The United States first safe injection sigh

[slippapimp]

The Boston Police have opened up 2 unsanctioned safe injection sites, right here next to the City's first Engagement Center tent and the womans shelter. The sites have nicknames, and i know one of those sites is called, "The Patio", and im unsure of the nickname of the other one, but nevertheless it is up and running as well. These sites about the size of a 1/2 acre. They are equipped with some tables, chairs, some smaller tenting to provide shade. They are staffed by the city with some workers from the dept of public healths own needle exchange program called AHOPE, to provide clean utensils ie, needles, cookers , water and the rest of works. There is always a nurse on site due to contrary
report. There are no police officers statiioned there. They claim to have no surveillance as an omgoing thing at these tents. This is a safe place where one can shoot their own fettywayp with no fear of being charged with possession. This is also a place that can almost guarantee that you will survive any and all overdoses, because of the support that staff and volunteers provide. I would warn any and all dealers that set up shop there, to make sure you are in charge of your own safety and freedom. I know when i attend the Boston Users Union myg, ill be looking to have all sites assessed for anti-surveillance. Please let me know what you guys / ladies, would like to know about this topic.
T

 

[PtahTek]

Glad ya with us but not sure this belongs in NMI.
Not even sure where it may fit in best... maybe DC, OD or possibly N&SADD?
Welcome to BL, nonetheless. Thanks for the information and posting of it.
Best,
Ptah

 

[Shady's Fox]

It belongs to ''Drugs in the Media'' -- anyhow I value drug addicts life and this is the best move they could pull, go somewhere to I.V safely and then go on your way

 

[PtahTek]

It belongs to ''Drugs in the Media''

Thought about this but seemed more first-hand knowledge (afaict) and less "fake-news" type of thing.
Mods may move it where they wish it just didn't seem to be doing much good in NMI. lol

im unsure of the nickname of the other one, but nevertheless it is up and running as well.

Is this something you have experienced, OP?
Would love to hear more of this from a perspective of an addict and not a non-addict... if ya feel me, bro...?
One

 

[deficiT]

Glad they have them up in Boston, but I'm pretty sure there are also many other city's with safe injection at least there are places where you can get clean gear and such like Baltimore, NYC, Philly, etc. maybe not sites per se, but at least I know you can get clean rigs anywhere even in smaller city's like Frederick, md. I advocate just buying them online openly that way everyone gets their shit safely and no one has to use old gear.

 

[Fairy of the Flowers]

I've been clean off heroin for 19 years and having a safe injection site would be a bad idea, a place I could go score, dealers probabiy hanging around outside, then I can go inject it without risking OD,


Same for the places that give out free clean medical grade heroin instead of subs or methodone, I heard you can go take say an Oxy, and have a test for opioids and even if it's your first time you done an opioid that is enough proof for the drug programme to give you real heroin!

If addicts can't afford drugs then they shouldnt take them, I earned my drugs, why should heroin addicts get free stuff?

How will addicts ever get clean when everything is handed to them on a plate

 

[Deru]

How will addicts ever get clean when everything is handed to them on a plate

In comes down to how much an addict will cost the city or state with healthcare and other associated problems when you don't provide these services. It's almost $100,000 per addict or some insanely high number, so areas with higher problems with drug use will always have something like this available. Maybe not full blown safe injecting sites, but some form of harm reduction.

I also think you underestimate the severity of the drug problem in the communities those services are provided.

 

[Fiori di Bella]

My cousin goes to a place that sounds similar to this Boston site. He’s in Vancouver, BC. I think it’s been there a while, though I haven’t spoken to him lately to know if it’s still running. I have no idea if it’s a government run place or if it’s funded by donations and staffed by volunteers. Same idea though, fresh rig, narcan and people to administer it, if needed and I think even some snacks, too.

 

[sekio]

The Vancouver safe injection site is called Insite, operated by the same authority that staffs the local hospitals, and receives government funding.

 

[F.U.B.A.R.]

Same for the places that give out free clean medical grade heroin instead of subs or methodone, I heard you can go take say an Oxy, and have a test for opioids and even if it's your first time you done an opioid that is enough proof for the drug programme to give you real heroin!

That's not actually true - at least not in the UK. Only the most difficult, treatment resistant addicts who are also repeat offenders in the criminal justice system are referred to these programs. You can't just take an oxy and get free smack.

I don't know if this is true of the places mentioned in this thread, but certainly not for me and thee...

 

[Fairy of the Flowers]

That's not actually true - at least not in the UK

Where on earth did I read that then, as I read it about it being in the UK, weird as the smack heads around here would be queuing up the street and for miles down the road lol

 

[Deru]

Where on earth did I read that then, as I read it about it being in the UK, weird as the smack heads around here would be queuing up the street and for miles down the road lol

Isn't that Canada?

