[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Withdraw pains while a reason for not getting off the drugs is not the major reason for getting off of drugs. Its rare that addicts decide themselves to get off of drugs like crack and crystal meth and go cold turkey.

It is not 'the' reason, it is 'a' reason, and if we as a society can remove 'a' reason for an addict to go into treatment, I think we should be obligated to do so.

I don't see how writing a prescription for meth or crack does anything to curb the addiction at all. And to be honest with drugs like heroin and meth and even crack you can't just write a lessening prescription. As addiction goes with these drugs they take increasing quantities to chase the high, and then eventually increasing quantities to just get well. If a doctor sits there and tells a addict that he's going to lesson the dose, its just as likely that the addict is going to go down the street and rob a pharmacy, or go find the underworld home made equivalent.

It removes the stigma of drug addiction (which is easily observable in this thread) and places the addict in the environment of recovery, rather than the environment of dehumanizing, demoralizing, predatory substance abuse. It greatly reduces the harm caused by unclean paraphernalia and unquantifiable levels of active drugs in whatever they are buying, and puts them in constant contact with human beings who have devoted themselves to helping others, vs. constant contact with thieves, pimps and other sociopaths who capitalize on their misery and the general population who steps over them on the street, whether silently judging or outright ignoring their plight.

Like I said I am totally against legalizing hard drugs, its a model that doesn't make sense. While clean injection centers have helped, with the marginal addicts, serious addicts and the mentally ill and the junkies that just want to be left alone aren't going to see a doctor to get their fix, if they find a needle in a gutter and they need to cook a quick fix they're probably going to use that.

You don't think a junkie would choose a better, cheaper product that didn't come with the threat of robbery, assault (sexual and otherwise) or death? Look at them as junkies if you want, but I've never talked to an addict that would turn down good, cheap drugs.

Its not as easy as saying legalize it, and lets right prescriptions for it and it will give them a good quality of life. Those drugs on a whole promote poor help, create serious mental illnesses and create other really bad side conditions.

Addiction is a mental illness, not a crime. I'm not suggesting doctors start prescribing crack to people who aren't crack addicts, despite how my argument will be misrepresented, but the police and EMTs I know would prefer to not deal with that addict overdosing because they shot bleach into their arms. I know the nurses at VGH here in Vancouver would also like it if addicts saw a general practitioner every month or so instead of showing up in the ER every 6 weeks.

On top of that are you proposing that these drugs are given to the addict for free? Because as a taxpayer I would have serious problems in enabling addicts using what are termed as recreational drugs.

I think this statement is seriously lacking in empathy and is the same argument I could use against you for smoking or having ####ty knees. I'm going to underwrite the cost of your healthcare going forward no matter how many greasy pancake breakfasts you eat, or how damaged your heart is from years of caffeine and nicotine addiction and when you die gracefully post orgasm on top of a nubile 20 year old, I'm going to underwrite the cost of you getting picked up and taken to the coroners.

If that weren't enough, it's significantly worse for you supporting the status quo of a revolving door through the justice system for what are otherwise mentally ill, harmless members of society. It costs more money to have police fire and ambulance respond to an overdose/fire/assault/theft than a nurse in a clinic monitoring someone using.

On top of that, if drugs are given away for free because addicts can't afford their daily fix. Wouldn't that money be better spent on people with medical conditions that actually need prescription medical for survival or real quality of life in the face of disease.

What if I told you it would cost the healthcare system less to treat addicts as addicts vs. criminals, that penitentiary's are more expensive than mental health centres. What if, by removing addiction from the criminal sphere, there was actually more money in the system. Wouldn't that be a no-brainer?