, in America, several HIV positive men fought hard to protect their “right” to have open sex in bath houses and refused the advice of health care workers to practice “save sex.”Irresponsible HIV positive men (moslty Gay) have killed more gay men than all of the “homophobes” in the world, combined.
Yes, AIDs is a serious problem.
Your attempts to demonize people who tried to help, while ignoring the major culprits, sickens me.
Ever worry about YOUR health, after giving CPR?
If so, then you have half a clue who you are talking to, you self-rightous ass.
Paul F. Rosell,
When you accidently run out of milk, checks, etc., do you run the risk of contracting HIV, Hep-C, etc.?
Are you so careless that you forget to refill a prescription that’s VERY important to your health?
I suspect that a junkie, properly educated by the needle-exchange program, will almost always plan ahead.And if s/he does run out, will try to get a clean one from someone who has extra.
Pall,”Reagan was the FIRST President to fund aids research.”Yeah, he was, since it became a known problem in 1980 on his watch, but he didn’t do it willingly, and delayed funding it until his second term.
Yeah, Reagan was one of those compassionate Christian types that are only interested in their own pockets being lined and, of course, Nancy had to have her outlandish designer dresses. And yet they really promoted the idea that the Reagans were just ‘normal’ people. Yeah, right. Ronnie and Nancy working two jobs to put food on the table – that’s a picture you will NEVER see.
Now, if drug addicts were actual voters and had money, then all Republicans would over them like white on rice.
You libs hate Reagan and you hate Bush and you hate Republicans.
We understand that, I think.
Other than that, you have nothing to offer.
Cosmo, think about it, we have already told the junkie that drugs will kill him.
The junkie IGNORED that warning.
Now, the junkie, with DIMINISHED capacity, will LISTEN to the AIDS warning and make sure he has clean needles?
Human behavior is a complete mystery to liberals. Liberals just can’t understand why people won’t do what they want, and appreciate the efforts of libs to heard them like sheep.
herdGet out your red pens libs!
Paul F. Rosell,
If your opinion is correct, then the needle exchange programs do ZERO business.
You’re wrong.
Doug, Cosmos, Fedup, Whatif,
When did you get your last HIV test?
Do you sit at home wondering when AIDS is going to happen to you?
When was the last time you had your significant other get tested just to be sure, because you never know when /if they cheated on you?
If you are so scared of getting AIDS I would imagine you get tested regularly and insist on your loved one getting tested regularly as well?
This needle program isn’t doing anything other than allowing left wing liberals to feel good about themselves as if they are helping solve the “AIDS problem.”Well said Nathan. If the country follows them, AIDS will be present for a long, long time. Another of their Tax and Spend initiatives. If the far left wants to fund this, they should be taxed seperately.
TSC
I bought a package of 20 needles and a package of 6 3ml syringes there yesterday. Getting ready to worm the sheep.
I would imagine that you could get all the needles you wanted at Walgreens anytime too. Cheep.
Addicts use dirty needles because they are addicts. They have unprotected sex and get aids because they’re addicts.
Free condom give aways from the school nurse has eliminated teenage pregnancies, so I’m all for giving the dopers needles.
Hank
The point I would like to make is that it is NOT the governments job/mission/responsibility/crusade to take care of people who make the wrong/stupid choices in life. The government’s business is NOT to participate in/interfere in/oversee the private lives of it’s citizens. You can easily see what the government’s performance has been in the past while trying to be the Big Brother with the POWER. What do you think the founders of our nation did with the people who made the wrong choices? They were heros who didn’t create a welfare state, nor a tyrannical one. They were after FREEDOM FROM government. Unfortunately, the idea of the government taking care of you has become ingrained into the mentality that individuals cannot care for themselves and that the taxpayers will, without complaint. It has also become commonplace to think that the public SHOULD take care of the “less fortunate”. I don’t have a problem with charity of the individual, but it should be a choice that individuals make, not one imposed by the government.
The only, and I mean the ONLY, good reason to give addicts free needles is if doing so reduces pernicious disease in the population at large.
What I’m saying is this. An HIV-infected human gives bacteria like XDR-TB an unnatural amount of generations to reproduce and adapt to first- and second-line TB drugs. TB takes adavantage of an HIV-infection to “learn” how to survive an antibiotic bath, one that should kill it.
