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marginallymanic
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| Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:52 pm Post subject: |
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The interesting thing I find about the Swiss situation, is that being the democracy it is, every one of their programmes had to be approved by the electorate.
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marginallymanic
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| Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:58 pm Post subject: |
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I think I see what you are driving at with the Swiss Phillipe, but it wasn't always like that. In the 80's, their drug situation in major cities was as bad as the rest of Europe. They have reduced new users of opiates by 80%
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marginallymanic
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| Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 5:17 pm Post subject: |
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The Position on needle exchange in the USA
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After reviewing all of the research to date, the senior scientists of the Department and I have unanimously agreed that there is conclusive scientific evidence that syringe exchange programs, as part of a comprehensive HIV prevention strategy, are an effective public health intervention that reduces the transmission of HIV and does not encourage the use of illegal drugs."
Source: US Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher, Department of Health and Human Services, Evidence-Based Findings on the Efficacy of Syringe Exchange Programs: An Analysis from the Assistant Secretary for Health and Surgeon General of the Scientific Research Completed Since April 1998 (Washington, DC: Dept. of Health and Human Services, 2000), from the website of the Harm Reduction Coalition at
http://www.harmreduction.org/issues/surgeongenrev/surgreview.html.
According to Dr. Harold Varmus, Director of the National Institutes of Health, "An exhaustive review of the science in this area indicates that needle exchange programs can be an effective component in the global effort to end the epidemic of HIV disease."
Source: Varmus, H., Director of the National Institutes of Health, Press release from Department of Health and Human Services, (April 20, 1998).
According to a study in 1996, "Drug paraphernalia laws in 47 U.S. states make it illegal for injection drug users (IDUs) to possess syringes." The study concludes, "decriminalizing syringes and needles would likely result in reductions in the behaviors that expose IDUs to blood borne viruses."
Source: Bluthenthal, Ricky N., Kral, Alex H., Erringer, Elizabeth A., and Edlin, Brian R., "Drug paraphernalia laws and injection-related infectious disease risk among drug injectors", Journal of Drug Issues, 1999;29(1):1-16. |
As far as I know it is still against the law in 47 states.
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Nomad
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| Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 6:53 pm Post subject: |
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"effective public health intervention that reduces the transmission of HIV and does not encourage the use of illegal drugs"
And how does it compare to putting them in a facility and making them go clean? You want to reduce HIV, get rid of the needle users. If reducing HIV is the target, making them go cold turkey would be far more effective. Which only proves to me that reducing HIV is a convenient side effect, not the actual goal. If the goal was REALLY killing HIV, they wouldn't be encouraging people to continue using.
Would they? |
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marginallymanic
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| Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 8:47 pm Post subject: |
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You have a 99% recidivism rate. You can lock em up, but they will get the drug, either inside, or as soon as they get out.
Meanwhile you try and reduce harm.
I don't think I am going to persuade anyone here that harm reduction is a good idea, but Oh well....I tried.
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Phillippe
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| Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 9:04 pm Post subject: |
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MM,
I agree with you that harm reduction is a great weapon against the spread of HIV, Hep C and other blood borne infections; however, Canada has failed on all fronts, really. If a circuit judge from a lower court is telling the Supreme Court that Canada's trafficking laws are unconstitutional, then we're in serious trouble. According to an article, the average sentence for drug possesion was less than one month (what they consider 22 days).* 22 days? Trafficking was an average of seven months. This isn't a multipronged approach when the users and dealers are serving no time in jail. There is no fear of the law, and things like Insite only prove that there is no credibility in the courts. Insite should work in conjunction with tougher laws and punishment, not as a lone agent.
*Desjardain, Hotton
Trends in Drug Offences and the Role of Alcohol and Drugs in Canada, Statistics Canada, 2002, p.8
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marginallymanic
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Phillippe
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| Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 9:36 am Post subject: |
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In fact, logic dictates that we move away from criminalization and focus instead on a policy that emphasizes medical intervention for those Canadians who abuse drugs.