 

[sekio]

Here in Vancouver, there aren't exactly nurses standing on the corner handing out Dilaudid pills by the handful, but if you are an opioid dependent person who has tried buprenorphine or methadone but for one reason or another couldn't manage with those, it is very easy to get a prescription for daily dispensed morphine SR or hydromorphone IR for maintenance purposes. You have to jump through a few hoops though, and I believe they only dispense enough for one dose at a time, so you need to visit a pharmacy multiple times daily.

 

[Deru]

I just saw an article on here SJB posted that nurses can now prescribe those medications. Things must be severely out of control there for the measures I've been reading lately to happen. But seriously, I think it's a step in the right direction, even if the cause of it is tragic.

 

[Deru]

NOT to question the OP I assure you but I'd be really surprised if this really is the "first" and "only" site in the USA

I think OP meant first for his city and also unsanctioned. But, I'm actually not sure of any sanctioned safe injecting sites anywhere in our country, to be honest.

Canada is far ahead of us in terms of harm reduction services. For the most part, Republican officials in our country are extremely against them, and so a lot of conservative areas barely even have access to needle exchanges.

In terms of relationship with law enforcement, the ones I'm familiar with have agreements with local law enforcement.

 

[Fiori di Bella]

For awhile we had a mobile needle exchange program here in San Diego. ER Residents rode around in a large RV (like a giant Winnebago), parked in drug-addled neighborhoods and offered addicts fresh rigs, a safe place to shoot up, and had Narcan on hand if it was needed.

 

[thegreenhand]

Great to see that this is being allowed in the US. I know there was a big court battle for Safehouse in philly

 

[Deru]

There has to be a psychological of philosophical explanation for it. Not to be crass: but seems to me it would be a cinch to OD as opposed to continuing to live on the streets day in and day out, chasing money for your next hit which you cannot do without physically anymore, and have to put up with the conditions on the street and all that comes with living on the street. I just don't get it.

Addiction hijacks the evolutionary reward system, not the evolutionary survival instincts. Not to mention, the self medication aspect. Life may very well seem better on that side versus being sober, but the problem is, it becomes increasingly easy to convince yourself of that as the addiction goes on. At some point, you forget who you are, and becoming sober becomes an almost impossible feat. Throw in some horrible physical withdrawals, and it's a nasty cycle. But the survival instincts are strong, homo sapiens are amazing at adapting, so living a life as a drug addict can't be worse than how we lived 200,000 years ago

My thread was basically just asking how it works when it comes to law enforcement. As I noted: it would be a cinch to bust someone for possession going into or coming out of a safe injection or harm reduction site let's face it. So there must be some type of "unwritten" or "gentlemen's" type agreement.

It's usually endorsed by local law enforcement, usually by top government officials in the area, like the mayor of a city and sheriff or police captain. Police are instructed not to do that, for very good reason. If police did that, no one would use it, and the financial burden to the city would increase. It would benefit the police nothing to do that, as all the areas I know of needle exchanges, police don't typically waste their time for possession charges alone. To put simply, when services like needle exchanges are used, the drug addict is no longer the problem. It's a simple acknowledgement of sorts that locking people up for drug possession is a waste of money and does no good to solve the root cause. It's a numbers, or majority game, right. If there are too many addicts, and a finite amount of local resources, you invest those resources higher up the food chain.

 

[sekio]

The Vancouver police actually tend to not bother with hassling drug users with small amounts of drugs, even meth and heroin. Worst case they might confiscate the drugs and send you on your way.
A friend of mine had police come inside his suite and they actually left his open flaps of heroin and methamphetamine on his side table...

In general they prefer to focus on violent criminals and the higher-level drug dealers. It costs the government too much to arrest a nonviolent drug user, hold them in a cell, then arrange a trial date and provide a public defender, etc. only for them to get released on probation or whatever... and the whole exercise doesn't do anything to prevent them from continuing to use drugs!

 

[Deru]

^ Exactly. I've had police walk past me shooting up (back in my dark days), look at me, and move along. I've had police wake me and my friend up after passing out in a car with needles and drugs all over, and told us to go kill ourselves in another county and to leave. They don't waste their time with possession, for the most part. Unless they are trying to get street dealers, then they will use that charge I've noticed. It's all about focusing on the dealers and not the addicts.

Even when I was violently dope sick in the hospital, with a blood infection, sepsis and endocarditis, and I just wanted it to end, truly to end, there was still a tiny force deep down inside of me that kept telling me to go on. It was incredibly weak, and I remember closing my eyes the day before being admitted to hospital and closing my eyes and acknowledging that would be my last moment on Earth. But in that moment was pure acceptance, all of my suffering ceased in that moment, and I was ready to die. I'm not sure how to explain it, but we just can sense when we're about to die. Luckily my wife called 911, and well.... the rest is history. That all gave me a whole different perspective on our mortality.