This was a pretty interesting article about Philadelphia and the Opioid crisis. Drugs are a pretty big problem in the United States, and even all over the world. In the past, the United States have put tough strict laws on people doing drugs and criminalizing them and throwing them in prison and jail and then keeping them there for years. They keep them in there for all that time and then they release them back out into the world, and what do they do? They get out and it becomes harder for them to get a job because they were previously convicted so they turn to the thing that gives them a release from the world, drugs. I think that these sites in Philadelphia are a unique and new approach to the drug problem in the United States. I especially think that it would not hurt for Philadelphia to at least try it; because who knows, it might actually help out a lot with people's addictions. I think that experimenting with this idea is definitely better than what the Trump administration is proposing and just throwing the addicts in prison for the maximum amount of time available. All that would do is create more problems with populations of prisons and make them more crammed and cause higher spending on keeping the prisoners in there. -MickSwagger123
In Peoria alone we have been seeing the rise in opioids and heroin etc. overdose deaths. I don’t do any type of drugs and I don’t condone them but I do not judge. But I see what it is Philadelphia is trying to do because we do say “don’t do drugs” or don’t do this & don’t do that but is that really solving the problem or making people turn they head to drugs no. we can tell people “No” all we want but the real question is we don’t know what it is they are going through that’s so bad that it made them turn to drugs so if we don’t know that how are supposed to led them in a way which we would like them to go? or in a way which would be a deterrent from these overpowered drugs? Or how we supposed to be there and connect on a level where they do not feel hopeless and that the whole entire world is not against them it’s some that’s with them? because we all know from the looks of things once a person uses the drugs it’s a stimulant for the pain which when they use it goes away for a specific amount of time which makes them go back to the drug more and more because of the fact that they are tired and exhausted from the constant hurt that which they are feeling. I’m only 19 years of age so I’m just getting my feet wet when it comes to being very responsible and do things for myself but growing I done saw some things been through some things that let me know that life is not a game to play with and that it’s really hard out here and yet people go around here acting like they life can’t get no better or they get made with they don’t get what they want knowing that they got a necessity that some people would die for which is an a roof to keep you warn at night food & water that keeps alive and people around you to make sure you are kay and not left along at your darkest night. So I do agree that if we can’t stop them as soon as we ask why not suggest a place where they can go and get help from people that know how to help them in a way which they would like to be helped. Junior123
The idea of putting addicts away for longer periods of time is to keep them from hurting others while on certain drugs, so I think that the main job of the us government(protecting its people) is being attempted. That said, I totally agree that these places in Philadelphia would be a much better solution to this problem. I am I massive advocate for small scale solutions in mass numbers to fix problems with society. I think that a lot of these problems are too numerous and complex for the federal, or even state government to handle. It needs to be fixed by the communities themselves. -DMPeschy
I understand that putting the addicts away in prison keeps the rest of the general public safe; however, the way that the Trump administration worded it made it sound like they were just wanting to lock up the addicts and then throw away the key without any other action after that. The addicts need help with their addiction so then they can return to the world without needing to feel like they need to escape. Locking them up would just give them a temporary time away from their drug and as soon as they are released they will most likely do them again. -MickSwagger123
While I disagree with the solutions proposed by the trump administration, I am not convinced that it is responsible for the Philadelphia government to even try this without further considerations. I fear that people who would normally go to rehabilitation facilities would have less incentive to go because they can legally maintain their addiction. I do prefer that drugs are decriminalized in general, but I also think that children should not have to live with parents who are chronic users. I would not mind if fewer arrests were made, but I see many problems with public facilities promoting this kind of behavior. -Rudedogg789
While I disagree with the solutions proposed by the trump administration, I am not convinced that it is responsible for the Philadelphia government to even try this without further considerations. I fear that people who would normally go to rehabilitation facilities would have less incentive to go because they can legally maintain their addiction. I do prefer that drugs are decriminalized in general, but I also think that children should not have to live with parents who are chronic users. I would not mind if fewer arrests were made, but I see many problems with public facilities promoting this kind of behavior.
I do agreed with you drug is a big time problems in the United States and something need be done because we can arrest them all we want and still not improve the world. So why not give this thing a try if can work because right now, all we are doing just put them in jail or prison and it's not help them out and just wast time and so they get out they go back on drugs. That all they know how to do and what to do and i know some try stay clean but at the end day still not help in the long run. Even if it might help them out just a little bit i take any improve at all. -Panthers 123
I have to agree with you that the war on drugs is failing, and it has been failing since pres. Nixon declared a war on drugs. Ever since the 1970s the government has gone about tackling the drug problem in America the wrong way. By doing so people who are addicted to drugs, end up going to jail when they should have been going to rehab, counseling, anything to help them get clean. A safe place for users to shoot up is a good thing, as long as there are programs that are in place to get users off the drugs they are addicted to and dependent on. With that being said, our current president needs to look at the opioid crisis, and propose drug laws that allow for users to have a second chance, instead of jail or prison. By doing so more can be done from a treatment standpoint to help the addicted. It does not make sense to punish people whose lives revolve around shooting up. Punish the drug dealers, the suppliers, anyone who thinks it is ok to let people hurt themselves. Both the Federal and state governments need to be on the same page when it comes to handling those who get caught using and abusing opioids. --Acquit456
After reading this article I would have to say personally it isn’t a good idea for Philadelphia to try and have an overdose prevention strategy. I personally feel it would be easier to try and stop the addictions not keep them going and just making sure people don’t die from it. I also feel it is hard to trust whether the needles will be sterile but people who are addicted won’t care they just want the drug. Even though this is strategy is going to be used who is to say the people doing the drug will want the help to prevent an overdose, back in criminal justice 114 Marquis Mighty said in his presentation “if they won’t accept the help what’s the point” with that in mind yes, it is a great idea to try and stop the overdose deaths but who’s to say anyone will go to these “safe injection sites”. I do have to say that saving between 24 and 76 people from overdosing is a great statistic but then it is also saying that between 1 and 18 cases of HIV infection. Which with that stat in mind 1 in 18 people isn’t very much and HIV infections I feel should be getting a lot more attention then trying to stop people from overdosing. The reason being is anyone who wants to overdose on drugs can and will find a way to do so, but when it comes to HIV infections you can’t really just stop it you need medical attention which we need to use our research towards instead of the opioids. I would also have to agree with David Oh when he said “I don’t see this as a well thought-out, practical plan” I agree with this because like he also said how can they get past zoning, and who is liable for the private investors. Everyone is wanting this to happen and help people with an opioid addiction but no one sees the potential downsides to each of the different aspects of the safe injection sites. One final thing I could not find in the article is how much will this cost because they have to build the facilities, get the over dose reversal drug, get sterile needles, get professionals to inject the drug, and there are many other things that will be needed to run such facilities properly without causing a huge issue. After doing research of my own just the drug by itself ranges from $20 to $50 for just 2ml which after a while can cost a lot because it is not very much you get for the price you end up paying. CarlBaconWho123
Well i do see your point they should not try this and stop it. However i think they should open it up because be better if they had more doctor to keep an eye on them because if they was out there would be doing this on the street and you think be safe around them. Some may stop but the true is half them don't care if this is clean or not just care about get drug on. However, if they do and don't get this try if they don't just going keep get bad for those who do drug like will end up in jail and back to doing drug and that why need find some way to cut it down. At the end day will all want be in a better place who really know if this will work or not be for its to late. - panther123
I agree completely agree with your comment to the video. Its going to be a hard life if they continue to let these people take that drug. Just making sure they wont die is not a good reason to me at all, its still the same way if they weren’t taking it in the doctor. I don’t think this its getting attention at all because it’s the same thing just with doctors. The HIV thing is also crazy to me as well. They can’t really stop someone from getting HIV with the program because like I said before, who’s to say they didn’t shoot up before they came there. They could be doing it after they leave there as well. They are using money on the wrong things, we should be helping over causes and helping people it actual health problems.- babyblue123
If this treatment will work and stop people it from overdose and I think it's good thing to try because right now this world it's a big mess when it comes down to drugs. From what I can tell this does work depends on if you are state or city like Vancouver because they save at least 1,800 from overdose. One good thing about this treatment would take away people stay outside because they don't need be out there and some those folks out there are dads, family members and who does it like five or six days basic. I think if they have people watch them would help them out if not it's just going get more bad because out in the open who know what can happen. If they in that treatment at least be around people who can watch them or even try help them out. If you just send them to jail or prison won't help them out just because sometimes can find some kind drug they get addiction to and what happens go back to the same drug and won't do no good just send them away. Yes, half the people who are in prison are poor people and I not really surprise about that. Instead look at it at police problem how about we look at it different as heath problem instead. Yes, you going get them folks who disagreed with you but what can do just give it a try. Like one example this guy went to one the treatment called Insite and he try out also overdoes just five times, however he made the choices to get clean and changes his life styles. Look sat him he been clean for four years and happy married to and that one case had work out. In some states it has work out but you will always get those who will not be on your side at all. I do agree with the police if can't just do nothing about it and sit here keep send them to the same place and when they get out just do it all over again. I think this has work for good reason and also help got some folks clean at the same time. Without this would never happened them out at all. -panther456
Normalizing this problem is just going to make matters way worse. When you tell someone “come into our clinic and you can shoot up without being criminalized” it’s like you’re giving them the okay to do drugs. No one allows people to come into clinics and smoke weed or shoot up heroin, so why is it okay for them to do opioids? Also, how are we going to fund these clinics? Our tax dollars? I don’t want my hard earned money to fund someone’s addiction. If these clinics were support groups, or different healthier alternatives then I’d be all for funding something like that, but it’s not fair to the million other addicts who are hooked on something other than opioids to not get the same luxuries. In other words, we shouldn’t be giving them “safe” places to do illegal activity. If they want to ruin their lives with this drug then that’s on them. If they want to replace their family and loved ones for the evil drug, then that’s their fault. I do not feel any remorse for someone who did this to themselves. This may sound harsh, but I just don’t agree with the fact that we are “babying” these adults who are very capable of knowing right from wrong. Cheer123
Okay that is just one case for one of the very few people that actually want the help and want to better themselves. This is a terrible idea it is just promoting drug use as is everything else in today's world with the legalization of marijuana. We can't normalize the issue if we do then it becomes a global issue that everyone gets hooked on drugs like heroin and the world just falls apart. Why don't we take a look at the problem and instead of controlling the issue we go out and stop the issue. Why don't we spend money and help these people in the front end before the addiction starts. It would be cheaper, easier and would make a much bigger impact on this type of issue and not just for these types of drugs but for all types of drugs. Let's do this for everything in the criminal justice system not just drugs expand it to the corrections department and so on. If we do these types of things and help the people stop before they get started eventually there will be no one doing drugs "hopefully". Then our world will become a better place and the criminal justice world would become easier and cleaner. NDIrish123.