Let me admit this, though. This is speculation on my part, based on what I’ve read about the correlation between HIV and XDR-TB and malaria in Africa.
If I’m right, then the fewer people with AIDS, then the fewer people who catch XDR-TB. Or other pernicious diseases, like malaria, that have also become drug resistant in a population with significant HIV infections.
Seems to me that’s in all our interests, even if the host XDR-TB learns to adapt in lives in DC. After all, our very own Rep. Tiahrt flies back and forth between DC and Wichita weekly.
That said, I do think there’s a fairly straightforward decision point here. From a public health viewpoint, we need to determine the amount of risk _of the type I discussed above_ that we can mitigate with a free needle exchange program in the US as a whole. If the risk isn’t significant, then imo the benefit of free needles drops sharply. If the risk is significant, though, then free needles may obviously help reduce the risk we all bear of being hospitialized with a pernicious, costly disease, the collateral effects of same on our families, and bankruptcy.
And if I argued like GW Bush argues, I’d just mention now that we’ve seen XDR-TB and what it can do to humans in Africa. Who knows what the next disease will be? Americans deserve the protection that a pre-emptive strike on radical disease like free needles provides.
Let’s not let the smoking gun be a cloud of XDR-TB bacteria hanging suspended throughout the heartland.
“He’ll most likely call you a liar like he did me.”
Blow it out your fleetwood, Republank – I never called you a liar – I copied and pasted a section from USA today that said that Kansas was one of about eight states that required a prescription for needles.
And Nathan – should you ever marry, what are the odds of you AND your wife to be both being virgins?
If one or both of you are not virginal, then you are at risk for HIV/AIDS.
It is that simple.
Any charity that wants to can give away free needles.It is legal.Go for it!Just dont make me pay for it, ok?It is a dumb idea, it solves nothing and may cause more problems.
But you’re okay with paying for covert operations that try to over throw democratically elected governments, right Paul?
WSLike LBJ did?Like JFK did?
WS, as is your MO, you lack the intellectual capacity to follow an argument to its conclusion, and win, or even come close to a draw —So you change the subject!
For the record, I support ANY foreign policy that insures the long term survival of the United States of America.Our enemies overthrow or try to overthrow governments friendly to the United States all the time.Remember Grenada?We must be willing to do the same, if we want to survive.
Now, lets finish that one on the next foreign policy thread.
Thank you for your surrender on this topic.
Time to move on folks.
WS admits defeat.
WS is about as clueless as Cameron Diaz:http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=paDiazsat08diazbag&show_article=1
Econ asserts that “it solves nothing.”
Do you have any evidence for that?
A link perhaps?
Here are five studies (from a Wikipedia article) that say you’re wrong:
Bastos, FI. and Strathdee, SA. (2000) Evaluating effectiveness of syringe exchange programmes: current issues and future prospects. Social Science & Medicine 51:1771-1782
Rich, Joseph D., Michelle McKenzie, Grace E. Macalino, Lynn E.Taylor, Stephanie Sanford-Colby, Francis Wolf, Susan McNamara, Meenakshi Mehrotra and Michael D. Stein (2004) A Syringe prescription program to prevent infectious disease and improve health of injection drug users. Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine 81:122-134
Des Jarlais, Don C., Courtney McKnight, and Judith Milliken. 2004. “Public Funding of US Syringe Exchange Programs. Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine 81:118-121,
Lurie, P., and Drucker, E. (1997). An opportunity lost: HIV infections associated with lack of a national needle exchange programme in the USA. The Lancet 349:604-608.
Drucker, E., Lurie, P., Wodak, A., and Alcabes, P. (1998). Measuring harm reduction: the effects of needle and syringe exchange programs and methadone maintenance on the ecology of HIV. AIDS 12:S217-230
Des Jarlais, D., Marmor M., Paone, D., Titus, S., Shi, Q., Perlis, T., Jose, B., and Friedman, S. (1996). HIV incidence among injection drug users in New York City syringe exchange programmes. The Lancet 348:987-991.
Oops, make that SIX.
WS Clark,
I am “at risk” of being bit by a shark on the beach.
I am “at risk” of being struck by lightning.
