Because Everybody Is Entitled To My Opinion

"O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, . . . in wrath remember mercy" (Habakkuk 3:2).
"Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?" (Psalm 85:6)

Saturday, October 20, 2007

San Francisco Considers Allowing You to Shoot Up Dope Without Consquences

Well the liberal agenda marches on. In an effort to mimic other "progressive nations, San Francisco considers opening up an injection room. The Associated Press has this story:
Hoping to reduce San Francisco's high rate of fatal drug overdoses, the public health department co-sponsored a symposium on the only such facility in North America, a four-year-old Vancouver site where an estimated 700 intravenous users a day self-administer narcotics under the supervision of nurses
700 dopers a day go to a public funded medical facility and shoot up dope. That just oozes compassion to me. Let's not get these people to see that they have a problem they need to kick, let's help them not overdose so they can stay addicted. Fortunately there were some raised eyebrows.
Bertha Madras, deputy director of demand reduction for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, called San Francisco's consideration of such a facility "disconcerting" and "poor public policy."

"The underlying philosophy is, 'We accept drug addiction, we accept the state of affairs as acceptable,'" Madras said. "This is a form of giving up."
Poor public policy indeed. The mayor's approval is necessary for any plan of this nature to go forward. The advocates of this lunacy plan to work on him because currently he is not too keen on the idea.
The mayor's spokesman, Nathan Ballard, said Thursday that although he does not want to discourage debate, he "is not inclined to support this program because, quite frankly, it may create more problems than it supposedly addresses."
But agian the liberals look to others as an example. The Vancouver room is described:
The site, exempt from federal drug laws so users can visit without fear of arrest, has 12 private booths where addicts inject drugs such as heroin, cocaine or crystal. They can use equipment and techniques provided by the staff, and then relax with a cup of coffee or get medical attention in the "chill out" room where they are observed, said program coordinator Sarah Evans.

"It looks kind of like a hair salon," Evans said of the bustling space. "If we were a restaurant, we would be making a profit."
Yeah except restaurants don't tell you to bring your own food so they can make sure you don't croak after eating. That and the typical restaurant goer isn't likely to rob your house or mug you for cash for their next fix of food.
While 800 overdoses have occurred on the premises, none resulted in death because of the medical supervision provided at InSite, said Thomas Kerr, a University of British Columbia researcher who has extensively studied the program. His research also has shown an increase in addicts seeking drug treatment and a decrease in abandoned syringes, needle-sharing, drug-related crime and other problems since the clinic opened, he said.
Sounds very counter-intuitive. How do they attribute all of this to the opening of one drug room? Death by overdose is currently on the decline in San Francisco so if the trend continues after they open a drug room will they claim it was because of it? I am always leery of the findings of researchers with such a vested interest. It isn't likely that they would find that opening a drug room has a negative impact when their name is tied to the success.

I really can't get behind a program like this. It promotes all the wrong things and condones drug use. I don't care how many addicts survive their overdoses because of it. Maybe that very fact would encourage them to take larger doses. The State would be right there in case they get into trouble. The whole point of this is not to save junkies. it is to move us closer to legalized drug use in America. There is only one drug room in North America. The other sixty-four are in Europe. Why do the liberals insist on dragging America in the direction of countries we fought to get away from?

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