why that was nice

[faulkton 5,000+ posts]

Facility would be nation’s first for supervised heroin injections

SAN FRANCISCO - City health officials took steps Thursday toward opening the nation’s first legal safe-injection room, where addicts could shoot up heroin, cocaine and other drugs under the supervision of nurses.

Hoping to reduce San Francisco’s high rate of fatal drug overdoses, the public health department co-sponsored a symposium on the only such facility in North America, a 4-year-old Vancouver site where an estimated 700 users a day self-administer narcotics under the supervision of nurses.

“Having the conversation today will help us figure out whether this is a way to reduce the harms and improve the health of our community,” said Grant Colfax, director of HIV prevention for the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

Organizers of the daylong forum, which also included a coalition of nonprofit health and social-service groups, acknowledge that it could take years to get an injection facility up and running. Along with legal hurdles, such an effort would be almost sure to face political opposition.

Bertha Madras, deputy director of demand reduction for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, called San Francisco’s consideration of such a facility “disconcerting” and “poor public policy.”

“The underlying philosophy is, ’We accept drug addiction, we accept the state of affairs as acceptable,”’ Madras said. “This is a form of giving up.”

Sixty-five similar facilities exist in 27 cities in eight countries, but no other U.S. cities have considered creating one, according to Hilary McQuie, Western director for the Harm Reduction Coalition, a nonprofit that promotes alternative drug treatment methods.

“If it happens anywhere in the U.S., it will most likely start in San Francisco,” McQuie said. “It really just depends on if there is a political will here. How long it takes for that political will to develop is the main factor.”

Drug overdoses represented about one of every seven emergency calls handled by city paramedics between July 2006 and July 2007, according to San Francisco Fire Department Capt. Niels Tangherlini. At the same time, the number of deaths linked to overdoses has declined from a high of about 160 in 1995 to 40 in 2004, he said.

Colfax estimated that there are between 11,000 and 15,000 intravenous drug users in San Francisco, most of them homeless men. Like many large U.S. cities, the city operates a clean-needle exchange program to reduce HIV and hepatitis C infections.

Advocates plan to work on building community support for a safe-injection center, including backing from Mayor Gavin Newsom and the Board of Supervisors.

While it’s too early to tell what the room in San Francisco would look like, Vancouver’s InSite program is located on the upper floor of a low-rise building in a downtown neighborhood where drug users shoot up in the open.

The site, exempt from federal drug laws so users can visit without fear of arrest, has 12 private booths where addicts inject drugs such as heroin, cocaine or crystal. They can use equipment and techniques provided by the staff, said Thomas Kerr, a University of British Columbia researcher who has extensively studied the program.

While 800 overdoses have occurred on the premises, Kerr said, none of them resulted in death because of the medical supervision provided at InSite. His research also has shown an increase in addicts seeking drug treatment and a decrease in abandoned syringes, needle-sharing, drug-related crime and other problems since the clinic opened, he said.

The results indicate the idea is worth replicating, despite the criticism it may attract, Kerr said.

“I prefer the approach of the Vancouver Police Department, which was: ’We don’t like the idea of this, but let’s look at the evidence and at the end of three years we will tell you either this is something we can support or it’s something we can’t support,”’ he said.

Good idea?

 

[tRidiot 10+ year member]

Eff no

 

[faulkton 5,000+ posts]

why not?

 

[tRidiot 10+ year member]

Ask Bertha MAdras

 

[hoxie08 5,000+ posts]

chase the purple dragon.... you almost got him!! just a bit more!!!!

 

[faulkton 5,000+ posts]

Ask Bertha MAdras

Why, she hasn't been very effective.

Why should i trust her?

 

[WhoSayWho? 5,000+ posts]

Faulkton, while I am not crazy about this concept, I do like it better than your idea to *** **** men in the military. I still don't know why we would need to do that.

 

[tRidiot 10+ year member]

Why, she hasn't been very effective.
Why should i trust her?

I'd bet she's got more of a handle on how things work than most of us. And in my extensive personal experience with drug addicts, helping them get high isn't the way to deal with the problem.

 

[faulkton 5,000+ posts]

I would rather have people shooting up in a clean and safe environment, where they can properly dispose of their used needles, instead of shooting up in the park or someones back yard where they just discard dirty needles indiscriminately.

 

[faulkton 5,000+ posts]

I'd bet she's got more of a handle on how things work than most of us. And in my extensive personal experience with drug addicts, helping them get high isn't the way to deal with the problem.

Well if help is what you want to offer, how much contact do you have with them when they are shooting up in abandoned houses and the bushes?

If they are coming into to shoot up, you at least have a shot at convincing them to seek help.

You have to make the distinction between harm-reduction and encouragement.

 

[mattf 5,000+ posts]

I would rather have people shooting up in a clean and safe environment, where they can properly dispose of their used needles, instead of shooting up in the park or someones back yard where they just discard dirty needles indiscriminately.

Yes but I don't want to pay for it.

Although there aren't too many heroin addicts in my neck of the woods so it really doesn't concern me a whole lot.

 

[faulkton 5,000+ posts]

Faulkton, while I am not crazy about this concept, I do like it better than your idea to *** **** men in the military. I still don't know why we would need to do that.

That wasn't my idea, i was just warning people about the risk of joining.

 

[tRidiot 10+ year member]

If they are coming into to shoot up, you at least have a shot at convincing them to seek help.
You have to make the distinction between harm-reduction and encouragement.

Exactly how much experience do you have with drug addicts? Mine is extensive... this idea will not stop the addiction.

 

[faulkton 5,000+ posts]

Yes but I don't want to pay for it.
Although there aren't too many heroin addicts in my neck of the woods so it really doesn't concern me a whole lot.

You are paying for it one way or another.

You pay for it when they overdose and require medical care, get HIV/hepatitis and require medical care, or when a kid gets stuck with a dirty needle in the park and requires medical care.

 

[faulkton 5,000+ posts]

Exactly how much experience do you have with drug addicts? Mine is extensive... this idea will not stop the addiction.

I have plenty of experience with drug addicts.

Nothing will make an addict quit using unless he/she wants to quit.

So you are telling when they are at the point of wanting to quit we shouldn't be ready to offer treatment services? Instead they should be driven underground and not offered access to treatment services?

Sounds bad to me.