But, it’s not helping them at all. At the end of the day they are still taking the drug. The drug is dangerous they are still going to be using regardless if the doctor is giving it to them. Yes, the world is a big mess when it comes to drugs but, they are so focused on getting people that sell or use weed they don’t understand that that’s not the dangerous drug, the drug they are promoting to use it. Yes, it may help families function better but, they need to use it at all because they have a family to take care of. I just don’t think the treatment is a good idea at all. It shouldn’t be used, they shoot make a treatment to prevent the drug to be used. I feel like its going to get out of hand and they aren’t going to know what to do but to shut down the over dose center. The drug war has been going on for a while now and this treatment program is not helping to prevent drugs.-babyblue123
I agree with you saying that if treatment will work then it is a good thing to try out. However starting out by taking a little step might cause the mess to grow and grow. We can’t send everyone through treatment because some people it might not work on them and then what? Some people don’t want to be treated, some people don’t want the help that can cure them. In the end overall treatment may work for some people but others it could just make it worse. In your statement I agree with you about saying we shouldn’t just put them in jail because you’re absolutely right about that. If you stick them in jail right when they get out they might just go back to the drug anyways. Overall I agree with that police need to step up and change their ways and not just sit back and watch it all happen. If it is a good reason why not give it a shot and all you can do is hope that at the end of they day it comes out all right and makes the world a better place. Smile123
After reading the article about overdoses in Philadelphia I think that trying to come up with a prevention idea isn’t the safe bet to go. I personally think that they should try and stop the addiction before the overdose problem grows but, after reading it I do agree with them that whatever they got to do to stop people from dying then it must be a good thing. If this new way works for Philadelphia then we should learn from them and take it into other states that have heavy drug issues because you can’t just keep putting people in jail over and over. People that go for jail just end up getting out and can’t hardly do anything because of what is on there back. For example it’s hard for them to find a job, it’s hard for them to get a loan out. So overall they just go back to using the drugs that put them in jail for the first place. All for what? Another solution is rehab but, rehab doesn’t always cure a person. Rehab can help someone as long as they wanna help themselves. In the article they state that there is a safe injection site for people are supervised by medical personals to inject heroin and or other opioids in there system without getting arrested. To me that is absolutely mind-blowing. It is a great way to get people in the treatment they need but, there is also many risks to the factor. For example they could get someone to start up an addiction they never really had, or even make the drug addict feel like they are never going to get caught for such a thing or that it is okay what they are doing to their body. To hear how many overdoses they have had in their city is heartbreaking and to think they are risking move lives by letting people know there is a safe place where they can inject themselves with any drug they want is sad. I understand they wanna handle it there way and whatever they have to do to make this problem less than it is but, I don’t agree with their solution in hand. In the article they mention that they don’t want the federal government to get in there way of local governments saving lives. I think they don’t understand what they are actually dealing with in a way because, most community’s would want help from anybody that would be able to save the people with this addiction. I might be wrong in some senses but, I do believe that if I was in this situation and one of my family members or closest friends was killing themselves with a drug that they are injecting in themselves I would want as much help as I could. Smile123
After reading this i can see where this may work but however I don't think this be good idea to open. There so much wrong with this pictures if they not going stop for them self and why you think they going stop? I get it's hard for them find a job but at some point you have get your life together because Rehab always not the right place because something people are scared to get their life together. I don't have any person experience with drugs but my dad used be on drugs but he did get clean over time and some people can get clean other just don't want to. -Panthers456
I think there is so many things wrong with opening up a safe place for people to shoot up. For one, people shouldn’t have somewhere where they can go to feel “safe” while shooting up. These drugs are illegal and killing so many people daily that I think it’s absurd to allow them to do it. Regardless if they have a safe place to do it or not, they’re going to do it. “Safe” place or not, it’s not going to stop or reduce the usage. This may sound harsh, but these people are choosing this life. Addiction is a hard thing to overcome, and I realize that, but instead of setting up safe places for them to shoot up we should be setting up healthy alternatives that don’t allow drug use. This is like someone creating a place for people to go smoke marijuana. Something like that wouldn’t happen because it’s ILLEGAL and shouldn’t be normalized. Saying “everyone does it” doesn’t make it okay. These people overdosing are the same people who chose this lifestyle and CHOSE to let opioids take control of their life. We’ve had drug problems all over the world for so long in this country. Normalizing it and telling people to come into the clinics to do it is like telling them it’s okay to shoot up drugs. I don’t want my children to grow up in a world one day where there are clinics around the world for people to go and shoot up drugs. This is also a hard decision because I also don’t want them to be able to walk around and see people dead on the streets from this god awful drug. There is no middle line here, but I think the opioid problem is out of our hands and if these people want to choose that life to live, then we shouldn’t interfere. I think if we’re going to open up clinics for people to be able to shoot up opioids, then we should open up clinics for every single drug there is. Is it fair to allow people to do one drug but not the million others? People are still on the streets doing drugs we didn’t even know existed. This problem has spiraled out of control and I don’t think any help we try to offer is going to help these people stop their addiction. The guy on the video has kids and is still choosing to live on the streets and let a drug take full control of his life. Cheer123
Yes there are some flaws that you can easily spot with this idea as you can with any new idea. But view the benefits it has and all the possibilities it can bring to the United States of America and its people. It will limit the number of overdose related deaths, lower HIV and blood born diseases infection rates, improve and clean up society and the people involved. This idea can handle and help all those problems given the chance it will just take time for it to work and come into place number wise. If this one idea actually delivers in what it is saying it is going to it will only help society improve and help clean up our messed up world. Now I am not promoting drug use but a place to escape for these people and for them to feel not alone. If we can get these people together as one they are more likely to accept help that way than each individual alone. Why not try something like this? We are already at the end of the road not much can get worse from here with all the overdose related deaths and just the drug related deaths. NDIrish456.
The main purpose of this idea is to create a "safe place" for people to shoot up. If we are going to offer this idea for opioid addicts, we need to do the exact same thing for any other person addicted to any other type of drug. It's not fair in any way for opioid addicts to be able to shoot up and not get in any sort of trouble. Opening up these clinics is like telling them it's okay. We are enabling them. This whole idea is to keep the streets safe, but we could do that just by locking them up. We shouldn’t give them any sort of satisfaction. They chose this life, no one shoved the needle in their arm for them. Like I said before, if we allow this, other addicts are going to start letting their addiction get out of control so they will be allowed to shoot up in clinics with no repercussions. We shouldn’t allow this, and in no way, shape, or form, is this okay. Also, how are we going to pay for these clinics? My money is way too important to me to be giving it away to these clinics for addicts who aren’t going to ever repay me. This may sound selfish, but it’s my opinion. Cheer456
I agree why would we the people be spending money to have clinics shooting up people so they are happy or feel good? Dont we have enough things to pay for like maybe helping out our veterans that are homeless? Stop and think to yourself will people ever stop using these drugs if there doing it the safe way? I dont think they ever will stop there homeless and all there thinking and waking up to is getting high and feel better about there life. Its sad we have a world full of people that have no common sense. We are trying to get away from people shooting up. Shit we might as well start promoting people whp shoot up heroin or do coke. conrad456
I am all for saving lives and trying to prevent the people from overdosing and killing themselves but we need to do it in a different way than this. This way of opening safe injection sites is really just promoting drug use in these areas. Instead of solving the drug problem and helping these people I believe that the amount of people getting hooked on these types of drugs will increase because they now know if they break the law there will be no penalty for it. This is a awful drug and a awful thing to see about nine hundred plus people die in one year from this drug but after all this time of seeing the problem and think of how to fix it this is the best solution we have came up with? I see the point behind this but I don't see a positive outcome. The majority of the people that go in and overdose on a drug like this isn't always accidental, some people really just want to end their lives and they do it the only way they know how to live which is under the needle. My first question to the user would be why did you start these drugs and why did you let it take over your life? Being in law enforcement you will have to deal with these things all the time but you also have to remember you can't force someone to get help if they don't want it they won't go and won't try to better themselves. The majority of the people that have gotten this far with the drug in their life won't make it without the drug the body depends on this drug to operate, also the people wouldn't want help would you want to go out and change your life from something you have been living on for years? It's a lifestyle change the number one thing us as Americans don't want we all have routines and this is theirs. This overdose saving drug was a great invention and a great thing to put out on the market but no one knows how and or when to use it and that can be deadly. If we could teach people on what to look for and show them how to use this saving drug and when to use it the rates would not be what they are today. I would like to see studies done on the actual drug reversing medicine and see how it actually saves people and when someone has died if they could have used it but just didn't know how. Us as Americans and citizens of the United States of America we are all under informed the media and politics and many other things try to hold the truth from us and leave us wondering and we never know the whole story or how to use certain products. NDIrish123.
