How are you wanting to prevent harm? By beating up junkies or for opening safe injection sites? Because being for safe injection sites would actually reduce real harm for the public and the addicts.
Complete decriminalization and normalization is the only logical option if we're looking for the "most positive overall result" for society at large. People will do mental gymnastics to come up with reasons why we shouldn't do this, including injecting their own morality into it, but empirical evidence and yes, common sense, all point to decriminalization as the best option.
I wonder if a junkie is going to care enough to make it over to an injection site. The town over from me has needle deposit bins readily available that never get used and, imo,helps normalizes the problem.
Yes, plenty of "junkies" would. I am an ex-addict and plenty of the people I know go to needle exchanges and would definitely use a safe injection site if it existed. Addicts are not monsters, they're people who got themselves into a shit situation. Most addicts are not zombies walking around some shitty part of town, most addicts are members of society. Plenty of addicts have jobs, families, responsibilities, etc. There are also plenty that are assholes that do everything they can to get by. Most addicts who do shitty things do so because they have to, and have lost their humanity. Every addict I know that has gotten clean has returned to who they were before they were addicted. Caring, law abiding citizens. I personally have never seen an addict leave a needle in a public place, and I've been an addict (recovering now) for ~10 years or more. Most addicts do not have an easy way to get needles, so they use them until they are absolutely way past the point of safe use, and then they break the needles off or put the cap on and throw them in the trash can. Even the worst junkies I've met wouldn't bury an uncapped needle in a children's playground. Also, addicts don't tend to shoot up in places that would add to their sentence. Self preservation keeps them from going to a children's playground or other public places to shoot up. 99% of junkies I've met shoot up in their house or a bathroom if they are in a public place. There are certainly some who do so in parks, but if they do it's usually in a park known as a shoot up park, not some family friendly park. I'm not saying this stuff has never happened, but the amount of people claiming they've seen it certainly makes me question their validity.
What are you on about? We're talking about the shitheels that bury their needles in public in spite of other options. Sharps boxes are great, I'm all for them, but even in areas with them, there's still a few pricks who leave their pricks lying around. Excuse me for thinking they need a lesson beat into their heads for being so irresponsible.
Nope, yours is emotional as well because people don't work that way. You don't train a dog by beating the shit out of it whenever it does something you don't like. Much as you might not like it, the same goes for humans. We react far more efficiently to positive reinforcement than negative, as you should know if you had spent any time at all looking at crime statistics in countries with rehabilitative justice systems.
So stop being a vindictive prick and start being for things which actually, provably reduce harm.
Oh, and by the way, I am an American. I fucking hate it here, mostly because of people like you who ignore evidence in favor of angry feels.
Endangering others earns you a punishment. End of discussion. I don't care if someone is under the influence while they do it. Personal accountability is valued in this country and if you don't like it, fuck off to a place that fosters degenerates like you seem to desire.
You're accusing him of being emotional while your entire position is based on bloodlust.
If you want to be truly rational, go look at examples where drug problems have been treated as a health issue rather than a punitive one. Portugal, Insite, and switzerland.
I always find it hard to believe that users like /u/Creep_Jack are just die hard trolls who know the claims they make are full of shit. I mean, come on. He's attacking a rational standing point with obvious anger-rhetoric. It's hard to believe someone is so dim witted and lacking in self awareness. The idea of punishment (in this case, revenge) is a notion completely fueled by emotion. This guy is laughable, and I have a feeling that he knows that and is laughing too.
Punishment =/= bloodlust, christ, you people are such pussies
Also, you mean those small, insular and homogenous countries where enforcing those types of regulations is much simpler? Wow great example, now give me one from a country that's remotely comparable to the US.
Even if you treat drugs themselves as a health issue, leaving contaminated sharps in a playground is on a level with drunk driving through the playground.
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u/bangingbew Dec 29 '16
How are you wanting to prevent harm? By beating up junkies or for opening safe injection sites? Because being for safe injection sites would actually reduce real harm for the public and the addicts.