Check out this video please (if you click on the left bolded text, it will open in a new window and this page will remain open)
There are many argument for safe injection sites, some of which are:
- safe injection sites keep people alive so that they can get treatment
- they prevent diseases such as HIV
- it’s a safe place to do it
- they save lives
But…
First timers go there to use so it is not about people coming here to kick the habit. They are not necessarilly coming here to get off of it. This is akin to various religions staging events to convert people to their religion then right? Not really… because there is not much “conversion” being attempted that I can see.
I have to say is that I’m not a convert then…
There are those parents who claim that it’s better to allow their children to do things such as smoking and drinking in front of them than behind their backs. I knew a classmate in high school whose parents held this belief. They would even provide him with smokes and alcohol. It turned out he used drugs in his bedroom too. All of this “under supervision”
He turned out to be extremely addicted to these substances. It didn’t help him in any way. He learned no respect for his parents. He learned no boundaries in life. Life was an open forum to do whatever he wished to do on a whim. I talk about this scenario because I’m sure he is not alone. Like those shooting up in these facilities.
By providing a venue for people to use illegal drugs without consequences will not cause these people to give them up. As the video notes this is a “physiological addiction” why would people be just giving it up?
There is no doubt that the injection practices at a safe injection site could be safer than doing it on the street? It is argued that safe injection sites are a necessary source of health care for users that would be cut off if Insite were closed down. I get all of these things.
The argument is that the site has saved lives since opening. However could there not have been a corresponding number of people picking up up such habits and more easily maintaining these bad habits through the center?
What about getting users off of drugs through a safe injection site?
Are they staging interventions to get these people off of drugs?
Are they tracking outcomes of interventions used to get people off of drugs?
Are they leaving things open for first time users? i.e. making it easy to get the habit started?
I think that these questions need to be addressed. What do you think? Please leave a comment.