I am “at risk” of being hit by a meteorite.
“At Risk” doesn’t mean anything.
Do you sit at home worrying about how AIDS can happen to you?
When was your last HIV test and when was the last time you made your wife get one just in case she is out cheating on you?
“Do you sit at home worrying about how AIDS can happen to you?”
No.
But I taken precautions like a reasonable person. I am not married and have had multiple partners. I get a check up every six months in a prudent manner. I practice safe sex with the partners I have and ask them about their health. If they have not had a test, we use condoms until she has had a clean bill of health.
Sex is normal in adult relationships. It is a part of human behavior. I do not expect to give up sex simply because I am not married.
My last HIV test was about six months ago – thanks for asking.
Normal adults have sex. That is a fact of life. Get over your hypocritical attitudes and realize that not everyone is going to forgo pleasure because religious bigots like you choose to deny their natural feelings.
The average adult has had seven sexual partners. That is normal. Given that fact, prudence is reasonable.
You may choose to remain a virgin and look for that status in a wife, but it is unlikely to happen.
I choose to live in the reality based world.
WS,
Nathan doesn’t understand what a proper risk analysis involves. If the risk is catastrophic in some sense (like to my life or to life on the planet) I’d be wise to consider what precautions can prevent that disaster. In the case of AIDS, the precautions you have stated – since my life and health are at risk. In the case of a huge meteor hitting earth, I should take those steps within my power…as of now the best we can do is scan for potential earth crossing orbits. Yes, and astronomers worry about this every day. Lightning? I shouldn’t be out in it, wearing golf cleats, carrying an umbrella, standing under a tree…
I’m also at risk of spilling the Pepsi I’m now drinking. I’ll take a few precautions not to spill it, but given that the foreseeable consequences of a spill are pretty minimal, I won’t take many steps to prevent it.
Risk management, BFAH – I have one sexual partner who has had two partners and each of them has had two partners, but one of them has had six partners and one of those six have had twelve partners and one of those did crystal meth once with a shared needle and that person had eighteen partners and………..
And now I could get HIV/AIDS.
Simple.
That’s life.
Or death.
And now WSClark is an authority on STD.
They do have HIV tests you can take before having sex Clarkie. Instead of bloviating unwanted lectures that everyone and their dog know about, how about acknowledging what is written and just nod your head, then be on your way.
Blow it out your fleetwood, Republank.
You are a know troll, liar and nic switcher.
That is why we walk on by…………
Hypocrite.
Dances the “I’m still here” dance and mocks the “walk on by” crowd.
Didn’t work did it boys? :D
“I’m still here”
“I’m still here”
“I’m still here”
“I’m still here”
“I’m still here”
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
No matter what you say, Republank, no matter how long you hang around, you will still be a tiny, little man, still hoping that some one will respect you……….
He just can’t get over losing usAnd so if he seems broken and blue
Walk on by, walk on by
Foolish pride, is all that he has left, so let him hide, the tears and the sadness we gave him, when we said goodbye………
Walk on by
and walk on by
and walk by……………….
WSClark has no idea of what he speaks. Kansas does not require a prescription for syringes or needles. An insurance company may pay for these with a prescription from a physician, however no prescription is required to purchase them for cash.
Hey, DTC, are you another of Republank’s nics?
I just posted a copy and paste from USA Today. Got a problem with that, Blank One?
Ha!!!!!!!!!!!
And you were wrong WSClark.
“Yeah, WSClark recoils when I give accurate facts.”
“What a joke you are Republank – you have to have doctors orders/prescription to get needles from a pharmacy. Joe Blow meth user can’t walk into Walgreen’s and ask for a box of needles.”
Posted by: WSClark | June 23, 2007 at 09:34 PM
I guess you are the liar then WSClark. Speaking out of the wrong orifice once again. tsk tsk
WS. So narrow. Call any pharmacy and ask if you can purchase syringes without a prescription. It is that easy. Now who is the Blank One?
“No matter what you say, Republank, no matter how long you hang around, you will still be a tiny, little man, still hoping that some one will respect you……….”Posted by: WSClark | June 24, 2007 at 08:41 PM
When I show up for the party at the shoot Fest Lake Afton Observatory Gun Range, you can ask Hank how tiny I am. :)
Tiny mentally.
