War On Drugs

[Millard]

Biden suspended and fired staffers if they disclosed past marijuana use - even in States where it is legal:


View: https://twitter.com/Narcomania/status/1372849113193189378

 

[Michael Scally MD]

Biden suspended and fired staffers if they disclosed past marijuana use - even in States where it is legal:


View: https://twitter.com/Narcomania/status/1372849113193189378

View: https://twitter.com/waltshaub/status/1372918507491504133?s=20

 

[Michael Scally MD]

View: https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/1372921409509462018?s=20

 

[Michael Scally MD]

View: https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/1372959251597905922?s=20

 

[Millard]

Hart, who studies the effects of psychoactive drugs on humans, finds his use of the narcotic to be “as rational as my alcohol use. Like vacation, sex and the arts, heroin is one of the tools that I use to maintain my work-life balance.”

Source: Columbia professor: I do heroin regularly for ‘work-life balance’

View: https://twitter.com/OSFKasia/status/1379651711506255872?s=20


The Daily Social Distancing Show with Trevor Noah: Dr. Carl L. Hart discusses his new book “Drug Use for Grown-Ups,” why not all drug users are addicts, and the reasons why drugs were outlawed in the first place.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uSC8cS08jE

 

[phibrowa]

Heroine addict in recovery here, almost 2 years sober. I can say without a doubt that full regulation and government supply of every narcotic across the board will cure all a country's drug problems. Its not the quitting of heroine that is hard, its the reintegration into productivity in society that is hard. Our socio-political biases, as a culture, that place addicts in a place of discrimination is what makes it difficult. That disconnection is the driving force of use, not physiological dependency. If, as a society, we REALLY embraced drug addiction in the same way we embrace say, problem drinking, there would be 90% less addicts. Period. The disconnect we give addicts automatically is too easily filled by what they are addicted too. I don't want to get into the fine tune arguments for this, because frankly I could write and write and write about it, and that's too much. But as someone who went into that hole and came out, I can say with conviction that addiction is NOT at all the choice we think it is.

 

[Regular Joe]

Heroine addict in recovery here, almost 2 years sober. I can say without a doubt that full regulation and government supply of every narcotic across the board will cure all a country's drug problems. Its not the quitting of heroine that is hard, its the reintegration into productivity in society that is hard. Our socio-political biases, as a culture, that place addicts in a place of discrimination is what makes it difficult. That disconnection is the driving force of use, not physiological dependency. If, as a society, we REALLY embraced drug addiction in the same way we embrace say, problem drinking, there would be 90% less addicts. Period. The disconnect we give addicts automatically is too easily filled by what they are addicted too. I don't want to get into the fine tune arguments for this, because frankly I could write and write and write about it, and that's too much. But as someone who went into that hole and came out, I can say with conviction that addiction is NOT at all the choice we think it is.

So we could get heroin or crack but it would be limited, is that the plan? As far as not being welcome back into society you have never worked construction. I work with alcoholics crackheads and pillheads, maybe some heroin addicts not sure. They're all treated the same, and if you are getting your job done nobody usually cares.

 

[Villain]

War on drugs… and you spent 4 years bashing the idiocy of Trump??

 

[Eman]

War on drugs… and you spent 4 years bashing the idiocy of Trump??
View attachment 160123

Trump and Sessions revamped the war on drugs. They attempted to push it probably to the furthest extremes it had ever reached, but luckily some of their measures really never gained momentum since most agree that pro drug war measures are a waste of resources. I'm not bashing him, just stating pretty irrefutable facts.

I think it's highly likely this report is being taken WAY out of context. Selling drug paraphernalia like crack/methods pipes is illegal in just about every level of government. However, the grant money would much more conceivably be used to purchase supplies like tests for STIs, Narcan, clean pins, drug tests, etc. If the grant money allows for the purchase and or distribution of paraphernalia like pipes, that's again where I say that the legislation is being taken entirely out of context. No harm reduction service is going to spend those funds on pipes... they'll spend it on clean syringes and about as much Narcan as they can get their hands on unless by some truly absurd situation they find themselves in where harm reduction from pipes outweighs opiate overdoses.

If you don't agree with these methods of harm reduction - it's pretty easy to see the positive impact it's had on pretty much every other developed western nation in the world where addiction is treated from a medical perspective... as opposed to the US, you know... land of free, home of the most incarcerated people in the world. Personally, I'd sooner see my tax money go to medical focused care instead of private prisons where I'm lining corrupt pockets.

 

[Millard]

It would be nice if harm reduction didn't succumb to political tribalism.

 

[MisterSuperGod]

War on drugs… and you spent 4 years bashing the idiocy of Trump??
View attachment 160123

Don't know how legitimate this is, but the Daily Mail is a joke. The next page after this story was probably about some toothless limey that got abducted by aliens.

 

[Eman]

It would be nice if harm reduction didn't succumb to political tribalism.