I agree, and I think that everyone can agree, that saving lives is the main goal of trying to help people addicted to drugs. This way may not be the best way to go about it in the future but for the time being I have not seen a better way to control, or even put an end to drug use. These people working these businesses are going to be well trained to deal with these addicted drug users. And while they are receiving safe materials and getting injected properly they will be exposed to these people who will hopefully have the same mindset and want to help those people other than just giving them their drugs. People become addicted to opioids a lot of the time through an injury and they are prescribed an opioid pain reliever. Doctors are giving out generous prescriptions to these people and are too lenient in what they are handing out, and then they wonder why people become addicted and then turn to the cheaper option of the drug which is also more dangerous. These safe injection sites are a way that we can make up for the mistakes that doctors have made and in theory save these people before it gets too bad, and they overdose. Wings123
I think that some sort of mandatory rehab would be better than just allowing for people to continue to shoot up legally. If we do not stop the problem now we may never be able to until almost everybody will be at one of these injection sites, so that they will not get arrested for trying this drug. I agree that the overdose saving drug is great and that it should be available for those who are addicted or for the families of those who are addicted, because no one wants to come home and find their sibling laying on the ground with a needle next to their body and not have a way of saving them. If we do give more people the opportunity to have safe injection sites I feel that if someone is looking for a new way of getting high and they have never used these types of drugs, this would be the new way for people to get addicted. Illini123
I think what Philadelphia is doing is going to benefit society greatly. Seeing these addicts get taken into clinics is going to make the streets a safer place. No one wants to see needles laying out and a million homeless people everywhere because they’re too high on drugs to seek help for themselves. I also think this should be used as a stepping stone for these addicts and not a forever thing. If these addicts get comfortable with being able to go into these “safe” places to use, they’ll start to rely on it. What happens when we can no longer give them a “safe” place to go? Will they riot? Will their usage double? Thing could get really, really bad, really, really quick. I’m also a little iffy on how long we should allow this to go on. When will we cut off the clinics? These addicts can’t rely on them because then the problem will never be resolved. We shouldn’t be enabling these addicts. Maybe we could lower their usage daily to slowly get them back to a stable health and mindset. The major goal for these clinics should be to help addicts get back onto their feet and release them back into society has a full functioning citizen. I think the addicts that truly want to change, will, but the ones that don’t, won’t. These “safe” places could help out immensely but it’s a shot in the dark and we won’t know until we try. My hope for the future is that we will have ½ as much usage and ½ as many people choosing this killer drug over their loved ones. These people have so many people who care about them and the fact that they’re choosing this life is beyond heartbreaking. One day, I hope to live in a world where we don’t have thousands and thousands of deaths a year due to drug use, but that might never happen. We also should reach out to those doing other hard drugs if we’re going to this for people addicted to opioids. There is no difference in addiction, it all has the same affects on people. What is the people who are addicted to other drugs lash out because they aren’t getting clinics opened up for them? What is the usage doubles on the street and the addicts take it all as a joke. There are so many things that could go wrong with this whole scenario. Cheer456
The idea of these safe injection sites is to ultimately save lives, which honestly who would not be against that? However, these sites will become a place that these drug users will become dependent upon as time goes on. I do not foresee any rioting going on if these safe injection sites were to go away, but I do agree that these sites should aim more at possibly lowering how much a person uses daily and help them get and seek rehabilitative treatment in order to get off the drug. These sites are indeed a good idea when we look at them from a medical stand point as far as saving lives, but we also have to wonder if we are unintentionally advocating and support the use of illegal drugs. Gymlife123
I am all for saving lives and trying to prevent the people from overdosing and killing themselves if we can limit the national drug overdose percentage great. This one idea can help stop numerous things that we have problems with today. One is the overdosing issue. For us to stop and or control this big issue would be a big win for the criminal justice field. With there being around one thousand deaths just from overdosing in one year is way to many, one overdose related death is to many. Another big issue this would help stop and control is HIV and blood born diseases. With there being "safe" injection sites that people can go and use clean needles and have someone by them to help insure that they don't get any worse than they are is another great win. A big problem is people sharing needles or already finding used needles and they are being stuck with them with another person's blood on it. You don't know what that person could have just by looking at their blood with the naked eye. The other big thing this would help is that it would make a police officers job much safer. If there are a lot of "safe" injection sites and they provide the needle for these people officers would not have to worry as much of being stuck by a needle in a car or on a person because they know most likely they won't be carrying any. Now that doesn't mean that people will just stop carrying needles, no people still will and the officers would still have to be cognizant of that. These are just some of the important issues that America faces today that these "safe" injection sites could fix and or help fix. This would be a great thing for very desperate society's and it would be great if everyone participated in this but not everyone will. Not everyone wants the help and not everyone wants to drive to a office just to hit up. Most people want to do it somewhere they are comfortable for example their house (if they have one). If I was in their shoes I don't necessarily know if I would go out and drive to this special place just to get my daily dose of heroin. This is a good idea but there are some big flaws with this plan and hopefully they can figure it all out and get it working here in the United States of America do to the benefits it offers not just from saving people from overdosing but for many others. For example, cleaner streets, less overdosing, less HIV and blood born diseases and the list can go on and on. NDIrish456.
These safe injection sites, I agree, can help to eliminate many different problems that we are faced with nowadays. The safe injection sites would aim to drastically reduce if not completely eliminate the number of deaths resulting from a drug overdose. Also these sites would lower the spread of HIV which I absolutely agree is a huge plus. You also make a good point that not everyone is going to want to go drive to an office to shoot up the drug of their choice. The purpose of these sites are to reduce the number of overdose deaths and to save lives, but if users do not want to even bother going to these sites we have to ask ourselves if we are just wasting our time and money. Not only that, but we could be sending the wrong message that we are beginning to encourage the use of illegal drugs. Gymlife456
I have to disagree with you about your stance regarding safe injection sights. I agree with you that it is a great thing to save a life, but it is another to condone and to legally allow people to shoot up their drugs in facilities that allow drug use to occur freely. This facility will be used by addicts who got their drugs by either robbing or burglarizing homes and businesses that are located close to this facility. Addicts will do anything to get their hands on their drug of choice, and in this case that drug of choice are opiates. In a sense carte blanche has been given to users, to keep using opiates, without fear of reprisal. In a sense this facility is allowing people the opportunity to overdose, and then to be brought back to life. That allows the user to keep using because they know they will be saved from death. This is like putting a bandage on something that will not stop bleeding for a long time. The government needs to take a stronger stance on finding and punishing the dealers, the suppliers, etc. The harder America is on those people, the quicker the realization that the opioid issue is being addressed.--Acquit456
The opioid epidemic is something that only an ignorant person would say is not a problem. Many people say that this problem is solely on the lifestyle of those who are overusing these drugs, and there isn’t anything that other people can do about it. Those who disagree with that have been looking for a way to slow down the numbers of opioid overdoses, and they think they are on to something with their idea in this article. Safe injection sites would be used so that opioid addicts can go to these places, and do their drugs safely, sanitarily and without worry of being arrested. These establishments would also have information people can get about treatment for their addictions. The numbers of opioid overdoses are to a point to where they cannot be ignored anymore. People used to shake off these deaths because they were low enough numbers to be considered a personal issue, but now these numbers are high enough to where it is considered a public health issue. This means that it is time for the public to step in and figure out a solution to this problem. The way I see this, these people who are addicted are going to keep taking the drugs whether we help them or not, and not in safe and sanitary ways. These safe injection sites are a good way for people who want to help can reach out to those struggling with these addictions and try to give them some better chances at being able to survive. The government has been cracking down on drug enforcement since Trump has taken office, and this has caused problems for the development of these businesses. Another problem they have come across is the fact that insurance companies are not going to want to insure an establishment such as this. Despite these hurdles the idea of these businesses have not gone away. Overall I think that these are a good idea. Helping these people needs to be the mindset other than just letting them die because of their addiction. These safe injection sites have been around since the 1980’s in Europe, and there is one that has been around since 2003 in Vancouver. The amount of time these establishments have been around speaks volumes to the idea that they should be brought into the United States. Wings123
The numbers of opioid overdoses are to a point to where they cannot be ignored anymore. Something need be done because people don't need be overdose at a young age and some will over look this but try to stop this. Or come up with some kind program before get out of hand and this a heath problem. Yes these people will still use drug some will try get clean but most them will not listen at all just keep doing what they do. Yes if can try our best to stop them in jail but still won't help them. If you put these people in these place help them in the long run. I do agreed with you and this good ideas because nobody else try help all they doing put them in jail and not not help at all. -Panthers456
Thank you for agreeing. The numbers of overdoses is definitely a main point to me as to why some change is urgent. This has grown into something more than just some drug junkie’s hobby and way to get high some people are truly addicted and they do not want to be. Some people undoubtingly will take advantage of the generous people trying to help them and just keep doing the drugs, just legally. On the other hand though this program is not necessarily designed to get people to stop, but instead it is a way for people to safely use the opioids without putting themselves in danger. These addictions a lot of the time come from prescriptions given from say for example a surgery, and once they are hooked it is a lot easier said than done getting off of the drug. I’m not saying that shooting up heroin is okay by any means, but in some cases people fall into this addiction not by choice, and once it is there and has a hold of your life it can begin to take over and that is when people turn to heroin because it is cheaper, but much more risky. Wings123
These people that go to these "safe" injection sites don't want help usually. They are just there to shoot up and leave because they now know they can't be arrested there. If we really want to stop this issue and not promote drug use which is what we are doing, we need to get people on the grounds looking for this people and help them get to the places they need to go to for treatment. If we can help those people who truly want the help and better themselves then we are doing all we can do. We can't force other into rehab or some other type of treatment you just can't. If we get people on the ground in those areas helping the people who really want the help then good, lets help those people and spend the money in the front end of the problem that way we don't have to worry about this issue becoming worse. Stop the people from becoming addicted show them other things they can do and show them how much better life is. Some of these people could be turning to drugs because of pressure or depression or whatever it may be lets help them before they get to the drugs because drugs don't make everything okay. Plus if we let this get worse who knows it might become legal because everyone is doing it like marijuana and who knows how bad that will screw our cities and our country or even the world up. NDIrish123.
When I first read this article and watched the two videos I didn't know what to think about the safe injection sites. As I read I started to think that it was a ridiculous idea and it wouldn't work. And part of me still does. But then as I watched the videos and reread the article the other part of me thought it might be a better solution than what we have going on right now. The amount of opioid deaths around the country recently is crazy. Especially in Philadelphia. And there really isn't a solid way to try and stop it and it continues to get worse and worse. I do think that these safe injection sites are somewhat of a step in the right direction because it's something new for the United States. Plus it has shown that it works over in the other countries that have had it for years now. But on the other side of things I can see how it could be advocating use of opioids for either first timers that want to try it for the first time in a safe environment or for people that have been hooked on it for years. The other good thing about these safe sites is there are nurses and medical professionals there for when things go wrong like overdoses. But the other side of things is to me it comes down to human nature and if people really want the help or if they are just looking for an easier solution to do their drugs because at the end of the day if people don't want help they won't get it. Even if they have overdosed several times. I don't think they realize fully what they are doing to themselves until it's already too late. As I said before this could either be a really good thing to help decrease the amount of opioid deaths or it could make doing drugs like heroin and other opioids a more acceptabel thing. I'm interested to see if the federal government will have a major hand in this with how hard and heavy President Trump is hitting down on opioids, or if they will leave it up to the states like they have done with other things such as the legalization of marijuana. It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out and I hope that we find a better solution soon for this opioid epidemic. -Ramones456
I know that almost if not everybody in the United States wants to help reduce the number of overdoses in the country. I’m all for helping those who have a problem, but I feel this is not a safe way to do it. Having those who are addicted being able to go to these safe places and do drugs whenever they feel like would just give them the chance to do the drugs more often than if they were on the street doing it. It would also open up the opportunity to those who may not be addicted to those who may not be addicted; give them the chance to try the drug and then they would get addicted. I know that the war on drugs was a failure, but we need to find something better than just letting addicts do drugs whenever they feel like. We need to start having mandatory rehab for those who are addicted, so they can get their problem resolved; not just let them keep going on and using everyday. If we do open these safe injection sites, then who would be paying for the drugs and needles and the medical staff that would have to stay on guard incase someone does overdose. More people would probably overdose because they know that they will be able to shoot up more drugs at a time and there will be someone there to save them. Like the mother said if we do open these sites more addicts will come to that area and even though they are there to seek safe injection, they could also be there to shoot up out on the street, and they could also be trying to sell to younger people. Also by opening these sites we are basically saying that it is ok to do heroin or any other drug for that matter and eventually we will be allowing these people to come in and start snorting cocaine. By allowing these sites to open I feel that we would just be opening a gateway for addicts to stay addicted legally, when I believe we need to start having some sort of mandatory drug rehab for those who are addicted. Illini123
Yes some sort of mandatory rehab should be required or some sort of treatment for those who want it. If we do that and start the rehab and the treatment it will be giving that support and the help that these people need. These people feel alone and scared because they don't know how else to feel and they have no one to support them. If we can form the support group and help these people get off the drug and go out and get a job and become the person they want to become. Lets help them accomplish their dreams they have lets actually sit down and talk with the person and see what they want it life and what they view success as. Once we do that and have an understanding of the person and know what they want we know how to help them achieve those goals and get to that success that they want. These people are alone and left to fend for themselves lets be the bigger person step in and help fight this issue. Once someone actually steps up to the plate and begins doing these things not just this drug but drugs as a whole I believe will begin to decline quite rapidly, because then people will see what they are capable of and it will give them hope and a little bit of hope goes a long way. The future will become so bright for those people that once lived in the dark forgotten corner of society that suffered all alone and now they have someone who gets them and understands them and someone who is there to help. NDIrish456.
