Have you been wanting to try heroin but weren’t sure how to shoot up properly? Well, if you live in New York City, you’re in luck!
Apparently the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene had an extra $32,000 laying around and thought the best use of the money would be to print 70,000 copies of a handout instructing would-be addicts how to “Take Care of Your Veins.”
Such use of taxpayer funds naturally raises some obvious questions: Do 1 out of every 120 New Yorkers really need this instruction? Have things really gotten that bad since Giuliani stepped down as mayor? Is this what people do now that they can’t smoke in bars?
Naturally, the Debbie Downers at the DEA are trying to harsh everyone’s buzz. Special Agent-In-Charge John Gilbride calls the handouts a “step-by-step instruction on how to inject a poison.”
But the DEA is missing the bigger picture. We live in a country where everyone not only has the right to inject poison but has a need for a government health department to tell the how to do it. If people can’t get accurate information on how to be safe while sticking a needle full of smack in their arm they may feel the need to move to another city. (Addicts probably think The Wire was produced by the Baltimore Welcome Bureau.) NYC can’t afford to have their future heroin addicts leaving en masse, now can it?
(Via: The Gothamist)
January 4th, 2010 | 6:20 pm
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January 4th, 2010 | 8:07 pm
We don’t want to be judgemental, do we? Why don’t we pass out some more condoms while we’re at it!
January 5th, 2010 | 2:24 pm
Nonsense. The information in this guide is medically sound information for preventing infection and other attendants problems due to intravenous heroin use to users who have not or are unwilling to enter treatment. Harm reduction programs, such as needle exchange programs and drug use education have been demonstrated through scientific research to reduce the spread of infectious diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis, reduce overdoses, and create a relationship between addicts and health care providers that can be used later on as the basis for sobriety and treatment. The author of course, in an effort to disprove those “big bad liverals in NYC”, ignores the science and ignores the plight of heroin users. Luckily he is not in charge of a public health agency.
January 5th, 2010 | 8:18 pm
Interesting response by Sean S. “Harm reduction programs” sounds pretty good. But do we really want to instruct people on how to do evil to themselves? There’s something creepy about it. If you were an instructor in a classroom of heroin addicts, would you guide them through these “safety” procedures, or would you just say “For God’s sake, stop doing that!” Is it a value-free medical issue, or a moral issue?
January 6th, 2010 | 8:22 pm
It DOESN’T tell people how to inject heroin, and it DOES tell people to stop at the beginning and end of the pamphlet.
Excellent analysis of the pamphlet (and a PDF so people can actually see what this ridiculous fuss is about) at http://www.ziztur.com/2010/01/drugusetakecarepdf.html
January 7th, 2010 | 1:12 pm
Efforts at harm reduction should be applauded. If people want to modify their consciousness using drugs they should do so safely. When people are ready to get clean there are different options available. The most effective is a drug called ibogaine.
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