NYC-funded guide for heroin users draws DEA's ire

[villian]

A new guidebook funded by New York City for heroin users has drawn the ire of some DEA officials because it offers information on how to prepare drugs for injection and how to inject properly.

Take Charge, Take Care, also offers information on HIV testing and the dangers of sharing needles.

The New York Post report on the illustrated booklet calls it "Heroin for Dummies."

Click here to read the 16-page guidebook

The city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene printed about 70,000 of the booklets, the Associated Press reports, in what it said was an effort to promote health and save lives.

Assistant Commissioner Daliah Heller says instructions on injections, for example, were included because there's "a less harmful way to inject," the AP says.

The state's top official with the Drug Enforcement Administration calls the guide a "step-by-step instruction on how to inject a poison," the AP says. DEA special agent-in-charge John Gilbride says the handout is disturbing.

 

[Unbreakable]

anything in excess, can kill you.... dumbass DEA

 

[FrostyMcFailure]

title should read DEA ignorant clowns promoting the killing of youth since the 1970's

 

[Killa-B]

Every major city should do this! The DEA's ignorance is intolerable, fuck them.

 

[Z Y G G Y]

^they r not ignorant, just have an agenda that is different from us. They r not into saving lives and have their own reasons for acting this way. They know what they are doing that's why I have to say they are far from ignorant, they just act and seem like it.

 

[Dragynfyr]

=\ the link to the booklet is already toast, I wonder if the murderous DEA fucks got their way and stopped it

 

[shienar]

The second articles bias is fucking over the top. Why dont you drop "taxpayers money" or "your taxes" a few more times just so people can be aware that the fucking city is doing something. Sigh ive tried about 5 times to come up with something decent to say but fuck me lets just keep on screwing over arguably the most fucked on group in society and then be able to claim moral decency. I hope history remembers the poor bastards that got screwed by prohibition.

 

[SteeleyJ]

This really pisses me off. These fuckers need to get off thier high horse and realize that people are going to boot dope regardless. It shouldn't matter what side of the fence you're on about dope, it should be common sence ( apperantly not to the DEA though ) that if people had the knowledge to do it right, then the burden on the healthcare system from injecting drug users would diminish. Not to mention it's real people we're talking about here....but i'm sure to the DEA " we're better off without em ". Fuck these self-righteous pricks.

 

[drug_mentor]

^ +1, well said.

 

[flacky]

http://rghost.net/789138
Mirror

 

[phr]

I'm impressed with Bloomberg's stance on this. I figured he'd backtrack as soon as the DEA got involved.

The handout, on which the city spent $32,000 of the taxpayer's money

I hope most of that money was spent on printing costs. I read it, and I'm not saying it's bad, but BL could have done better. %)

 

[seep]

NYC heroin shouldn't have to be cooked if you're dissolving it at room temperature.

You guys are lucky you have access to fresh works.

A couple of the suggestions in the booklet seem like set-ups. Like keeping a labeled sharps' container in the home, or turning bunches of used needles in to hospitals.

What does it matter what the DEA says about this? It falls under the purview of the FDA. Drug enforcement: cops. Drug information: doctors.

 

[!_MDMA_!]

I think the dea thinks people are goin to read this and think " wow now that I finally learned how to inject heroin I'm going to go get some"
fuck out of here the dea is coldhearted. they'd rather have all drug users die before they save them

 

[monstanoodle]

All that is needed in response to such a situation is this:

 

[Coolio]

You guys are lucky you have access to fresh works.

Everyone has access to fresh works. They're OTC in most states, there are needle exchanges lots of places, and you can ALWAYS order needles online.

 

[seep]

Everyone has access to fresh works. They're OTC in most states, there are needle exchanges lots of places, and you can ALWAYS order needles online.

I knew it. Walgreens refuses to sell me syringes because they simply don't like my face.

I'd love to help set up a needle exchange program in Miami. I wonder if the obvious question is against BLUA.

 

[Coolio]

From http://gateway.nlm.nih.gov/MeetingAbstracts/ma?f=102215112.html

Purchase denials of legal injection equipment to women in South Florida.

Ramsey JP, Bridges FS; HIV Infection in Women Conference.
Program Abstr HIV Infect Women Conf HIV Infect Women Conf 1995 Wash DC. 1995 Feb 22-24; P119.

Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated whether or not the legal availability of injection equipment for purchase in Palm Beach County, Florida was equivalent to actual availability. METHODS: Three female buyers (East Indian, White, Asian American) visited 49 Palm Beach County, Florida pharmacies to purchase needles. Barriers to over-the counter sale of injection equipment were identified. RESULTS: Fifteen pharmacies (31%) either refused to sell to the buyers outright or required a prescription/medical confirmation before selling syringes. Syringe sales to the East Indian and Asian American but not the White buyer indicated racial bias. CONCLUSIONS: Denying women, who are injection drug users, access to sterile injection equipment when legally available for purchase over-the-counter may put these individuals at a higher risk of acquiring HIV infection or developing AIDS. Injection drug users, especially women, may have little choice but to share or rent HIV-contaminated injection equipment. Perhaps, as in France, a national training program should be operationalized to train pharmacists in how to sell injection equipment and to provide limited HIV counseling and education to injecting drug users.

Yes, the pharmacist at Walgreens is a scumbag who is refusing to sell you needles on principle. It's not the law there. But apparently a third of pharmacies will turn you away.

Some pharmacists in the US refuse to sell shit like morning after pills!

 

[flacky]

A couple of the suggestions in the booklet seem like set-ups. Like keeping a labeled sharps' container in the home, or turning bunches of used needles in to hospitals.

Quite the contrary.... If you're caught disposing of sharps improperly, you can be arrested.

Also, hospitals have a don't ask don't tell policy regarding turning in sharps.

 

[seep]

Coolio, thanks. Don't wanna derail the thread but Palm Beach in the mid-90s had a reputation for having a number of pharmacies that sold syringes OTC. Maybe they still do. Trip from Miami to West PB is like Newark to Philly though: easier to just visit the works man in the hood. I think a couple years back, the state or (M-D) county tried to make possession of a hypodermic needle a 3rd degree felony. Anyway, OT. Thanks.

Edit due to crosspost:

Quite the contrary.... If you're caught disposing of sharps improperly, you can be arrested.
Also, hospitals have a don't ask don't tell policy regarding turning in sharps.

Which brings up two conundra: 1) Landlord finding a sharps container in your apartment. 2) Cop catching you carrying used works.

Then again my POV is parochial: I've been conditioned to preserve works for times of drought & to minimize transit (you can't swallow the needle if you get pulled over)

 

[flacky]

^ Yeah, it's illegal in NJ. I'm from NYC but I'm currently living in Los Angeles. OTC needles at both. Ironically, I actually don't shoot up.

Been contemplating doing it with one or two RC's tho.