Quote:
Originally Posted by you&me
I'm going to post this, despite being sure that I'll be ridiculed... And I ask this as someone with no personal experience with drug addiction, heavy drug use, petty crime, etc :
Is there any way to the users of the safe injection site could be "better neighbours"?
The basis of this is something Peter12 mentioned earlier, which I don't feel is entirely true... I feel the vast majority of people are in favour of helping "street-entrenched and vulnerable people to actually receive dignified care". If there was a way to reduce and minimize the effects of the users of the safe injection site on the surrounding community, I believe opposition would fall off a cliff.
Imagine a safe injection site where addicts get their fix, but there are no needles littered around the community and no property crimes perpetrated by those same addicts... Is that possible? What would be required? Or are the addicts just "too far gone" to respond to basic decency - pick up after yourself and don't steal? Is it impractical to expect a drug user to have the wherewithal to properly dispose of a needle once the drugs take effect? Would this require something more structured as far as a space to for the actual administration of the drugs? Would the only reasonable way to reduce thefts be to supply the drugs, or at least supplement the costs? Is this all pointless because the costs to implement such a program are prohibitive?
Surely there must be a better way...
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Lobby your provincial government for more resources - especially ones earmarked towards creating affordable housing.