A few months ago, I came across some videos where in some
cities (I can’t remember where in the U.S.) they created a space where people
could come in and use illegal drugs and in case they overdosed they had
professionals there to help them right away. A few questions came to my mind as
I watched these videos: What is the purpose of creating these “safe places”?
Who is paying for the building, staff, professionals? And wouldn’t creating
spaces like these just encourage people to continue to use drugs, seeing that
there are no consequences?
As I was wondering on what topic to write about I came
across this topic once again “Should cities open drug ‘safe places’ where
people who are addicted to illegal drugs can use them under the supervision of
medical professionals?” I imagine addiction can be a very difficult thing to live
with, maybe it was easy to fall into addiction and now it’s difficult to come
out of it. And I believe that if cities do open spaces like these, they would
just encourage the use of those drugs. Why not create more programs of help? If
someone wants to change for the better and quit addictions they will seek help.
But how can we help those who don’t want to be helped? By opening up a space so
they can freely inject those drugs? What’s next, providing the drugs for them?
Some might argue, “opening a safe place will allow people to
come in and be protected from the bad people out there. From people who want to
abuse them, steal from them, and maybe even kill them”. Yet, shouldn’t these
reasons/circumstances push the people, who are addicted to illegal drugs, to
make a positive change for their lives? To run away from that life and pursue some
positive goals or career?
Perhaps I’m missing some info and I would like to see, read,
and hear the point of view from someone who supports the opening of these “safe
spaces”. But if the opening of these places, to have the staff, and with
medical professionals (which we know won’t be cheap) is coming out of our
pockets, citizens who work hard to earn their money and pay their bills, I don’t
imagine many people agreeing with the opening of these spaces.
We live in some very interesting times. With there being so
many other things that we could work on, just as one example, free college
education. Why not provide the opportunity for many people to receive a very
good and free education, to have a well-educated and knowledgeable country? Feeding
the hungry? Amongst many many other things to work on. But maybe there is a
very good outcome for opening these spaces, like I said earlier, some information
that I may be missing. I would really enjoy reading about it. How would opening
up these places be beneficial to our society?
2 comments:
My apologies, but my comment was too long for the comment space. It exceeded the character limit, so I will just link you my response to your post: https://affairsofgovernment.blogspot.com/2019/05/are-safe-drug-injection-spaces.html
Thanks!
My interest was immediately piqued with your topic of safe injection sites for drug users. Being a social work student, this is a topic that my classes have explored on a few occasions. Of course, it is very controversial and it’s easy to understand why. There are so many facets to the drug use community and each person is different and has their own story. This makes it difficult to have a “one size fits all” approach when it comes to intervention and ultimately trying to help people recover from their drug addiction. We can open as many rehab centers as we like. We can make them as cost-effective (free) as possible. But at the end of the day, rehab centers only help those who are ready to make a change. There is nothing anyone else can do to help someone else reach that point. I notice that you mentioned this as well. However, you also made a comment asking whether the dangers of using on the streets should encourage people to want to get out of that situation. From my understanding, those who suffer from addiction have a battle between risk and reward. In this case, the drugs being the reward. There are multiple studies that also prove drug use, especially repeated drug use, changes the brain and brain chemistry. This can have a severe impact on prioritizing what is important and relevant and what is not. For someone who uses drugs, the reward far outweighs the risk, and in some cases, they don’t recognize the risk at all. Therefore, desire to get out this situation does not register in the same way it would for someone who is sober.
People who use drugs are also at an increased risk of contracting disease and illness. HIV and Hepatitis being two very prevalent and very preventable diseases within the community. Safe injection sites often, as you said, protect from harmful individuals on the streets. However, they also typically provide new needles and proper disposal devices. People who are addicted to drugs will often use any needle available, whether it has been used or not. This spreads disease like wildfire, as we can already assume. Additionally, because there are trained “employees” present, they can also monitor for signs of overdose and get individuals help should such a situation arise. I use quotations because many injection sites are staffed with volunteers and non-profit organizations which negates some of your concern for tax dollars going towards these facilities. If we would like these individuals to have an opportunity to go to a rehab center and recover, we need to make sure they don’t die before they have a chance.
Lastly, I agree that things like reduced education costs and feeding the hungry along with so many other problems in the world, or even just in America, have a need for attention and funds and reform. However, paying attention and aiding one cause does not mean we need to take away from another cause. We can reduce education costs AND help protect the community that uses drugs. Fix healthcare AND prevent disease outbreak among addiction sufferers. There is enough wealth in the world to fix more than one or two causes, we just need those in control of the money to care enough to apply it.
The jury is still out on long-term results of safe injection sites, but I think they are worth a shot. Short-term results are looking pretty promising.
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