Yes if we can get some support groups to go and help these people and sit down and communicate I believe we will start to see more people going to rehab and trying to better themselves not just for them, but for family they may have. If we all help each other out we can hopefully end drug overdoses and eventually we can end drug use all together, but first we need to find a better way than just letting people shoot up whenever they want with no consequences whatsoever. If people know that someone is out there who is willing to believe in them, I think they will want to turn their life around and find a good job and they will want to raise a family. Illini123
After reading the article and watch the videos and I can why people are worried because people should not have place. Where they can shoot up or overdose also the police can do so much because they will end up back on the street some way. Even if the police try find a way to take them down or eliminated them some way. The truth is hard because a lot times they don't can't do it all bye them self. Drugs are a big problem and need find a way to help who want the help. That why some parents who have seen the love one who are against this program and to them this won't help them just make it worst from them and the community to because it won't be a safe place. Some places may help them however other like small states won't because to them why would you give those kind folks drugs and needles so could just overdoes? That not really the smart way to go give them needles and have doctors watch them. Maybe have more treatment place would make a different that would be better not the so-called safe injections half them don't care if the needles are clean or not care about use it. What going happens instead stop it going just bring more people out to for the needles not stop and go away. -panthers123
In this article I completely disagree. I disagree because why you want to influence more drug use, when we are trying to avoid it. Yes, maybe it is good that is health people injecting it but, I wouldn’t want to influence it more when they are already doing in illegal. The drug addict is going to think its all good to even use drugs and maybe people that aren’t on drugs, would want to try it because they are influencing them that “It’s safer”, “come try it we got you”. Its not cool at all to me. The only positive thing that they could say it overdose rates went down but the drug is still getting used. The fact that we’ve been in a drug war for a long time and now they are tolerating the use on heroine is crazy to me. But, lets be honest another positive thing about the program is it might be helping families who have gotten broken apart because of the drug. The kids don’t have to see their parents or parent looking crazy or going crazy because of the drug. Drugs shouldn’t be getting used period, we can just promote programs and think its okay because 9 times out of 10, as soon as they leave that program they are going out to find more of the drug just for side use. Its going to be hard for them to live their life’s because they are always going to want the drug. I feel like we need to put a stop to it and use that motivation for something more important health wise, not saying overdosing is not important but something that naturally happens to people. I also, think its crazy because police will be quick to lock up someone who is using weed. Why are they promoting heroin, something that could kill you but weed is horrible? I don’t understand how backwards that sounds at all. Weed is it not a killing drug but they are telling people its okay to use a killing drug. Everything is so backwards in this world and it needs to be changed asap. -babyblue123
I disagree because for the simple fact that this is just a place where they are trying to get them all to come too so they can start helping them instead having to go all across the world hypothetically speaking to find then but what if we don’t know that how are supposed to led them in a way which we would like them to go? or in a way which would be a deterrent from these overpowered drugs? Or how we supposed to be there and connect on a level where they do not feel hopeless and that the whole entire world is not against them it’s some that’s with them and this is the only way? because we all know from the looks of things once a person uses the drugs it’s a stimulant for the pain which when they use it goes away for a specific amount of time which makes them go back to the drug more and more because of the fact that they are tired and exhausted from the constant hurt that which they are feeling I know we are also adding a problem but what is it we doing as of right now? Because like the article said bodies are just dropping from overdoses and it seem to be going up and up every year, just the thought of a different way of helping is always a good step in the right direction even if does cause a little more back fire than we would like.junior456
Safe injection sites are being introduced to the United States as a way to help reduce the opioid epidemic in our country. Essentially, safe injection sites are medically supervised locations where users can inject heroin and other opioids without having to worry about being arrested. These walk-in sites offer sterile needles for users to shoot up the drug of their choice as well as naloxone; a drug that reverses the effects of overdose. Many people may think these sites are not a good idea because they may get the assumption that we are advocating and supporting drug use. That is certainly not the circumstance here. What the goal is for these safe injection sites is to reduce the number of opioid and drug related overdose deaths. The city of Philadelphia saw over one thousand overdose deaths last year with nearly 85% being related to opioid use. What I found staggering was that this article mentioned that overall number of overdose deaths was four times the number of homicides. With these safe injection sites, the city of Philadelphia hopes to reduce the number of opioid deaths anywhere from 24-76 annually as well as reduce the number of HIV infections by up to 18. In the span of just four years, from 2013-2016, Philadelphia saw their overdose related deaths nearly double, increasing from 459 in 2013 up to 907 in 2016. Another statistic that I found alarming that this article mentioned was that , there are roughly 46.8 drug overdose related deaths per 100,000 residents. Compare that to cities such as Chicago which saw 15.4 per 100,000 and New York which saw 11.2 per 100,000 in 2015. The article explains that the recent surge in opioid related deaths can be linked to the drug fetanyl, which is a drug that is 100 times more potent than morphine as the article describes. There were 412 overdose related deaths in Philadelphia where fetanyl was found in 2016. Europe has been using safe injection sites since the late 1980’s. Also Canada and Australia have also been using these safe injection sites. It is disappointing that the Justice Department under the Trump Administration has urged prosecutors to pursue the maximum sentence available for drug offenders. Is it really fair to make a person who clearly has a medical issue, as we can and should look at it, be incarcerated in our already overpopulated jails and prisons? We are not solving anything by going that route. These people need treatment, they need rehabilitation which is not something they are likely to receive while incarcerated. Not only has this been proven not to work when it comes to the war on drugs, but we are adding to another problem, the problem with mass incarceration in our country. Overall, I believe these safe injection sites are a good idea because in the end, we are trying to save lives. Not advocate or support the use of drugs. Gymlife123
I agree but what if we don’t know that how are supposed to led them in a way which we would like them to go? or in a way which would be a deterrent from these overpowered drugs? Or how we supposed to be there and connect on a level where they do not feel hopeless and that the whole entire world is not against them it’s some that’s with them? because we all know from the looks of things once a person uses the drugs it’s a stimulant for the pain which when they use it goes away for a specific amount of time which makes them go back to the drug more and more because of the fact that they are tired and exhausted from the constant hurt that which they are feeling I know we are also adding a problem but what is it we doing as of right now? Because like the article said bodies are just dropping from overdoses and it seem to be going up and up every year, just the thought of a different way of helping is always a good step in the right direction even if does cause a little more back fire than we would like. junior123
I agree with what you said. The statistics are alarming and they should not be looked over lightly. The United States needs to do something different in regards to the opioid crisis. We all have seen how the War on Drugs has not really solved anything so it's time that something different should be done. These safe injection sites could work. -MickSwagger123
Well I agree with you saying that the safe injection sites can be helpful since they are supervised but, what happens when it doesn’t work the way they thought it would. How are we supposed to support them in a way that fits their needs. In a way these safe injection sites can make it even worse on someone when they already think the world is against them. The statistics are very alarming and shouldn’t be overlooked but is it a really good idea to try something new right off the bat? People who use drugs use them for a reason, and sometimes that reason makes them keep using the drug or more onto more serious drugs. It is per say hard to stop someone from using drugs in a sense, overwhelming enough that is why there is so many overdoses happening around the world. It is a major problem and it needs to be stopped for a fact. Overall I do think you know what you’re talking about when you say the safe injections sites are a good idea cause if it works out then we have a one step part to a solution of ending overdoses. Smile456
In Peoria alone we have been seeing the rise in opioids and heroin etc. overdose deaths. I don’t do any type of drugs and I don’t condone them but I do not judge. But I see what it is Philadelphia is trying to do because we do say “don’t do drugs” or don’t do this & don’t do that but is that really solving the problem or making people turn they head to drugs no. we can tell people “No” all we want but the real question is we don’t know what it is they are going through that’s so bad that it made them turn to drugs so if we don’t know that how are supposed to led them in a way which we would like them to go? or in a way which would be a deterrent from these overpowered drugs? Or how we supposed to be there and connect on a level where they do not feel hopeless and that the whole entire world is not against them it’s some that’s with them? because we all know from the looks of things once a person uses the drugs it’s a stimulant for the pain which when they use it goes away for a specific amount of time which makes them go back to the drug more and more because of the fact that they are tired and exhausted from the constant hurt that which they are feeling. I’m only 19 years of age so I’m just getting my feet wet when it comes to being very responsible and do things for myself but growing I done saw some things been through some things that let me know that life is not a game to play with and that it’s really hard out here and yet people go around here acting like they life can’t get no better or they get made with they don’t get what they want knowing that they got a necessity that some people would die for which is an a roof to keep you warn at night food & water that keeps alive and people around you to make sure you are kay and not left along at your darkest night. So I do agree that if we can’t stop them as soon as we ask why not suggest a place where they can go and get help from people that know how to help them in a way which they would like to be helped junior123
