| |
Drug Policy Home > Discussion Forum
| Author |
Message |
| |
| Vera |
 Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 12:51 pm |
 |
|
Joined: 26 Jun 2008
Posts: 25
Location: Washington, DC
My Local Time:
|
“I'm looking for different types of harm reduction strategies that could appeal to many different people.”
On a quick perusal of our webpage, “Reducing Harm: Treatment and Beyond,” (link: http://www.drugpolicy.org/reducingharm), I found The Harm Reduction Therapy Center under suggested websites. And what an awesome reference center (link: http://www.harmreductiontherapy.org) they have! |
|
|
| Back to top |
   
|
| rita |
| Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 2:30 am |
|
|
Joined: 28 Jun 2007
Posts: 162
Location: Arizona
My Local Time:
|
As a long-time drug user, veteran of multiple violent drug raids and graduate of state-mandated substance abuse treatment, I feel I have a standing to comment on your "harm reduction" strategy:
"Incarceration does little to reduce the harm ever-present drugs cause to our society."
Since the use of drugs, be it addiction, recreation, or medicinal, is a victimless activity, common sense would dictate that imprisoning drug users does NOTHING to protect the public.
Since drug use (along with needle-borne HIV and Hepatitis C) is rampant inside prisons, imprisoning drug users does NOTHING to protect individuals.
"A harm reduction approach favors treatment over incarceration."
And how do you think you'll force drug users into treatment, if not with the threat of prison? Here's news: most people who use illegal drugs don't want to quit! Most people who use illegal drugs do so not because they are hopelessly addicted, but because they LIKE the way drugs make them feel.
"Harm reduction mandates that the emphasis on intervention be based on the relative harmfulness of the drug to society."
Since the prohibited drugs are not the most dangerous or the most addictive, and since most illegal drugs are neither dangerous nor addictive, I guess this means you're going to start by sending SWAT teams to terrorize the families of alcoholics and cigarette smokers?
Drugs don't harm society; drug laws harm society. Police bullets harm society. The reckless destruction of families as practiced by drug cops harms society. The ever-present disregard for the law by those sworn to uphold it harms society. The war being waged against unarmed civilians and the fear-mongering and increasingly outrageous lies necessary to justify it harm society.
"To eliminate youths' exposure to black market drugs."
As long as there are illegal drugs, there WILL be black market. Our government can't even keep drugs out of maximum-security prisons, why would anybody think they can keep them out of our schools?
"To restore human dignity to dealing with the disease of addiction."
As a long-time drug user, a veteran of multiple violent drug raids and graduate of state-mandated substance abuse treatment, I suggest that the best way to restore human dignity is to LEAVE US ALONE!! |
_________________
Keep it real. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| weirdharold |
| Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 2:14 pm |
|
|
Joined: 01 Nov 2006
Posts: 237
Location: Mississippi
My Local Time:
|
The drug policy industrial complex is trying to catch up with the military industrial complex. Preaching harm reduction is throwing food to the drug policy industrial complex. As rita is saying to end this insane drug policy end drug prohibition.
Nobody ever said Al Copone was not a crook, but we gave him his playground with alcohol prohibition. When we decided we would let communities decide when, how or if they wished sell alcohol, then when Mississippi the last of 50 states to ended prohibition, bootleggers like Al Copone had to find another job. Of course, the only place to go was the prohibition of psychoactive drugs. Thus we become the Babylonians and wish to build a Tower to Heaven and, "harm reduction," is just another language without meaning. |
_________________
Harold W. Ard |
|
| Back to top |
|
| rita |
| Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 1:42 am |
|
|
Joined: 28 Jun 2007
Posts: 162
Location: Arizona
My Local Time:
|
Imagine if someone had convinced Abraham Lincoln that freeing the slaves was a bad career move; imagine if, instead of the Emancipation Proclamation, he had issued a "Harm Reduction Proclamation" --
"Okay, folks, go ahead and own other human beings, but you gotta give them decent housing and a new set of clothes once a year. And you must provide medical care when you have them whipped."