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Whose logic? His logic? What logic? Should those who rob banks have a medical intervention because they are hostage to psychological conditions which force them to take by force? No. Should the rapist or paedophile get medical intervention instead of prison? No. Why are drug users any different? We are all given a set of choices in life. I never turned to drugs. Nor did Nomad. Nor did Midwest (although that's still up for debate!  (kidding!)). We have choices and they chose wrong.
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What about our teens? In the pique of a rebellious phase they grow a few plants, get arrested and end up getting their higher education in prison rather then university. And the burden of a criminal record makes them pariahs in the job market.
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This is a fairly misanthropic view. The average teen is growing weed? I certainly never did and nor did the vast majority of teens. He provides NO statistics on crime and punishement (the article I referenced also stated that the majority of drug offenders were not held in prison, at all, but given probation) and no statistics on prevalence. This to me stinks of bull shit.
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This Conservative government refuses to look at the science, or even the simple facts.
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What science is he talking about, and what simple facts?
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Minimum sentences for non-violent offenders may play well with a hang ‘em high crowd, but it will do nothing to solve drug problems in this country. The Conservatives have spread their “big lie” for so long that they have begun to believe it, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
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What big lie is that? That increasing prison sentences will keep those who use off the streets longer? That's not a lie, it's a fact. If a drug trafficker is spending only a couple of months in jail and being sentences to no more than 7-8 months, what kind of message are we sending drug importers, dealers and users? That the justice system is so weak that you shouldn't fear it. That there isn't much they can do to you. Big mistake. You take away the panopticism, and you take away any authority the police had.
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By leaving some drugs in the hands of criminals and their syndicates we leave control of the purity, dosage and pricing totally in the wrong hands. Why not take away their motivation for involvement in the drugs trade?
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Alcohol and cigarettes are regulated, yet massive illegal operations exist. In the paragraph above he mentions cost, well, alcohol bought illegally is sometimes 1/3rd the price it is at the SAQ. Cigarettes bought off Native reserves or the streets are 7,50$ per thousand cigarettes. It's 8.95 for a pack of DuMaurier 25s. I don't think there is too much of a correlation between price and government regulation at all.
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marginallymanic
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| Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 10:28 am Post subject: |
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I think it is Nomad you should wonder about, not MW.
I can scarcely believe that you never tried MJ, you are one of the 17%
And if you can get smokes at $7.50 per thousand, you have an interesting market in Montreal. When I am in Ontario I buy them $15 for 200 on the reserve, but not brand name
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jazzbro
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Phillippe
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| Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 1:23 pm Post subject: |
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MM,
I've tried marijuana. It's 5-10 dollars for a gram (about 2 joints worth) but what is the fascination with it? My heart pounded, I sat in a stupor for three hours then ate a bag of chips. The people who smoked it with me became quiet, removed and no one said a thing for an hour. It isn't some social lubricant, it's a mind numbing bore. After that, I realized "What's the Point?" Needless to say I never continued with it. I made a conscious decision to not pursue drugs.
As for the cigarettes, you can pretty much buy illegal smokes anywhere, which is why they're so cheap. Between Chinatown, the reserves, the street hockers (note: not hookers) and imported smokes up in the Plateau/Mile End area, you can set your own market price. Sundays at Tam-tams in Mount Royal Park, there are literally hundreds of vendors that sell crap, including Indian shebeedy cigarettes and if you ask nicely, 1000/7.00$ in huge ziplock bags. Just ask for a loaf of brownbread.
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marginallymanic
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| Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 2:41 pm Post subject: |
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Forum sets out radical drugs plan
A report published by a Scottish Parliament-backed think tank has called for radical new ways to tackle the damage done by drugs and alcohol.
Recommendations include the setting up of "consumption rooms" where addicts would be able to take drugs safely, and for heroin to be prescribed to users.
The report also suggested the taxation of cannabis to enable it to be more tightly regulated.
The Scotland's Futures Forum was asked to look at ways of tackling addiction.
The think tank was established by the parliament and was tasked with looking at the challenges facing Scotland, and seeking ways to meet those challenges.
In this latest report it asked how the damage caused by alcohol and drugs in Scotland could be halved by 2025.
