“Let me inject heroin in a safe place, it’s my citizen right”

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?

Marijuana, don't mess with Texas?

Was I the only one or how many people were told/taught things like “don’t do drugs” “stay drug-free” or “marijuana is so bad”? As a result, I always had that idea that anyone who smoked marijuana would be a bad person, someone my family didn’t want me to talk to, and that if I ever consumed marijuana I would end up on the streets. When I grew up and was more able to think for myself, read articles, interact with marijuana users, I began to realize marijuana was not this horrible life-ending drug that people such as teachers, media, and family had told me. Just like we learned a few weeks ago, our world view is really shaped by the people around us.

IF marijuana is this horrible thing, why is it being allowed in other countries? And also being legalized in other states? I understand hardcore drugs being illegal such as heroin or cocaine, which can cause addiction or even worst; death right away when overdosed. But marijuana not having any reported overdose, horrible side effects, etc. and yet being illegal? My question is why?

IF the people that don’t allow the legalization of marijuana say that it’s because of health concerns and they worry for the public, then why are things such as tobacco (which has been proven to cause lung cancer) and alcohol (which has been proven to damage the liver) still okay to sell and buy?

I don’t want to call it a conspiracy theory because I believe any time that word is heard, whatever sentences follow after, will be discredited. So I will just call it a theory; what if someone is giving money or should I say “donating” to people who pass/make laws in order for marijuana to not be legal? But then two questions arise: who would be so interested and with what purpose do they want to keep marijuana illegal? Could it be pharmacy companies? Instead of just using medical marijuana, they would rather sell you ten different medication to treat the same health problem. What would be more profitable, one medication or ten medications? But would this be like corruption? Corruption in the US? I find that a difficult pill to swallow. And unsure if there’s much corruption in the US. We live in such a big state, other states have already legalized it. Then what is the holdup Texas?

Perhaps many people already have a similar belief, perhaps others believe marijuana is this horrible thing, but when my family makes comments about marijuana such as “look at that drug addict” or “look at that stoner” I try to educate them by asking them if they know that marijuana has medical uses too. That no one has ever died from a marijuana overdose, that it doesn’t cause damages like alcohol and tobacco. Etc. It is very valid to form arguments against this theory. And I’d like to read those arguments. Being educated and learning from others is a life experience that we are lucky to have.

Unequal opportunity unmasked

Judy Rothman took a different approach to make an opinion about the topic because she didn’t write or comment much about it. Judy posted a transcript, a conversation between a “desperate parent” and a “cooperating witness”. I don’t agree much with the in quotes (“ ”) names she gave the characters of this story because before reading the story I thought “cooperating witness” was going to be someone who was doing good and not cheating the system. But when you read the transcript you realize that both the parent and the “money hungry witness” (which is what I would name them) are at fault, they both did wrong, one offered money the other one accepted. Maybe by creating these names for these characters, Judy, wants us to form a negative opinion against the parent and a positive one against the witness and see the witness as more of a victim.

That aside, I still believe it has really good information, and perhaps her intention was just to put the transcript in its entirety and show people what is really being said, and make the readers come up with their own thoughts about it instead of Judy making comments. Judy seems to be directing this transcript to anyone who is against the offering of money to enter the schools. It’s very disappointing what people will do for money, for the love of money that is, because money is not bad since we need it to buy food and other essential needs, but when people do corrupt thigs for money it is then that it becomes a problem.

I am referring to the college admission scandal where many parent’s payed so that their children would be accepted to elite universities such as Yale, Wesleyan, etc. The name of the opinion article is “Satire: Whatwere Loughlin, Huffman & other parents thinking in college admissionscandal?” I believe it should have a different name because Judy didn’t make much of an opinion or comment. But over all it’s a good read. And makes me wonder how long things like this have been going around. And sad to know that equal opportunity for elite college acceptance is farther than I had realize, unless you have money to “donate” that is.