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?
