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by atom_enger 3509 days ago
What if a junkie could go to a clinic and get their fix? I'd happily pay more taxes to get junkies their fix. I'd also be happy to pay taxes that would help them seek treatment as well.

I'm not at all qualified to propose real solutions to this problem but I know from watching this failed drug war that we should start talking about alternative solutions and the way we do that is start considering other options. I feel like our current solution is hurting us as a whole more than it's helping us.
2 comments
EpicEng 3508 days ago
A clinic isn't really the optimal setting for this sort of thing. And what about the people who have jobs and families? Hard drug use is demonstrably bad for society on the whole. It's tough to argue that the government should be playing drug dealer to heroin addicts.
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girvo 3508 days ago
> It's tough to argue that the government should be playing drug dealer to heroin addicts.

Mine did for me, and I'm clean now. Opiate-replacement therapy is one of the few proven ways to truly help addicts reintegrate back into society. I can somewhat understand the moral argument against it, but the facts don't really support it; I am quite biased, however, as I'd be dead or in jail without it.

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EpicEng 3508 days ago
Sure, but I wasn't really talking about those sort of programs, more the unfettered access to any drug you like that was the context of my response.
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leakybit 3509 days ago
Yes, but how do you stop people from becoming junkies in the first place? Opiate addicts already have access to methedone and some countries are looking into giving pharma grade heroin replacement, but these types of addicts are essential lost causes and will always be addicts.

I believe sentencing laws/guidelines needs to be reformed, but you have to see it from the governments perceptive. How do you stop people from becoming drug addicts? Legalize the drugs your trying people not to use?

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girvo 3509 days ago
> Opiate addicts already have access to methedone and some countries are looking into giving pharma grade heroin replacement, but these types of addicts are essential lost causes and will always be addicts.

I'm a "lost cause"? Thanks. I was a heroin addict from 16 years of age until I was 24. I've been clean for four years now, due to my governments excellent opiate-replacement therapy program.

The dehumanisation that happens when people discuss "junkies" makes me sick, and directly contributes to why a lot of us never ask for help.

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another_account 3509 days ago
Hear, hear.

Coming up to two years clean from an IV habbit. So, also a "lost cause."

I feel if people had the slightest idea just how many people around them are high on some kind of opiate, and how indiscriminate addiction really is that this type of language would be less prevalent.

Congrats on beating the gorilla.

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ncallaway 3509 days ago
> but these types of addicts are essential lost causes and will always be addicts.

That's just flat out not true. It's absolutely possible to beat an opioid addiction, though it can be extremely challenging.

To anyone who may be addicted to opioid's who is reading leakybit's words, please don't take them to heart. Despite what they say: There is hope. It is possible.

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another_account 3509 days ago
Am I also a "lost cause"?

Echoing comments below, please watch your language. You are part of the reason people struggle to hold their hand up and ask for help.

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