It said drug use had been historically seen as a justice issue but should be treated as a health, lifestyle and social challenge.
The report said a greater proportion of resources should be allocated to treatment research, monitoring and evaluation.
It examined the idea of drug consumption rooms and heroin-assisted treatment to combat the high levels of drug-related deaths and hepatitis C infection.
It also studied law enforcement and found prison unproductive and unsustainable for low-level alcohol and drug offences.
The forum believes cannabis should be taxed and highly regulated to help reduce availability and harm.
A Scottish Government spokesman ruled out any imminent establishment of drug consumption rooms.
"There are complex legal and ethical issues around consumption rooms that cannot be easily resolved," he said.
Approaches to heroin prescribing are currently being piloted in England, the spokesman added.
He said Scotland would "wait and see" what lessons can be learned from those.
Tory leader Annabel Goldie branded the consumption rooms as "shooting galleries".
She said they - and legalising cannabis - were ideas of the last two decades.
Street disorder
But Lib Dem justice spokeswoman Margaret Smith said: "Drugs misuse is a global problem and if other countries have developed new and radical solutions, then it is sensible to consider them for use in Scotland."
Former health minister Susan Deacon, who is now professor of social change at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, said it was important to be "open-minded" about the possible solutions to the drugs problem.
BBC June 9, 2008
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marginallymanic
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| Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 2:42 pm Post subject: |
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Initial results from a London pilot scheme where addicts inject themselves with heroin in a clinic suggest it has reduced drug use and crime. Clinics in Brighton and Darlington also form part of the trial.
The injecting clinics, intended for hardened heroin addicts for whom conventional treatment has failed, have operated for about two years. The scheme, which has so far cost £2.5m, is funded by both the Home Office and the Department of Health.
During the trial, a third of addicts are using heroin substitute methadone orally and a third will inject methadone under supervision.
The remaining third, observed by nurses, are injecting themselves with diamorphine - unadulterated heroin - imported from Switzerland and provided by the clinic.
Some 150 users will take part in the trial overall. Final results will not be known for another year but, in London, doctors and nursing staff say drug use has fallen significantly.
They also say the lives of those on the scheme have stabilised because they are not buying from street dealers and getting involved in crime.
Trial leader Professor John Strang, of the National Addiction Centre, based at London's Institute of Psychiatry, told BBC News that about 40% of users had "quit their involvement with the street scene completely". "Of those who have continued, which obviously is a disappointment, it goes down from every day to about four days per month," he added. "Their crimes, for example, have gone from 40 a month to perhaps four crimes per month. "The reduction in crime is not perfect but is a great deal better for them and crucially a great deal better for society."
People on the trial also attend regular counselling sessions and regular appointments with their GP.
BBC correspondent Danny Shaw said initial results suggested the experiment was having a profound effect on hardened heroin addicts.
Many were leading much more stable lives and were enjoying better family relationships because they were no longer in and out of prison, our correspondent added.
He said that, although these were very early days, there had been a dramatic effect on the lives of people for whom heroin had been a daily part of their lives for 20 or 30 years.
The cost of the treatment, including providing heroin, is between £9,000 and £15,000 per patient - about three times as much as a year's course of methadone.
Last year, Howard Roberts, the deputy chief constable of Nottinghamshire, said heroin should be prescribed to drug addicts to curb crime.
And earlier this year the number of people treated for heroin addiction in Scotland reached record levels, with about 21,000 people said to be using heroin substitute methadone - 10% more than previously thought.
Similar heroin injection schemes in Holland and Switzerland have reported some users turning away from crime.
BBC 19 Nov 2007
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marginallymanic
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| Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 3:10 pm Post subject: |
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Injection drug use and preventive measures: a comparison of Canadian and Western European jurisdictions over time
In this article we explore the hypothesis that the degree and progression of illness and death among injection drug users (IDUs) in a given system correlate directly with the extent to which harm prevention measures and treatment are available to, and reach, IDUs. These measures include needle and syringe exchange services and treatment, particularly methadone treatment for opiate addiction, as well as other social and health intervention services.
http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/162/12/1709
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