We are seeing this even as a local issue well having issues of dealing with this head on in places such as Pekin, and Peoria Illinois. As far reaching as this is careful measures must be set in place as this has a tremendous effect on local communities, governments, as well as many other factors that are a part of everyday life. I agree that its more important for people to get help how are dealing with this kind of an issue but I also believe that people just getting these shot treatments shouldn't be the only thing given at these programs due to the fact they will need a support system in addition in order to ensure their own survival. eagle789
In Peoria alone we have been seeing the rise in opioids and heroin etc. overdose deaths. I don’t do any type of drugs and I don’t condone them but I do not judge. But I see what it is Philadelphia is trying to do because we do say “don’t do drugs” or don’t do this & don’t do that but is that really solving the problem or making people turn they head to drugs no. we can tell people “No” all we want but the real question is we don’t know what it is they are going through that’s so bad that it made them turn to drugs so if we don’t know that how are supposed to led them in a way which we would like them to go? or in a way which would be a deterrent from these overpowered drugs? Or how we supposed to be there and connect on a level where they do not feel hopeless and that the whole entire world is not against them it’s some that’s with them? because we all know from the looks of things once a person uses the drugs it’s a stimulant for the pain which when they use it goes away for a specific amount of time which makes them go back to the drug more and more because of the fact that they are tired and exhausted from the constant hurt that which they are feeling. I’m only 19 years of age so I’m just getting my feet wet when it comes to being very responsible and do things for myself but growing I done saw some things been through some things that let me know that life is not a game to play with and that it’s really hard out here and yet people go around here acting like they life can’t get no better or they get made with they don’t get what they want knowing that they got a necessity that some people would die for which is an a roof to keep you warn at night food & water that keeps alive and people around you to make sure you are kay and not left along at your darkest night. So I do agree that if we can’t stop them as soon as we ask why not suggest a place where they can go and get help from people that know how to help them in a way which they would like to be helped. 456
After reading this article and watching the videos, it was interesting that Philadelphia is going to try what other country did so-called "safe injection sites." It sounds good, but we cannot say if it is going to work properly or not, not the same as the other country who are already using it. Drugs are one of the significant problems of the United States and the reason for high recidivism, not just here but all over the world. Since the war on drugs and strict laws, we put more people in jail and prison than those who committed heinous crimes. But what happens to those who got imprisoned once they got out? They go back to doing what they are doing before, for the reason that they have not been given help correctly and rehabilitated when they are behind bars. I think that these sites they are putting in Philadelphia are unique and a new approach to help those who have addictions. In my own opinion, I believe that this sites idea might bring good and bad views due to its way of helping others to save lives. By giving the place, needles, drugs, and assistance for those addicted are what other country did and saw the difference between the person and community. So, I think by giving it a chance to see how it would work in Philadelphia and the impact that it will bring to the people and community must have a limitation because a different country has different people and different ways on how they follow the rules. It is better to take chances for once than go along with the administration to pursue the maximum sentences available for drug offenses. Which will make the prison population high and cause the taxpayers more money to keep them behind bars. -Chopper123
I can strongly relate to when this sentence was said- “Extraordinary times require novel thinking,” Philadelphia’s health commissioner, Dr. Thomas Farley, told NBC News." In my opinion, I believe this couldn't be more true because we have tried so many different things and nothing has worked very well thus far, and our problem is only getting worse. Philadelphia is one of many places struggling against the battle of overdoses and drug use. It can be seen right here in our hometown of Peoria, Il too. There have been a rising number of overdoses and drug users in the recent years. Something that needs to be answered quick about whether or not this idea of Philadelphia’s will work is whether or not this will encourage the use of drugs/increase the statistics we wish to bring down, or if it will truly decrease the rising number of overdoses and help provide safe habits for drug users. On one hand, I can see how having safe places for addicts who truly wish to quit to shoot up/use would have a positive effect. It would help provide medical attention to them, help encourage them with the support of the medical staff, and allow them somewhere safe off the streets to do what their body feels the absolute need to do. Some people do make stupid mistakes in their lives and try something once, but with something like trying heroin/strong opioids once, it can be a life-ending decision. On the other hand, I can see how this idea would encourage the use of opioids because it’s like the city is saying,”Here ya go guys! Here’s a safe place to shoot up, free medical attention, no worry of overdosing, and free needles!” I could see how this could potentially end up increasing the number of drug users because they feel like it’s becoming something like that of marijuana across the USA- acceptable and in the process of becoming legal- which it isn’t. From my personal family experiences, I can say that if a safe haven had been around Peoria, like what that of what Philadelphia is wanting to establish, when my uncle was still alive, he may still be alive to this day. For this reason, I can honestly say I believe this attempt at helping prevent overdoses/providing a safe atmosphere for drug users is worth a shot. It may be a one in a million shot, but at this point, with all the lives that have been lost/continue to be lost, it’s worth it to me. Hoagie123.
I agree with you that these facilities are a toss up in the air on whether they would work or not. I also agree they may save some lives. What I would like to state though is that it wouldn't just be free needles that these facilities would have to give to any addicts that want to come to these facilities. We all know that addicts have to get high numerous times a day. We also know that these addicts would have to have a place to safely sleep while they are passed out on these drugs. So we would have to have facilities big enough to house these addicts, because you wouldn't allow them to come get high sleep then force them to leave, they would just go get another high else where! With that being said you would think that these addicts would be staying in these facilities getting high, eating, bathing, and sleeping. My concern with that would be would we be encouraging addicts to stay addicts or homeless people who aren't addicts, to become addicts? The reason I ponder this is because people that already have housing typically won't be like "Hey i'm ready to inject this fire into my arm, let me jump on a bus, or walk however far to these facilities, so I can shoot this fire up!" Most people who have their own places will continue to do these drugs in their own places. The people that would want to go to these facilities I feel would be mainly homeless addicts. If these places are supplying everything a person needs to get high why not go to them if your on the streets, especially in the winter time, because they are also supplying everything a person would need to live, and they are staying warm, being fed, and have a bed for free, to go along with their drugs. The moral should be trying to get these people off drugs so they can function in every day life, not give them a place to go where we as tax payers would have to pay for them to live for free so they can get high every day, instead of overcoming this sickness they have and contributing to the society they live in! I do not agree that these facilities would work! I think what would be best would be sticking these addicts in rehabs instead of jail and prisons, and then once they are clean give them a person kind of like a probation officer, to make them do weekly drops, and if they fail to drop without approval, then they will go straight back to the rehabs. Start getting these addicts accounted for, and start getting them the real help they need, and sticking a needle in their arm for them I do not believe is the real help they need! -MyChildrensKeeper123!
Opioids are one of the leading causes of death due to the transmission of HIV as well as overdose. This problem is getting more pronounced every year. Some cities and states are recommending “Safe Injection Sites “looking for possible ways to not only save lives but to also take the drugs off the streets. The thought is these sites would be equipped with clean needles, medical staff, and Naloxone an overdose reversing drug there would be more addicts using there instead of on the streets and fewer deaths. If these sites become a reality as some have in other countries the addicts using, there are also safe from arrest. This is a very controversial issue facing not only cities and states but also for law enforcement. One of the problems that I am having with this option is the fact that we try to teach our children that drugs are unsafe and can become addictive and can even cause death. Drug use causes all sorts of issues not only for individuals but also for families. Drug use causes loss of jobs, dropouts from school, crime and worse yet death. Children of addicts are typically placed in foster care as their parents are unsafe and unable to care for them. Safe injection sites in my opinion are only encouraging addicts to continue using but now they are safe from arrest and being forced into rehab to try and get clean. These sites are also going to be costly which is going to cause economical issues for city, state and counties. Who is going to foot the bill for this? I am sure it would be the taxpayers. Addicts chose this lifestyle maybe through no fault of their own. But they all had a choice. Seems so unfair to me that families fighting cancer or the elderly needing help cannot get it through their cities, states and government due to cost and cuts in funding. But we are willing or thinking about sites like these to help addicts to continue to use drugs. Something is very wrong with this system. --Softball123
I completely understand the "double-edged sword" effect the idea of safe injection sites has on you, because I feel the same way. Not only would we have to pay for it as tax payers, but we would have to explain to our children why those people going in and out of that building aren't getting arrested or being punished for their decision to shoot up. Who's to say we, as taxpayers, even care enough about these people who have made these decisions in their life times to put forth the finances needed to provide them with a "safe place to shoot up." Some of them likely have no intention of ever even changing their ways. On the other hand, however, there can be many lives that could be saved from overdose prevention and diseases from sharing needles. I know from personal experience the effect that heroin can have on someone’s mental state and how badly they always feel the need to want to get their next high. If the participants of the safe-havens truly are trying to change- and by this I mean taking advantage of the medical staff and the support they provide, always using clean needles and ensuring to look after others who may not know about the safe-haven, and who truly have the desire to change and get better. It truly is a very difficult decision.