WS, you are still the mentally challenged one. You and your Lib friends.
God, you are funny, DTC!!!!!!!!!
Or Republank or who ever the Hell you are!!!!!!
Republican,
We’re still waiting for you to post your link(s) proving your “large majority” claim.
http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2007/06/open-thread-624.html#comment-73854962
No cosmos, you are waiting – no one else cares. Get it? Not a single person cares about your twisted personal agenda.
Republican,
Thank you for admitting you don’t have proof, and that your Kansas “values” = LIAR!
WS, you can buy needles and syringes without a script in Kansas, like I said above, I see people do it all the time. They’re cheap and available at any pharmacy.You can also be infected with HIV before it shows up on a blood test and pass it along without knowing you even have it yet. There is no such thing as “safe” sex, all you can do is lower your risk by using condoms.
Mary,That’s the law, but I’ve seen pharmacists demand scrips for needles.
Mary, for the 99th time, I was copying and pasting from USA Today.
Mary, for the 99th time, I was copying and pasting from USA Today.
Posted by: WSClark | June 24, 2007 at 10:16 PM
And he still remains unapologetic or admits he was wrong.
But that’s the bullheaded WSClark for you.
Blow it out your fleetwood, ‘blank.
WS Clark,
Based on your answers you are not “at risk” of getting AIDS anymore than you are of getting struck by lightning.
The super majority of those who contract AIDS engage in social behaviors like using illegal drugs with unclean needles and have Promiscuous sexual lifestyles.
That is reality WS Clark.
I have not said one thing about having multiple partners or being a virgin.
That is your trying to focus on me with your mistruths instead of what I have said.
Pharmacists do not have the right to demand scripts for syringes when syringes are sold as over-the-counter items.
I’ve seen Walgreens and Osco make people sign a log sheet with their names, addresses and phone numbers but that is the store policy – not some stupid law. And when was the last time you saw a strung out addict at Walgreens buying syringes?
Drug addicts are not going to go into a mainstream pharmacy and buy their syringes. and I’m sure the addicts the needles program is targeting are those that are unemployed and steal to support their habit. Not exactly the type you will see at any pharmacy in town. These same addicts share needles because their lives are so messed up that their brains don’t work any longer.
But rather than offer clean needles are a chance to clean up their lives, Tiarht (who claims to be a Christian) wants to stop the needles program. Perhaps if the politicians really got serious about solving our drug problem, then more funding would go towards the recovery programs that really work and not just this Nancy Reagan crap of ‘just say no’. It did not work then and it won’t work now.
But maybe the drug traffic is bringing in more revenue for those certain ‘upstanding’ citizens and that is why our country will never get serious about helping eliminate drug use in our population? Perhaps that is the real reason behind our paper tiger response to the drug problem in the US. Follow the money and then we can root out the cause for the drugs.
How does “just say no” not work?
I just said no and it worked for me.
Not enabling an addict in his/her addiction by providing them the tools to do it is not un-Christian.
For WS and Fedup, pharmacists do have the right to request a prescription for anything they feel appropriate, including syringes. Also, pharmacists can sell syringes without a prescription. I have and I know many who do. Drug addicts DO go into these pharmacies and purchase clean syringes. Currently, my practice is to not sell syringes unless the individual has a current prescription for insulin or syringes on file at my store. Many pharmacists I know maintain this same policy. Also, if a customer comes into my store and tells me they are an addict and they want to purchase syringes and I comply, I am guilty of a felony for selling drug paraphenalia. I agree with Nathan, just say no does work.
RPh, But that would take self discipline, self denial, and self responsibility…and we all know that is just too much to ask or expect from anyone!
I have read through this entire thread, with amazement. Some think that, despite the apparent studies, that needle exchanges does not work to reduce disease transference. I disagree. The studies do in fact indicate that it will. Get over it.SOme think that it just enables drug users. I agree. It does. Drug addicts are already shown to tend to make poor decisions, this just enables them at least in mind. “Hey, the government is telling me it’s okay, or they wouldn;t help me out”. Those of you who disagree with that are certainly welcome, but having known several addicts of all types, any enabling is often seen as tacit approval.Still, the benefit may override the enabling problem.
