@ Firebot
I completely agree. I live downtown. Trust me, you’re preaching to the choir in terms of the uptick in discarded needles in the community. We give everyone takeaway coffee cups and those get littered all over the place. Why would anyone think addicts would be more responsible than the average coffee drinker?
That said, there is a lying by omission element that comes with safe injection sites. Of course they result in more needles and a concentration of drug activity. The question is, is it is worth it?
I honestly don’t care much about the humane and moral argument to safe injection sites. Choices have consequences. If you’re stupid enough to share needles, I don’t care about your wellbeing. But I’m a taxpayer in a country with socialized medicine that does. If the safe injection site can be shown to prevent the spread of HIV/Hep C, etc… I think they are worth it. The cost of treating HIV over a lifetime is $500k. The cost of Hepatitis C treatment is $80k. It doesn’t take many prevented cases for those numbers to add up.
There are 1220 people in Alberta who contracted HIV through intravenous drug use. They will cost our healthcare system over $610 million dollars over the course of their lifetime to manage their HIV.
There are 10,200 people in Alberta who contracted Hep C through intravenous drug use. They will cost our healthcare system $816 million to treat and cure.
I’m with you. I’d rather more time be focused on the complex social issues that lead to drug abuse. But until we get drug use to zero, people will share needles, sharing needles leads to higher rates of HIV and Hep C, which will lead to higher healthcare costs for all of us.
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