I completely understand the "double-edged sword" effect the idea of safe injection sites has on you, because I feel the same way. Not only would we have to pay for it as tax payers, but we would have to explain to our children why those people going in and out of that building aren't getting arrested or being punished for their decision to shoot up. Who's to say we, as taxpayers, even care enough about these people who have made these decisions in their life times to put forth the finances needed to provide them with a "safe place to shoot up." Some of them likely have no intention of ever even changing their ways. On the other hand, however, there can be many lives that could be saved from overdose prevention and diseases from sharing needles. I know from personal experience the effect that heroin can have on someone’s mental state and how badly they always feel the need to want to get their next high. If the participants of the safe-havens truly are trying to change- and by this I mean taking advantage of the medical staff and the support they provide, always using clean needles and ensuring to look after others who may not know about the safe-haven, and who truly have the desire to change and get better. It truly is a very difficult decision. Hoagie123
The idea that this article is trying to toss at us is that the introduction of safe injection sites would help to lower the number of drug overdose deaths. While I do believe that these safe injection sites will definitely help to lower the number of overdose deaths, we have to question ourselves as to whether or not we are just advocating drug use and making it seem like it is okay. When we look at what the big picture is here with the purpose of these safe injection sites being to save the lives of those who overdose on their drug of choice, it is easy to say that yes they are an excellent idea. These safe injection sites will offer immediate medical attention to those who need it and it will save their lives, which is the goal. However, we also can get the idea in our minds that we starting to become okay with drug use and that we could just be encouraging it in my opinion by having these safe injection sites. I believe that the better alternative to trying to reduce the opioid epidemic would be to set up something more aimed towards rehabilitation for these people that feel they have to depend on that drug they use to get through life. These sites I feel would not aim at trying to ultimately help these people get treatment that they need. By treatment, I am referring rehabilitative treatment, not necessarily medical treatment although it is still important to have the medical treatment there. In the video that was shown in this article, a lady state that these safe injection sites are not a good idea because they will bring more and more addicts to the area. I can understand why she would think bringing more users into the area would be bad because if that happens then suddenly the city begins to have a bad reputation. That city would be known as the city that is filled with drug users and drug use, which would cause many people to feel that it would not be a good place necessarily to either raise or start family due to the amount of drug activity and use in the area. Gymlife456
I personally feel like no state should have safe injection sites. I feel like having safe injection site Is allowing people to do illegal drugs. They shouldn’t even want people to do Opioids they aren’t even good for people. I feel like they should be doing more things to have people stop using drugs instead of having more people do drugs. Now since they have a safe injection site more people are going to do drugs simply because they are allowing it. Opioids is a serious drug and its spreading to many states and many people are dying from this drug. I feel like people should be trying to get it off the streets instead of supporting it. I like their idea that they want safe injection sites simply because they will prevent overdose, but I feel like this is the wrong drug to do this for. I think they should do it for something like weed. I don’t feel like having a safe injection site will prevent addiction they still will be addicted they probably just won’t overdose as much. I feel like people should not be able to openly shoot heroin or anything down that line. Like heroin is a serious drug people lives change drastically when they get hock on that drug. I feel like those prevention sites don’t care about the negative affect those drugs have on those people long term wise. I think instead of letting them shoot up they should be helping them not shoot up they should be trying to help them do better in life instead of letting people just throw their lives down the drain. I think it’s a real bad idea I think this sites will make more people try these drugs since they can do it in a safe site. I think if they will let people shoot up heroin they might as well legalize weed flat out since they are letting people shoot up heroin and heroin is way worse than weed will ever be. -Jolly Ranchers
I agree with you 100% about the safe injections sites just allowing people to do the illegal drugs, and that no state should have them! and yes because of them having these safe injections sites, it is just going to push people into doing them and them giving them the okay to do so. It wouldn't help anyone. There are so many reasons to not open one of these sites, they are looking at it the wrong way and aren't taking into affect how wrong it really is to give them the okay to inject something so bad for someone into themselves. They look at weed like it's such a bad drug but honestly opiods are way worse and they are just going to let people do it in a "safe" place, how is that safe at all! I just agree with everything you said in this! Motocross123
I disagree with your statements. The idea of safe injection sites isn't meant to be a permanent solution to the opiate crisis, it's only meant to be a solution to the viral byproducts of widespread opiate abuse and the overdoses which inevitably ensue due to usage. Providing a place where users can safely abuse using sterile products and having access to Narcan in the case of an overdose reduces fatalities and the spread and evolution of HIV and other viral and bacterial pathogens. I also strongly disagree with your statement that opiates are bad for people. Opiates are regulated medications which have comforted and will continue to comfort many thousands of people with leukemia having blast crises, end-stage pancreatic cancer, Lesch-Nyhan syndrome, and countless other terminal illnesses. Opiates are a valuable tool and without them people who have or will have these conditions would experience an agonizing and painful death beyond measure. Opiates have only become a problem once they started to become widely abused by the general population. Much like nuclear fission, for example. A nuclear reactor is a valuable tool that can provide power to many millions of people and can even save the lives of people. However, if militarized, this tool becomes a devastating weapon which can kill many millions. The tool isn't the problem, it's the accessibility and the hands of whom it ends up in. -Gwynbleidd123
I understand what you are saying, but I have to disagree with your statement. The idea of safe injection site was not allowing people/user to do illegal drugs. It will be medically supervised locations where users can inject legal drugs without fear of arrest. It was the way what other countries did, and they have a good result because as of right now they are still running and helping others. It was not a place where they encourage the user to shoot drugs and prevent overdose. It’s a place where they assist those who seek to change. Example of this is the person from Vancouver, British Columbia, he was addicted before and not four and a year sober/clean, happily married with two kids and a full-time job. It will be the first in the United States, and we cannot tell right away if it has a good impact on the community or it will be the same till we see how it works. We cannot stop people from using illegal drugs even when we put them behind bars. Without help while their incarcerated, they will just go back to what they are doing before. Taking chances is something we need to make than doing the same thing and get the same result.-Chopper456
The opioid epidemic is something that is in the headlines of our news almost daily. This issue is getting worse by the day. This is an issue that faces many people and there needs to be a way of fighting this issue head on. Before addicts were considered criminals breaking the law by using and holding drugs. Addicts were then charged held in jails or prisons and forced to undergo rehabilitation. However, to many addicts fell through the cracks and ended up going right back to their ways once they were released. Some states are wanting to try a new approach. Safe injection sites are a proposal of some of these states and has been used in other countries as well. These sites allow addicts to come where they are given new needles to shoot up their drug of choice, have medical assistance available as well as Naloxone an overdose reversing drug in case of them overdosing while there. This is a controversial issue, but the thought is this would reduce the number of deaths on the street as well as the spread of HIV. These people using the drug injection sites would also be free from arrest. Overtime most authorities have understood that those using drugs may not be able on their own to quit using making it a health issue. After viewing the information some of those using these sites have came to the realization they with help can get clean, find jobs and become healthy and happy with families of their own. Now granted there is costs involved for staffing and for the meds used but if these options could safe lives it is worth the cost. Most addicts feel helpless and feel as if they are worthless. Sites like these can show there is hope and people do care about them. this might be all they need to kick the habit. Who knows the reasons some start doing drugs it could be for recreation but most because of a health issue where they were prescribed pain meds to help with the healing process. When the pain subsided, they were fine but when the pain came back they were taking it again. Causing a never-ending cycle and addiction. Will we ever find the answer probably not but rather then punishing we are trying to find cures and answers. --Softball456
After reading the article about overdoses in Philadelphia I think that trying to come up with a prevention idea isn’t the safe bet to go. I personally think that they should try and stop the addiction before the overdose problem grows but, after reading it I do agree with them that whatever they got to do to stop people from dying then it must be a good thing.I know for a fact I do not feel like you can just send people to jail because people that go for jail just end up getting out and can’t hardly do anything because of what is on there back. For example it’s hard for them to find a job, it’s hard for them to get a loan out. So overall they just go back to using the drugs that put them in jail for the first place. All for what? Another solution is rehab but, rehab doesn’t always cure a person. Rehab can help someone as long as they wanna help themselves. The real question to ask is safe injection sites are going to work properly or not. The injection sites may be making Philadelphia use a different approach in a unique way. The impact may affect the community well or it might affect it poorly but it is worth a try. Taking chances is all you can do. Smile456
I agree with how you said that you can't just send them to prison or jail for using, they clearly need help and prison or jail wouldn't do that for them. But I honestly don't think that they would get the right help from this either. Like you said rehab, prison, or anything for that matter would help these people if they don't want them help. You can't force anyone to do anything, that have to want to do it and chose to do it for themselves.Motocross123
I agree with you on the prison and jail part but if they go to jail or prison then they will get worse. They will still do it when they get out of prison or jail. People that use drugs are scared to get help but they need it. That Is why police officers should talk to them and help them. --Softball123
I do agree about what you said that we could not just send people to jail or prison because if we just put them behind bars and not treat them about their addiction, by the time they got out, they will just go back on what they are doing before. It is also true that rehabilitation doesn’t always help or cure a person unless that person decided to help themselves. We cannot tell if this Safe Injection Site will work properly or not till we give it a try. It might affect the community well, or it might change it poorly, but we cannot tell till we try. As of right now we can take chances on new experiment rather than doing the same thing and see no changes at all. -Chopper123
This was an interesting article about a overdose prevention strategy. Philadelphia is trying to open a safe injection sites for opioids users. I honestly don't know how I feel about it, I understand why they are trying to push for it because of the rates of overdoses are higher then homicides alone but would it really help stop the overdoses or the uses of heroin or opioids I really don't think so. And honestly I think it would just make people think that it is okay to do these drugs. Do I think they need to send these people to jail or prison for using drugs no definitely not, they need help but in my opinion this wouldn't help them. They need rehab. There is drug overdoses everywhere even in our area, and the rates of them is just ridiculous. People are going to do them no matter what we do to try and stop them or prevent it. It was stated in the article that they would hope that the federal government wouldn't interfere with the local government trying to save lives, how is that helping them save lives, they are just giving them an okay to do it in a "safe" environment, and the federal government should have a say and an opinoin on it. The people that are using aren't criminals by any means, they have a problem which jail or prison time wouldn't help but rehab would. If I would be able to have a say in this, I would not give them the support for it. Motocross123
Safe injection sites have been used in Europe, Canada, and Australia and now being introduced to the United States. The opioid epidemic continues to rise across the country and something that we cannot just ignore and say, “That’s not my problem” anymore because we can see how it affects other people and our communities. There are good and bad things that I know this so-called “safe injection sites” that they are going to try and experiment in Philadelphia will bring to community and people. For some people they will not agree about how the procedures work because the experiment way is to give those addicted and user a place to shoot up and use, providing them needles and drugs and medical assistance free of charge in case they overdose. As of right now a lot of us see this experiment as a ridiculous idea to help those users to get better because we think that we are encouraging them to use more than to stop them. The example of this safe injection site is the one in Vancouver, British Columbia that opened in 2003 known as InSite. They reported that 700 users come in to shoot up drugs install using clean needles, and with more than 4000 people that overdose, no one died. One person who comes to the site and given help, assistance and decided to change is now four and a half years sober/clean. Happily married with two kids and a full-time job. The InSite was a place to help, as a rehabilitation center. The one that they are opening in Philadelphia was model from the Insite facility. We cannot tell right away how it would work to the people and community till it starts running. Its hard to judge when we know that it was the first in the nation. If we look at the result of the safe injection site from other country and the way it saves people lives from overdosing and death, it would be remarkable, and it will also clean the street of used needles that can result to HIV infection. We cannot reduce the city’s fatal overdose rate of 46.8 deaths per 100,000 residents by urging prosecutors to pursue the maximum sentences available for drug offenses and showing signs of a stricter overall approach to drug criminalization. Like Philadelphia’s health commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley told NBC News, “Extraordinary times require novel thinking.” Sometimes we have to take chances to lower and prevent death rate to increase and especially to help others in need. -Chopper456