As far as the drug war is concerned, it's out the window with the cliche "facts over feelings" rhetoric and suddenly a lot of seemingly rational people stick their thumbs in their ears and sing "la, la, la". Researching the methods and successes used for criminal and drug reform in other countries leaves me feeling like we're living in some sort of dystopian place.

The next page after this story was probably about some toothless limey that got abducted by aliens.

... I thought that abduction piece they did raised some good questions personally.

 

[Millard]

As far as the drug war is concerned, it's out the window with the cliche "facts over feelings" rhetoric and suddenly a lot of seemingly rational people stick their thumbs in their ears and sing "la, la, la". Researching the methods and successes used for criminal and drug reform in other countries leaves me feeling like we're living in some sort of dystopian place.

The UK, Canada, EU, EEC, etc. have been working on harm reduction for decades with much success. The US is still digging in on prohibition with the war on drugs.

The US has made a very small move towards harm reduction with the Harm Reduction Grant Program. It's only $9.75 million per year but it's something.

Harm Reduction Grant Program

The purpose of the program is to support community-based overdose prevention programs, syringe services programs, and other harm reduction services.

www.samhsa.gov

 

[Millard]

I think it's highly likely this report is being taken WAY out of context. Selling drug paraphernalia like crack/methods pipes is illegal in just about every level of government. However, the grant money would much more conceivably be used to purchase supplies like tests for STIs, Narcan, clean pins, drug tests, etc. If the grant money allows for the purchase and or distribution of paraphernalia like pipes, that's again where I say that the legislation is being taken entirely out of context. No harm reduction service is going to spend those funds on pipes... they'll spend it on clean syringes and about as much Narcan as they can get their hands on unless by some truly absurd situation they find themselves in where harm reduction from pipes outweighs opiate overdoses.

Per U.S. SAMHSA, the Harm Reduction Grant Program money must be used primarily for:

Grant funds must be used primarily to support the following required harm reduction activities:
• Assess organizational readiness and create a strategic action plan based upon identified strengths, gaps (including those related to social determinants of health), and opportunities for capacity development required to implement an evidence-based harm reduction program at the service delivery and organizational levels. This strategic action plan should be developed by the midpoint of Year 1 and will be supported by the Harm Reduction TA Center (https://www.cdc.gov/harmreductionta/index.html).
• Develop a sustainability plan to ensure that harm reduction program elements are continued after the grant period ends. This could include collaboration with community partners to share resources or a cost sharing element.
• Develop policies and procedures to implement evidence-based trauma-informed practices throughout each level of the organizational structure.
• Distribute FDA-approved overdose reversal medication and deliver overdose prevention education to target populations regarding the consumption of substances including but not limited to opioids and their synthetic analogs.
• Establish processes, protocols, mechanisms for referral to treatment and recovery support services, referral to treatment for infectious diseases such as HIV, STIs, and viral hepatitis.
• Assemble a harm reduction advisory council that meets regularly to guide program activities and project implementation. Group members should include people who use drugs (PWUD), individuals in recovery, harm reduction service providers and other key community members such as public safety officers, mental health providers and treatment providers.
• Designate staff (e.g., Program Coordinator and/or Program Evaluator) to provide program design, implementation, and evaluation to meet grant program and reporting requirements.
• Purchase equipment and supplies to enhance harm reduction efforts, such as:
◦ Harm reduction vending machine(s), including stock for machines;
◦ Infectious diseases testing kits (HIV, HBV, HCV, etc.);
◦ Medication lock boxes;
◦ FDA-approved overdose reversal medication (as well as higher dosages now approved by FDA);
◦ Safe sex kits, including PrEP resources and condoms;
◦ Safe smoking kits/supplies;
◦ Screening for infectious diseases (HIV, sexually transmitted infections, viral hepatitis);
◦ Sharps disposal and medication disposal kits;
◦ Substance test kits, including test strips for fentanyl and other synthetic drugs;
◦ Syringes to prevent and control the spread of infectious diseases;
◦ Vaccination services (hepatitis A, hepatitis B vaccination); and
◦ Wound care management supplies.

Harm Reduction International describes Safe Smoking Kits:

The distribution of safer smoking kits (which can include glass stems, rubber mouthpieces, brass screens, lip balm and disinfectant wipes) aims to engage people who smoke drugs with harm reduction and health services and to reduce health complications caused by unsafe equipment. By using safer equipment, people who smoke drugs can avoid the emergence of lesions, burns and cuts to the lips and mouth that are associated with a risk of infection and hepatitis C transmission. It can also reduce the risk of lung issues associated with using improvised smoking equipment.

The use of improvised pipes made from plastic bottles or aluminium cans can lead to lung damage and the inhalation of carcinogenic fumes, and the practice of using a layer of cigarette ash to suspend the crack in improvised pipes is associated with emphysema. In some countries drug control regulations prevent the distribution of crack pipes. In these contexts, an alternative is to support street forms of glass-based improvised pipe and avoid the use of cigarette ash as a suspending agent.