Some here think the government should pay for the needles and the mechanisms and structues to hand them out. Why wait? Why not go purchase some needles and start your own? Why not start a charity to do that very thing? the notion the government has to be the answer is the wrong one. I would put forth that it should be the source of last resort. If it can be found that the problem cannot be solved at any other level, then let the governments—first city, then state, and finally federal, take care of it.Those of you who want a drug exchange program, start a 501c3 to do so. Hell, I might even contribute.
Maybe they could set up a booth in front of The Lord’s Diner. That way addicts can get a free meal and pick up supplies in one easy stop.
druge exchange should have read needle exchange
WS
JFK would be a Republican today:
Anti CommunistAnti tax supply-sider”Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
On the other handLBJ — Corrupt as hell”Great Society”LBJ = DEMOCRAT!
According to you, Rossell, all Republicans are good and moral, and all Democrats are immoral and evil.
As usual, you are full of shit – just another two-bit partisan whack off.
Your post are so transparent as to warrant a scroll over, which is what I usually do – you’re just not worth the time to read your partisan drivel.
Mary,”Maybe they could set up a booth in front of The Lord’s Diner. That way addicts can get a free meal and pick up supplies in one easy stop.”
Actually, you’d probably get more takers at the door of any factory, office building or hospital in town than at The Lord’s Diner. Those are just the visible addicts.
Actually, WS, you truly are full of SHIT!! After reading the drivel you expound over various topics in the BLOGS, you truly are a liberal Democrat. Too bad you waste so much energy with this anger of yours. Republicans are truly keeping the country where it should be. Too bad several republicans have taken the easy road and joined the Democrats in bending over and grabbing their ankles when it comes to terrorism and dealing with the world.
Not too many IV drug users in the hospital, Jed. I doubt that you’d find many in the factories or office buildings, either. When someone is so addicted that they’ve sunk to shooting up, it’s really hard to hold down a job or have any sort of “normal” life.Where I work there is no way you can be high and do your job, it would be way too hard to function at that level. Trust me, the ones that have tried it can’t keep up and they never last. No way.
Meth Amphetamine is shot up, but the user frequently appear normal. The most common use of needles these days is meth users, especially in so-called normal environments. You would be surprised at the number of people that have fallen victim to meth – the Rev. Ted Haggard come to mind.
Another point, it really makes me sick when I see what downtown Wichita has turned into. There’s no way I’d take my grandkids to the library or anywhere else down there because of all the transient, drug and alcohol addicted people who hang out downtown. All the giveaway programs, food banks, halfway houses, and homeless shelters have turned it into a Mecca for those who live on the fringes of society. The largest group of sexual predators live in the Skirkmire and various other halfway houses on Topeka.Who would want to live around all that? Certainly no families or anyone else who might buy and fix up the depressed housing in that area. All those good intentions have ruined it for everyone except those who live in that subculture. I refuse to let my clients live downtown because they just get victimized by those who prey on the vulnerable, and I no longer feel safe going into that area to do my visits.
Sorry WS, I’d challenge you to show me any serious meth users that manage to hold down a high fuctioning job for any length of time…I know too many users and eventually their life is in shambles. I have known nurses, social workers, and other professionals who have gotten caught up in that addiction and they ALL have ended up at the bottom, even dead. You can’t use a drug like that and stay normal or fuctioning.
Sorry Mary, but not all meth users act like junkies. Many hold down respectable jobs like yours. Meth is easy to make and easy to get a hold of if you don’t want to make your own. That is the curse of meth.
Meth users frequently don’t use it to get high – it is used for the added energy that it provides.
I would be willing to bet that people that you work – at least one – is a meth user.
I have known meth users that worked at high (no pun intended) level without being found out.
Bet on it.
As far as “casual” drug use goes, I think most people here are seriously uninformed. Which isn’t all that bad a thing, really. Obvious exceptions being WSClark and Jed. Econ101, otoh, reminds me of a chronically uptight Forrest Gump who sells life insurance for a living and boasts of his pro bono work as a health insurance salesman to the poor and downtrodden (Econ101 endures the suffering one can only find at the drudgery of filling out policy contracts). Pro bono on behalf of the downtrodden of Wichita and who can gripe really as he concomitantly strikes a victory for the brave insurance companies we all know to be crucial, vital, and indeed paramount to the equitable distribution of quality American health care in 2007.