From a purely medical standpoint, the recent surge in opiate usage and overdoses poses an ever growing threat to humanity, but not in the way that the general population may believe. In my experience, opiate users are much more ambitious than users of other drugs. They will often commit more property crimes in order to further their habit or, in the case of some women, will prostitute themselves in exchange for a fix. These are problems which need to be addressed on a greater scale than they currently are, however, they aren't the largest threat posed to the general population. The primary pathway of usage for opiates is through intravenous means. After a while, though, the user's veins will collapse and once they have no easy IV access, they generally switch to injecting the opiate through intramuscular means. Regardless of whether they choose IV or IM, both pathways require inserting a needle into the body. It's very common for opiate users to often share needles or re-use a needle until they lose it or it breaks. As you can imagine, using a needle that has just been inside of four or five other people isn't the safest idea and as a result, HIV rates are much more rampant among opiate users than among the general population. The human immunodeficiency virus is just that, a virus. Viruses are notoriously prone to rapid evolution and when you introduce a factor like this it only acts as fuel to the fire. This idea of a safe injection environment endorsed by the city of Philadelphia isn't a permanent solution to the worsening opiate crisis, but it is a step in the right direction. It offers a probable solution to the spread of HIV and other bloodborne pathogens as well as a chance to educate the opiate user about the risks and detrimental aspects of opiate usage as well as options to rehabilitate the user. Another aspect that this program could help with is the inevitable problem that ensues when an opiate user does relapse. After using opiates for a long time, the user experiences less and less of the high as they use the same amount. To increase the effects, they usually titrate the dosage given to the effects felt. Once the user quits, however, the body's resistance to the effects of opiates decreases more and more the longer someone stays clean. If the person does relapse and return to the dosage they were taking prior to quitting, they inevitably overdose. Therefore, this program allows for the education of overdose risks as well as general usage risks. Luckily, in this area, fentanyl patches are much more popular than Heroin or other traditional injected opiates. A common overdose call here usually sees the user having been found wearing a belt of fentanyl patches around their abdomen or waist in order to increase the effects felt in comparison to their last usage. This poses a new threat to first responders or anyone else who discovers and attempts to help the user. Usually, when searching or treating an opiate user, there is a risk of being stuck by needles. However, in the case of patches, there is a risk of the medicated side of the patch coming into contact with the responder's skin. Again, this program is a step in the right direction, however it's not a permanent solution. -Gwynbleidd123
In my opinion, I think that giving opioid addicts a safe haven or a safe place to “shoot-up” while being supervised by medical professionals is really smart because it will bring down the overall number deaths from overdoses significantly, as it did in Vancouver. This will help to get addicts off the street and perhaps even get help. This will also help to clean up communities where dirty needles and empty, used syringes litter the streets, because the addicts will be in a safe environments and not on the streets. It’s a good idea to make these type of people know that what they’re doing is not a “drug” problem, it’s a health problem and they shouldn’t be ashamed, they should be open to accept help and seek guidance if they need it. A lot of drug addicts are ashamed and feel shunned so they don’t think to ask anyone for help, or to “bother” someone so they keep to themselves, which can lead to them overdosing while alone, leading to their death. A lot of people die regardless of prevention programs and telling people not to do drugs, so if they can come up with a way to get people to come in and help themselves then I can definitely see the good in that. -Xehanort123
I agree with you because people that use drugs are scared to get help but they need it. That Is why police officers should talk to them and help them. When I become a officer I will help people that wants help. I am glad Philadelphia is catching up to this because this is really serious. --Softball456
I think that allowing heroin addicts to do drugs openly is a very bad thing. Our society is becoming more and more okay with drug use and that we should be free to do any drug we want if it truly is a free country. While I agree that we should be able to do any drug we want, we should not be pushing for it or smiling upon it. I believe that it should be illegal and frowned upon. Over the past few years, so many artists have died from drug use, be it Xanax, lean, cocaine, whatever, and this shouldn’t be happening. We live in a culture that enables addicts and glamorizes drug use and allowing users a place to do it without penalty is a foolish idea and will lead to the further degeneration of our country. I hope this trend ends with Philadelphia. We need to stop idolizing and enabling drug users and start restoring/helping our communities reach their fullest, drugless potentials. =Xehanort456
From reading this article, I feel like this is the most hypocritical thing I’ve came across. I guess what im not understanding is how and why would this be considered legal and how these injection sites are going to “put an end” to opioid overdose across America. These drug sites are literally places where drug addicts are able to think it is okay and acceptable to be on or doing the drugs provided. Sure, the only thing from this article that i would consider a positive is the prevention of HIV infection with them providing sterile needles, but all i can think about other than this is how this whole plan to end opioid usage is a set up. I just find this whole thing extremely backwards since it seems that they are trying to put a stop to this but at the same time offering the drugs. The people that put these sites together should be more pro on getting the incoming people treatment right off the bat rather than offering and proving them help if they “really” want it. I could see this as a way for people struggling with addiction to take advantage of using without any consequences. Maybe it’d be a smarter idea to look at building more rehabilitation centers and actually getting these people some real help. Im sure others can agree that drug addiction is more of a health problem rather than a criminal problem. To me seeking to cause harm and trouble isn't necessarily an addicts motive and that's what people fail to realize. Drugs make people act out and do inappropriate things. But from reading this article i don't think my mind will ever be changed on this idea. The “safe” injection sites are nothing but legalizing drug use and i feel like if the people behind it are so compassionate about these people's lives and safety, then they should be finding a better way to pull them away from their problem, but pushing them further in. Hiwelcometochilis456
The article, as well as the videos, did a great job at tackling both sides of the opioid problem in our country. There people on both sides of this debate, who feel that their way is the best way. I for one believe that, allowing opioid users a safe haven to shoot up drugs, is not only morally wrong, but also illegal. Letting users, addicts, etc. use places to shoot up their drugs without legal ramifications sends a message to society. The message being that it is ok to use drugs, that the users themselves are the victims of their own choices. That just allows people to do keep living their lives recklessly, and hurting those around them. I believe that the opioid crisis in this country could have been prevented had there been abundantly stringent rules and guidelines in terms of how opioids were being used and prescribed. It has been clearly proven that physicians time and time again, preferred giving patients opioids for their physical ailments, rather than perusing alternative forms of pain management. America did not see the opioid epidemic coming, doctors kept pushing opioids for their patients, causing the epidemic to grow at an astounding rate. The drugs used to bring back into full consciousness do not always work, and therefore places like the one being opened up in Philadelphia could be held legally responsible for letting people overdose and die. In a way that could be viewed as reckless or negligent homicide. From a public safety standpoint, wherever this facility is located in Philadelphia, crime will go up, possibly drug related crimes. Robberies or burglaries will increase because users who are short on cash will do anything to score drugs, then take those drugs to the facility in Philadelphia, and shoot up without the fear of being arrested. In Europe and Canada safe injection sites have been proven to be successful, but the drug laws of the countries in Europe, and the nation of Canada are different than those of the United States. In America, state and federal laws can differ. States’ rights and sovereignty only can go so far, because federal does stump state law in the end. I have a strong feeling that the Federal Government will step in and shut down the facility in Philadelphia. I had a childhood friend who overdosed on heroin three years ago, the last time I remember him being happy was in grade school, why create, and facilitate a place where it is legal to keep yourself. --Acquit456.
This article is basically promoting people to do a hard drug, but having safe clean injections and so that they don't overdose on the drug. This is mind blowing to me to be honest. The opiods are cleaning these people for a reason and honestly if they want to open up a safe place for people to do drugs go right ahead I would love to see the effects of the situation. Having the streets filled with major drug addicts is wrong. I do agree that there should be safer places for these people. Having them go to rehab is one of them. America will not let this happen, they cant even let marijuana legal around the world. This could end well or really badly. In efforts of philly become the state to try and save these people so they can do the drugs safely? They shouldn't be doing the drugs at all in my opinion. You're killing your body either way I don't care if its safe or non safe. Knowing people are going to be able to get away with doing hard drugs, it's not just smoking a lil grass with your friends. Its injecting needles in your arm and ruining your body. We might as well have places where you can buy this drug and sell it out to everyone and anyone. This is very embarrassing to me that anyone would come up with an idea like this. People need to find a healthier lifestyle, knowing we live in a world where people have to put a needle in there arm over and over each day is crazy to me. Were promoting drugs that don't need to be promoted. Sooner or later we're going to have places people can shoot up heroin and do coke. If people are caught on the streets doing these ILLEGAL drugs are they going to go to jail or are we just going to send them to these clinics where they can do it legally. Its a very confusing weird topic that I don't agree with at all and they should not be promoting people to these drugs.Conrad123
I find this to me crazy as well. I believe that it's been thought of before, but it more crazy that local authorities promote the idea. I too would like to see the results from these sites. I assume it would be positive. I think you are looking at the site as more promoting drug use. I think it is doing what is best. Either way the addicts are going to get their fix. They aren't thinking, damn the safe sites are closes so I'm not going to do drugs. They are going to do them in dirty, or dangerous places. So why not give them a place to do it, but not supply it. If people are withdrawing, they can get other medicine that will treat them. I do agree with this life choice being absurd and not fair to ones self. Although these people have a problem and just need help. Hopefully these clinics can help people towards remission and save them before it's too late. ^~^ Itis456
Yes for sure hopefully these clinics help these people and they save there life. But why promote these places? This is not just a hit of grass. We should stop these people from doing drugs. Im not saying it wouldn't help these people, but these is not what we need in society. conrad123
This video is going to cause a bunch of disagreement on whether these ejection sites are a good thing. Right off the bat, I’m going to say that I am in favor of these sites. Having a safe place to shoot up is ideal, and way better than on some street. People are careless and overdose all the time. These sites make it possible to look over people and make sure they aren’t about to kill themselves! So it’s saving lives, but at the same time preventing addiction. These sites are offering treatment opportunities for willing addicts. Although, I see why people, like the senator would get mad. Some people would just be using these sites to get either a free high, or a place to enjoy it. I think it still is better than letting people get harmed by doing it out on the streets. If this is saving lives, then I don’t see a problem. Like the one story that guy had in the video. He came into the site, and overdosed. He had a nurse save him, and it inspired him to seek recovery. Not saying we want people to almost die to realize they need help, but it sometimes happens. Better a life saved, then another casualty. And as the cop said in the video, the current hard drug laws aren’t working. I agree with what the president has decided to do with hard drug laws. It’s a bold, but smart move to move people away from the drugs. Although, I think incarceration is the way to go to get people to stop taking said drug. I think it just causes them to go through withdrawal and as soon as they get out, they get hooked right back on the stuff. The studies show that the more number of drug arrest doesn’t lower the number of addicts. This is also coming from an experienced member of law that has been able to see both sides of the law. So, understand where he is speaking, or coming from. At least these sites are decreasing those numbers. Supposably, and expectaily. Saying that for technical reasoning. I would love to hear some reasons as to my someone would think this is a bad idea to do. I’m very open minded but I just don’t see the harm in these little sites. I just hope police don’t take advantage of these sites and begin profiling the people that go. ^~^ Itis123
I completely respect your opinion in saying that you see how these could save lives. I am all for saving lives also. If these could truly be the means to start a change toward less drug use then these sites should be opened. I just see a problem arising though, which mainly comes from the fact that these places can take away a person’s sense of consequences for their actions. Why would someone want to stop using drugs if they have a safe place to do so and medical attention if needed? There thinking can then be shifted from, “There very well may be consequences to my actions,” to, “What is the harm in doing this since I am in a safe haven where the law cannot touch me?” The main need for chronic drug users is rehabilitation, and instead of being rehabilitated, rather their drug use is being reinforced. This reinforcement would come from the fact that these places are being provided by the government, the same government that always states they want the best for their general welfare. Not only this, but they may go to these centers and see dozens upon dozens of other people doing the same exact things as they are doing, thus reinforcing their behavior. (Patriots123)
Safe injection sites are not a bad approach, by any means, but they are an incomplete solution to a widespread problem. The drug using population must still live under threat of arrest while these drugs are criminal to use and produce. This is a radical position, but the present situation is clearly untenable. Kicking in doors and arresting users, while viscerally satisfying to the public's desire to abolish drugs entirely, have done little to actually prevent the proliferation of such narcotics. The hard question that we are now presented with is this: are we to maintain the present course, or legalize them? Would the situation be improved if medical companies like Bayer were able to produce and distribute it legally, at medically approved standards? Would the situation be improved if the population of abusers were not forced to live in fear of arrest? Are we making the problem better or worse when we add violence into the mix?