The lesser of two evils is still evil. |
_________________
Keep it real. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| Vera |
| Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 5:14 pm |
|
|
Joined: 26 Jun 2008
Posts: 25
Location: Washington, DC
My Local Time:
|
rita, I really appreciate your insights and respect your perspective, and I'm glad that you replied. I think that those of us working to end the drug war need to spend more time listening to and taking direction from those directly affected by the drug war. Ultimately, I think any movement that works in solidarity with (a) targeted group(s) needs to be accountable to those directly affected.
You point out a lot of things that I agree with - I think all prisons should, in fact, be abolished, and I don't think that it makes sense to try to eliminate young folks' (or anyone's) access to drugs. I agree that, as you state, the vast majority of folks who use drugs are not addicted to them. And I'm sorry that you've been through such difficult experiences because of the racist, unjust drug laws in the United States.
In and of itself, I don't think harm reduction addresses systems of oppression (White supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism), but I do think it can be a way to keep more people alive. If there are more clean syringes available, the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C will abate. If substance abuse treatment is accessible and available to those people who feel they are addicted to a substance and desire help, they can improve their lives. At Vancouver's safe injection facility, Insite, hundreds of overdose deaths have been prevented and thousands of medical needs addressed (things like abscesses or collapsed veins). At safe injection facilities, folks have learned how to inject themselves safely. I think harm reduction is about common sense measures to protect the health of people who use drugs - fighting incarceration, providing factual education, and managing the health risks that accompany certain types of drugs.
Certainly though, such measures need to be informed by those directly affected - and presented as available resources, not mandated from the state. I think this is an important conversation - so I'm linking a new blog post to it also. (blog.drugpolicy.org). |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| weirdharold |
| Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 6:11 pm |
|
|
Joined: 01 Nov 2006
Posts: 237
Location: Mississippi
My Local Time:
|
Vera,
rita and I come from different parts of the woods, but we meet in center field on this issue. You are not old enough to remember someone dying from "bathtub gin" or alcohol being distill from the radiator of an automobile. That was what alcohol prohibition brought us. Most of the harm you speak is created in an unlawful marketplace where prohibition is the issue, not quality standards. You take a position we can save addicts. The drug prohibition laws take the same position. Both positions are created on false premises; we can save addicts from their own insane behavior and we can keep others from becoming addicts.
Alcohol prohibition saved no one, nor has drug prohibition. Alcoholism and drug addiction is a malady the most informed know there is no answer, only confusion.
In and of itself, I don't think harm reduction addresses systems of oppression (White supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism), but I do think it can be a way to keep more people alive. If there are more clean syringes available, the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C will abate. If substance abuse treatment is accessible and available to those people who feel they are addicted to a substance and desire help, they can improve their lives. At Vancouver's safe injection facility, Insite, hundreds of overdose deaths have been prevented and thousands of medical needs addressed (things like abscesses or collapsed veins). At safe injection facilities, folks have learned how to inject themselves safely. I think harm reduction is about common sense measures to protect the health of people who use drugs - fighting incarceration, providing factual education, and managing the health risks that accompany certain types of drugs.
You are trying to make sense out of nonsense. |
_________________
Harold W. Ard |
|
| Back to top |
|
| rita |
| Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 12:15 pm |
|
|
Joined: 28 Jun 2007
Posts: 162
Location: Arizona
My Local Time:
|
[quote="Vera"]And I'm sorry that you've been through such difficult experiences because of the racist, unjust drug laws in the United States.
[/quote]
Actually, Vera, I got off pretty easy -- I didn't lose my kids, as they were long grown. I didn't lose my home because I had awesome parents who were able and willing to pay off my mortgage while I spent 6 months in jail for the possession of "0" amount of meth.
And, in their zeal to protect me from myself, the cops didn't murder me in my bed. They didn't shoot my dog or burn down my house, either. Lucky me.
With my bond set at $50,000 and a promise of probation, I DID plead guilty to 2 felonies I didn't commit to get out of jail.
And when somebody else killed my dog, the local cops refused to even investigate because they had "dealt with" me in the past.
These are everyday drugwar realities -- all the things that DIDN'T happen to me HAVE happened, and continue to happen, to countless other suspected drug users. While you save lives one needle at a time, Vera, the war machine continues to chew up and spit out whole families, cheered on by the self-proclaimed "reformers" of the DPA. |
_________________
Keep it real. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
All times are GMT - 5 Hours
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
|