Yall might be surprised how many of your coworkers use syringes for recreational drug use on the weekends. Also, most people seem to assume that people who take rec drugs intraveneously are little more than zombies. Most every drug, heroin included, can be taken even intraveneously with zero habit-forming effects if the user is sufficiently disciplined. Not every drug user is Shaun of the Dead. That’s reserved for those for whom unfortunately hope and self-discipline hit a dry hole once too often. Or the truly stupid.
I’ve known plenty of Kansans who were 9-5ers on weekdays through Friday but have no qualms about using drugs for recreation on the weekends. Recreational intraveneous drug use is rarer, admittedly, but certainly it goes on. Some of yall live lily white lives I guess.
I doubt it, meth is a badass drug and when someone uses it the addiction progresses pretty quickly. Have you ever seen someone who is coming down from meth? They may THINK they’ll invisible, but there is no way you can’t tell because of the tweaking.. I’ve known educated people with great jobs who lost everything, destroyed their lives, and even commited suicide because they started using it and couldn’t stop.People can drink and smoke pot and still fuction, but no one can use meth or crack routinely and live a productive life for very long…it just doesn’t happen.
I have known crack addicts that would KILL their families for another fix that looked completely normal to the outside world.
I personally tossed an addict out of the home he shared with a girlfriend when she asked me for help.
Fortunately for me, he was terrified of me, so it was a relatively easy eviction, but users can fool anyone and everyone.
In fact, most fool everyone until it is too late.
I am just a occasional pot smoker, but I have seen way too much damage done by needles and coffee straws.
It is not a blog joke – junkies come in all shapes, sizes and from all walks of life.
If you really meant to write that “no one” can take meth or crack routinely and not turn into a zombie/addict, you’re just wrong.
There are people who routinely use such drugs for recreation and who suffer no consequences other than a dented budget now and then.
I worked in drug and alcohol treatment for years. I’d say you’re misinformed, Pendant.It’s not uncommon for the addict to minimize the impact of their drug use on their life, but that doesn’t mean it has no impact. Denial is a major part of any addiction…just ask any alcoholic or addict you know how their habit has affected their life and they’ll tell you everything is just peachy. If you know someone that uses meth or crack routinely I’d be willing to bet they’re in a job where they don’t have to function at a very high level. It doesn’t work at a job where you have lots of responsiblity or stress, not for very long.Just the mechanism by which meth or crack cocaine affects the brain make it all but impossible not to get addicted.
I don’t want to marginalize what you say by seeming to extoll meth or crack use. However, I would point out that if the bulk of your experience comes from working in alcohol and drug treatment, and doing so for years, then your sample population may not be representative, Mary.
Pendant, I’m out in the real world everyday. I see first hand what drug and alcohol abuse does to people’s lives and to the lives of their families.Let me tell you a personal story…I had a best friend of more than 10 years that worked with me at St Joseph (before it became Via Christi)and then in home health care. We even had a business together. She was a recovering drug addict/alcoholic with 15 yrs sobriety under her belt. When she worked in the drug and alcohol unit, she did relapse prevention programs, she spoke at a college each year about her struggle and recovery, her whole career was based on helping others achieve sobriety. She had a beautiful home in College Hill, a wonderful job that paid well, lots of friends and family who loved her. To make a long story shorter, she got real depressed one Xmas about her son and she picked up a crack pipe. Within 6 months, she lost her house, her car, her job, her nursing license, her family, and all her firends. She moved in with a loser drug dealer and even got charged with a felony for burglary. She spent time in jail.She’s 53 yrs old.
I asked her how she was doing with her addiction a month ago, and she actually replied “You know, my drug use really hasn’t affected my life that much”.THAT’S what addiction is, and I can tell you, I’ve seen the same senerio over and over…in my professional AND persoanl life.To say that people can use crack, meth, heroin, etc and handle it just fine “if they can be disciplined to do it right” is just crazy denial about what those drugs do.Everyday I’m on South Broadway making calls and I interact with the prostitutes on a regular basis…ALL of themn are addicted to one of the above.THAT’S real life and the reality of hard core drug addiction. To say some can use it not be adversely affected is stupid and crazy.