Discussion Should Harm Reduction supplies be funded by tax dollars?

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RUC4

RUC4

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I came across an article this morning about a new drug policy in Portland: providing supplies for smoking Fentanyl. Multnomah County is the home of Portland, Oregon, one of a number of cities to decriminalize personal amounts of drugs and is leading the way in harm reduction policy.

Multnomah County, located in Oregon, had originally planned to implement a thoughtfully designed harm reduction strategy to address the concerns of fentanyl smokers. The strategy aimed to encourage safer consumption methods and facilitate connections to treatment services. As part of this comprehensive approach, the county intended to distribute tinfoil and straws.

However, in response to the feedback and criticism received, Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson has made the prudent decision to temporarily suspend the program. This suspension will enable a thorough analysis and evaluation of the initiative's potential impact, ensuring an informed course of action moving forward.

During discussions among the commissioners, valid concerns were raised regarding the existing evidence supporting the effectiveness of distributing smoking supplies. Emphasizing the importance of prioritizing the expansion of treatment options, the commissioners highlighted the need for evidence-based practices.

Notably, nonprofit organization Outside In has been actively engaged in distributing smoking supplies since October of the previous year. With funding from Measure 110, they have observed an increased utilization of their services, indicative of the demand within the community. The article further features the perspectives of various commissioners, reflecting the diverse range of opinions surrounding this complex issue. It underscores the ongoing dialogue and deliberation among stakeholders, as they navigate the intricate challenges associated with harm reduction strategies.

Several municipalities are currently contemplating the adoption of harm reduction policies as a means to promote safer consumption practices and streamline access to treatment services. Although this concept holds considerable merit, public opinion remains polarized regarding the associated concerns. What do you think? Do you believe this approach represents the optimal course of action?
 
If a particular society is affected by an opioid epidemic or epidemic of another kind(like AIDS in the past), isn’t it an issue that should be addressed by the decision makers for policies of that society? And the policy makers to ultimately represent the long-term interests of the people of that society?
And those who say “not with my tax dollars” or “not in my backyard” are just admitting that they are willing to only be responsible for or bothered by social issues that directly affect themselves is a bit naive. As when will one ever know when we’ll be affected by a certain plight such as homelessness, hunger, sickness, or addiction until it actually happens? The general wellbeing/stability of a country/society partly depends on the available social safety nets in place within that society.
The public sector doesn’t operate in the same way as a private corporation. Instead of only striving for maximum profit, the public sector must consider greater social issues.
 
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Optimally the ones who supply the substances should provide funding but we all know how hard it is to get paid from the cartels (and others) for stuff like clean needles, narcan, a downer, an upper etc... just not in the budget.
Then it by necessity falls to taxpayers eventually cause if it came from any governmental institution they can only give some of what we already paid for (yeah I pay taxes) so its all on us, family. :shrug:
Peace
 
Mr. Krinkle said:
yea so throw them all in mandatory rehabs instead of giving them fresh needles to throw around on the ground after they're done being idiots
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It would represent a larger expenditure of money and effort to throw them all in “mandatory rehab” and/or prison than it would to just give them all rolls of Reynolds wrap (to reference what was being discussed in the article). The long-suffering taxpayers will be taking care of em one way or another…but I recognize that it’s a “bad look”. Regardless I don’t think that locking up all the drug addicts is a good solution either.

I don’t really have any problems with needle exchanges, safe injection sites or anything like that…to me those policies make sense from a public health standpoint.
 
The alternative is exploding disease rates and wound infections that are much more costly to health care than the harm reduction supplies themselves.

Even if you don't believe in the humanitarian aspect of this, it makes economic sense.

My problem with Portland along with all of the West Coast cities including Vancouver, is that many of these harm reduction supplies are ending up in high schools who are teaching them about what they are and how to use them. Why?

I think the supplies should be free but maybe not broadly advertised, which could be viewed as enabling.
 
someguyontheinternet said:
Ah yes I see we have the society and mental illness understander among us. One size fits all of course
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yea one size fits all - so lets hand out syringes, meth pipes, and tin foil to everybody so they can continue doing what they do right out on the streets of downtown
 
Yea ...what could go wrong with letting everybody do whatever they want downtown right?

Fuck it
 
I was gonna say . .

When i was in Iceland omg there was so much heroin there. On an island in the middle of nowhere it was everywhere. In huge epidemic proportions. Yes and very abundant.

Maybe it gets boring there. Maybe they could work out, fish, hunt whales ! Omg there are beaches all over the place there ! Obviously.

Tax dollars have to be used for something, of course, and drugs are going to keep on being sold. I guess that balance needs to be found somehow. And maybe it is. Ha.

Why are so many people on drugs and using drugs. Why are people so unhappy all of the time. Why is this world so very miserable all of the time !!

We have to find love and happiness from our heart not from needing obsessive addictions. We have to find a way to be happy with ourselves and to help others to realise this can be possible some way somehow. Or it's just the way it has always been and is always going to be.

This whole planet is a terrible terrible terrible place. When is everyone going to just realise this !! There are no answers. And there never are going to be. We all just keep struggling on and trying for it to become better.

Everyone is going to have to find their own love. Their own happiness. From their heart.

I woke up from a horrible horrible horrible dream. And I was thinking maybe I could take some gabapentin.

Damn. At least we are all alive and hopefully as well as possible.


I got four vials of blood drawn yesterday. Hmm. Four this time. I started getting blood work about a year ago and I hated it. Now I find my own vein. Me and the lab person were laughing together because we are really close like that. She was saying ewww look at that. It's saying take me take me. I find 'em and it doesn't even leave a bruise. lool.

Be careful what you love.
 
Mr. Krinkle said:
yea so throw them all in mandatory rehabs instead of giving them fresh needles to throw around on the ground after they're done being idiots
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Yeah like THAT'S gonna work.

I've been mandated once and surprise surprise all I did while in there was resent every second and daydream about getting a fix. The minute I got out I set about doing just that.
If you're ready to quit, a stint in rehab can assist you, but it can't MAKE you because it still has to be you doing the quitting at the end of the day. And if you're not ready 10 wild horses won't stop you, unless you think it's feasible or ethical to keep people locked up for years in some institution just so they don't do drugs.

I go with the harm redux principle that says point people towards help if they express an interest, but without coercion as that's fruitless, and keep them as healthy as possible and most importantly alive in the meantime. A druggie's gonna drug no matter what, might at least not catch the whole textbook of bloodborne diseases or drop dead from overdose if we can prevent that.

PS I've volunteered at a safe injection site in my home country (which also saved my literal life twice) and can say it definitely made a difference in terms of spread of diseases in the local drug using population as well as reducing public littering of needles etc. And absolutely not a single person who overdosed at that facility has ever been lost to date. I find that vastly preferable to the alternative of having that same person die behind a skip round the corner.
 
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Mr. Krinkle said:
do you know how they become homeless?

by doing drugs that make them homeless
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Bit fucking simplistic. It happens, but it happens every bit as much the other way round, people end up homeless through a string of bad circumstances outside their control and THEN they start drugging and drinking to escape the relentless misery of life on the streets. Plus undiagnosed and untreated mental illnesses are absolutely rampant among the homeless.
 
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