this is where I fundamentally differ w/most of society. it's not that "harm reduction" is "too radical," it's that the only meaningful harm reduction IS abstinence. if someone's looking at a substance which is deadly to use & getting deadlier & goes "I'm doing it anyway," I can't save that person. they have chosen death. I don't understand their choice, but if DEATH isn't a deterrent, they cannot be deterred. & if they're choosing death over sobriety, why would I want to make that choice safer?
do you have a nasal spray I can carry that will stop people from wanting to use drugs in the first place? because I'd rather carry that. I don't want to be someone's "get fucked up" safety net, I'm not responsible for saving them from their own bad choices.
no, the ideal solution is to get people to understand that IF YOU DO DRUGS YOU WILL DIE. maybe then they won't start using drugs in the first place.
if you can afford FUCKING HEROIN, you can afford to keep a dose of naloxone on hand.
@dietotaku
Yes, and yes
An absolutely false statement.
You must not know anything about how addiction works or how drugs work, or you're a cop.
Do yourself a favor and get ahold of a Reason Magazine and stop with the HYSTERIA.
I waited 12 hours to reply to this hysterical nonsense you posted.
@earthshine or I'm not an idiot who does drugs. I certainly don't have to worry about dying of an overdose, you have fun with that though.
@earthshine it's really quite simple: you can't get addicted to something you never start using! so when you ignore all the warnings about the dangers of drugs and start using them anyway, I really don't have any sympathy when you end up addicted and dying of an overdose.
@dietotaku that’s a bit extreme. Plenty of people do drugs every day and don’t die. DARE was an abject failure. It did nothing but teach me and my fellow classmates all the varieties of drugs out there. I never went harder than weed. Still living after smoking it for 17 years or better. Also 100,000 people a year in this country is 0.0285714286%. Not a rampaging epidemic. Despite what media tries to scaremonger with. Are there dangers with drug use? Yes. Most made worse by our crappy drug policy
Your frustration is heard loud and clear. But you are also demonstrating a lack of understanding about how addiction works. About how chemistry alters mental status. And about how the lack of legitimized medical care leads to unsupervised dangerous self-medication. Please dare to think in grey, in nuance, in spectrums of causes.
@Vanitas you can't get addicted if you don't start using in the first place. i refuse to believe that anyone picks up that first hit completely unaware of the extreme consequences.
@dietotaku do you feel the same about riding motor cycles without helmets and choosing to eat a poor diet
@ibid motorcycles absolutely. poor diet is often not a choice at all. people HAVE to eat and they don't have the money for good food. nobody HAS to do drugs.
drug overdose should be counted with suicides. because if you don't want to die, DON'T DO DRUGS. I feel like D.A.R.E. was pretty clear about this (and look, they weren't exaggerating after all, drugs WILL ruin your life and kill you)