Pipe distribution programmes can also encourage safer drug-taking practices. “Pin to pipe” programmes aim to encourage smoking rather than injection of substances, to avoid the greater risk of bloodborne virus transmission associated with injection. “Pin and pipe” programmes encourage people to administer different substances through different routes, to avoid “snowballing” (simultaneous injection of heroin and stimulant, most commonly cocaine, crack or methamphetamine).

Examples of programmes include Karisma in Indonesia, who distribute lighters, foil and straws, and COUNTERfit in Canada, who distributed 67,500 Pyrex stems in 2017. Both programmes employ peer workers in their outreach and pipe distribution services.

RECOMMENDATION: Governments must implement safer smoking kit programmes to ensure that people who smoke drugs have access to safe equipment.

 

[malfeasance]

So, yeah, it is in there, and while there is context, the claim is not false.

 

[Millard]

So, yeah, it is in there, and while there is context, the claim is not false.

"Crack pipes" are NOT in the SAMHSA grant documents. Only "safe smoking kits/supplies" are listed.

But safe to say those who have a problem with this will likely also have a problem with clean needles/syringes to inject illegal drugs too.

 

[malfeasance]

Come on, Millard, semantics. Glass pipes with a screen are used to smoke crack.

As for "having a problem with it," I have read article 1, section 8, so I have reviewed all 18 powers of Congress, and just like there is no power contained therein to ban a drug, there is no power in there to buy and distribute crack pipes, or clean needles or syringes, so, yeah, as somebody who likes the Constitution the way it is written, the federal government has no business doing any of that.

 

[Millard]

Come on, Millard, semantics. Glass pipes with a screen are used to smoke crack.

As for "having a problem with it," I have read article 1, section 8, so I have reviewed all 18 powers of Congress, and just like there is no power contained therein to ban a drug, there is no power in there to buy and distribute crack pipes, or clean needles or syringes, so, yeah, as somebody who likes the Constitution the way it is written, the federal government has no business doing any of that.

By no means should you take my comments as a personal attack. My comments literally referred to "those who have a problem with..."

And don't you agree? If providing safe supplies for one illegal drug delivery method (smoking supplies) causes outrage, it seems providing safe supplies for another (needles/syringes) would be at least just as likely to cause outrage.

I'm surprised the target is the smoking supplies and not the injecting equipment but maybe I shouldn't be.

 

[hijoshiki]

If you want to know why syringes could be harder to come by ask those that live among addicts in their community that inject and drop their needles all over the place.

If you're walking into a grocery store and there's an addict with his ass hanging out and needles on the ground all over the place that's gonna cause the public to want to ban the sale.

We steroid users use syringes and we should be concerned about these other idiots that can't keep their syringe use to themselves and safe for everyone else. I personally cut the needle off everyone of my syringes and chop my syringe into several pieces before dumping it into a sharps container.

How many of us have seen streets littered with uncapped syringes laying in the streets. These IV drug users are a mess. I'm all for harm reduction, but they're idiots with what they're doing and these junkies are ruining it for us because we get lumped in with these people.

 

[hijoshiki]

If you don't agree with these methods of harm reduction - it's pretty easy to see the positive impact it's had on pretty much every other developed western nation in the world where addiction is treated from a medical perspective... as opposed to the US, you know... land of free, home of the most incarcerated people in the world. Personally, I'd sooner see my tax money go to medical focused care instead of private prisons where I'm lining corrupt pockets.

The problem is these concepts are beyond the minds of most of the population of the United States that prefer to use a sledge hammer(criminal justice system) to solve all problems.

When this sensational crack pipe stuff came out, the airwaves on the evangelical channels were buzzing, it's all over the place. These God fearing folks don't want any of that harm reduction(they don't understand it and don't care to), they just want to smash these junkies over the head with a nice calf skin smith sewn bible.

Harm reduction doesn't really do much until you address the homeless and mental issues. We have the money and resources to provide shelter for every homeless and mentally ill person in this country. Harm reduction means nothing to society at large if they see massive swarms of homeless junkies when they go to the grocery store or on their way to work. It will only backfire and cause people to ask for a renewed fight against drugs and more mass incarceration.

Providing clean needles, narcan, crack pipes anything else you want is easy, we could put that in place in less than a year and have a very good system, but if you don't get these people out of the sight of the American people that are mostly ignorant backwards asses, then you will get a backlash and they'll go back to sledge hammer approach where everything is handled by cops and judges.

Everything that can be done to reduce harm can be undone by a Christian Conservative right wing whack job that will be elected if the American people have to see anything unsightly or unpleasant as America is really about avoiding having to look at the harsh ugly realities of life.

When Americans see streets littered with homeless encampments and needles all over the sidewalks. They are horrified as this society is really set up to make it easy for the suburban driving soccer moms of the world that just want navigate a clean safe place to raise their kids. They'll never get on board with any of this if they are assaulted with images of stark reality of the true shadow underbelly of the American Dream.