I come down decidedly on the side of voluntary action. There are very few circumstances that are improved when lethal force is added to the equation, and employing it to stop people from ingesting substances that are harmful strikes me as nothing less than a slippery slope into totalitarianism. We have tried Prohibition before, and all that it managed to produce were gangsters, bootleggers, and Nascar. Only one of those things outlasted the end of Prohibition at any great scale, and it involves a lot less violence than the other two (on a good day). In Colorado, for instance, there has been a reduction in overall usage of marijuana since its legalization, and although it's not quite comparable to heroin, the psychology does transfer to a degree. Removing the taboo from narcotics and treating them in the same manner as alcohol and cigarettes has borne fruit in Colorado. Perhaps wider consideration ought to be given to these questions.
I most definitely agree with you in the aspect of what we have been doing with fighting drugs has not been working. As far as legalizing the drugs and opening up these safe injection facilities though, I would have to ask you where would the cost of these facilities come from? Are these facilities going to be just another thing we have to pay for as tax payers? How are these facilities going to be ran? Addicts would need to sleep and eat after they get high, so we would have to have big enough facilities to house these addicts after they get high. For how long can they stay in these facilities that we as tax payers would be paying for? Addicts typically have to get high numerous times a day, so that would interpret that most of the addicts going to these facilities would probably be the homeless ones, which means if they are able to be housed, eat free, shower free, get high, and sleep, they would never leave. So wouldn't we then just be creating a place for the homeless? The addicts that live in their own housing would either just go there and stay for free or not go to these places for help and still be overdosing. Legalizing these drugs would free up prisons and jails, but the cost would be going into these other facilities. Personally I think instead of allowing people to do drugs in a safe facility, the addicts should go straight to rehab as their punishments, and then have probation type officers that make them come in and drop weekly, if they fail to come in without an approval ahead of missed appointment, then they will be dropped back off at rehab. The only difference between a rehab and this type of facility is a rehab we are saying NO to drugs where as this we are saying it's okay to do drugs as long as you're supervised! Rehabs are already housing these people, so lets keep it that way! Get these people the help they need! -MyChildrensKeeper456
I am quite astonished with this article! As I read this article and listened to the videos that are attached to it, I am appalled by the idea that Philadelphia and Seattle are planning on opening up facilities for “safe injections”. Opioids are drugs that are taken to “relieve” pain and relax people. Opioids are typically taken in the form of a pill like your standard vicodins, oxys, morphine, and Demerol that you may be prescribed legally from your doctor. The problem is, these opioids are not always taken legally. These pills are taken in illegal ways including being injected in a form called heroin. They lead to a high percentage of deaths, and because of that these cities think these facilities will help. I honestly see a ton of things wrong with the idea of these facilities. The first problem that I have with the fact that they are planning on opening these sites, is that as everyone should be quite aware that drugs are highly illegal! By opening these facilities and allowing people to come to these facilities and use opioids “safely,” is pretty much saying these cities are giving the green light on drugs. I know people are going to argue the fact that most opioids are legal medications, and they would rather people be taking medications that help relieve pain in a safe environment rather than other hard drugs like cocaine, meth, LSD, ecstasy, or any other hard drugs or steroids. The problem with saying taking one kind of drug is okay, and not Okaying all drugs is a problem in itself. How can a community arrest people for taking these drugs illegally, but yet allow people to walk in their door and take the drugs right in front of their face? Are we going to have the same mentality with the hard drugs and just allow people to do them as long as they are in one of these facilities? Are we going to say that these drugs are still grounds for arrest if done outside of these facilities, but legal as long as they are done in these facilities? My second point about opioids, is that China is the primary source where fentanyl comes from! Fentanyl is a highly addictive narcotic added to opioids and heroine. Fentanyl is a person’s best friend when used medically for surgery as an anesthesia or as a pain killer. The problem with this narcotic is that because it can suppress pain, people become addicted to the temporary high they get from taking these narcotics, and can become highly dependent on these drugs. I have seen in numerous studies done with Placebo pills, that people will take pills -MyChildrensKeeper123 (continued in comment below)
thinking that they will help with whatever issue the person is having, when in reality the only thing that’s “helping or curing” them, is their mind! These pills are filled with sugars and non reactive ingredients, and are safe to take. My point with placebo pills is that if we were to cut the addictive products like fentanyl out by stopping its imports to America, and either find another way to make less addictive pills like Tramadol, or replace addictive pills with placebo pills, and make the population think they are getting high, then maybe we can cut back on the amount of deaths due to overdoses! I am sure everyone has tried the experiment at least once in their life where you give a friend a beverage that you claim is alcohol, and really it’s just a juice or other similar type of beverage, and they drink it and act as if they are getting waisted. In reality they are sober as sober gets, but because they think they are drinking, they start appearing and acting drunk. It is the same concept with these pills, if people were to think these pills are still laced with the ingredients to get them high, they will take them still thinking they are high, when in reality they are not, and since the pills are only sugars and other safe products, it is less likely to see overdoses. Allowing people to continue taking drugs and just telling them to make sure to come to a facility to do them, in my opinion, is not going to help. Yes, the ones that come to the facilities can be saved if they overdose, but people love the thrill of living on the dangerous side, that’s why a lot of people do drugs. So in reality most of these addicts will not go to these facilities anyway because they will either feel ashamed, like they will be judged, like they could get in trouble and possibly arrested, or like they will have people forcing help onto them, which is not what most of them want! There is a high chance that if people become accepting of the use of these opioids, that people will just move onto a harder drug that people still aren’t okay with, or they will just continue doing it illegally under the radar. My third issue is that I am concerned on exactly where the expenses of these places will be coming from. Do we as tax payers have to pay into these facilities as well? The 24/7 staff that would have to be needed; because people don’t just do drugs during business hours; and then all the medical supplies that would have to be paid for because most addicts get high multiple times a day. Also are these facilities supplying the drugs or just the needles? If they are supplying the drugs, how are they being paid for? Are we just giving addicts unlimited supplies of high, because again addicts usually get high numerous times a day, so it’s not like you can just be there while they get high once and then expect that they will be fine the rest of the day or week. They would pretty much be moving in because they need their fixes daily and numerous times a day! If the drugs are being supplied, then technically the facilities are breaking a few laws, is that really okay? -MyChildrensKeeper123
In a sense I really agree with what you have to say. Opioids are a very big problem in Philly and taking them illegally should not be tolerated. They are encouraging people to use them, when they should never be using the harmful drugs in the first place. On the other hand though, there does need to be change. When there is 907 overdose deaths in the city in 1 year, something must be done. If that means they have to give them a safe place to shoot up then so be it. They might as well give it a try and see how well it works in the city. I do agree with most of the statements you made in your comment though Icantgrowabeard456
This opioid problem has been around for a while now, and the numbers of overdoses are finally high enough to where people think it is time to step in and try to help these people who are addicted. Wanting to help these people is on the right track towards finding a solution to these drugs, but I do not think that safe injection sites are the answer. These sites give immunity to the drug users, and just promotes their drug use. Granted, these establishments provide a safe and clean environment for these people, and I am sure that feels good as a drug user to not be worried about dying, or being arrested while shooting up. These sites have good intentions but they will be taken advantage of inevitably. People need to come up with a better way, or make some changes to the plan they have already concerning these places. Opioid drugs cover a wide variety of drugs, and also comes with many different ways to take them. I blame doctors for prescribes too many powerful pain killers after surgeries or procedures, and then continuing to give these people more even after the pain has passed. Laws should be made, and enforced that will prevent medical professionals from giving out more prescriptions than is needed, and there needs to be follow up appointments with their patients to make sure they either still have the pain and need more, or are okay and are just trying to get more pills because they have become addicted. The danger of these drugs, and the new more powerful ones that are becoming easier and easier to get, such as fentanyl, are making the risk for these people higher and higher. Synthetic fentanyl is much more dangerous than heroine, and injecting a very small amount alone is enough to kill. All of these drugs keep showing up, and becoming easier to get, and that is why overdose numbers are going up. Like I said before the people opening up these safe injection sites are on the right track with wanting to help, and hopefully they can slow down the death rates among these addicts while another solution is being thought of so that we can truly help these people, and in a perfect world cure these people of their addictions. Of course there will be some people who do not want help and they are going to do the drug either way because they don’t know anything else, but there are many others who need help. Wings456
I agree with you in the fact that it may slow down the death rate in the drug community but it may also increase the overall use in the local community as well. By no means am I saying that the users should not get the safe area but I also foresee a problem of increase use stemming from the misunderstanding that it will become more acceptable or that you will have no law enforcement retaliation for use and they would start to go there to use opioids such as heroine. I think that it is generally a good idea but I also believe that we need to tread carefully if we decide to pursue this course of action. TheMarshall789
Upon reading the article about Opioids and the facilities that are opening in Philadelphia and Seattle to allow drug users to come into and take these drugs in a safe manner is a good idea in the aspect that it may possibly save a few lives. There is research out that shows that after locking these offenders up they are most likely going to return to jail or prison. It is a never ending cycle that no one quite has an answer to. Should we keep locking them up for breaking a man made law because we feel it should be illegal to get high? Or should we be doing something else to help these addicts and hope that they will eventually start cleaning up, and the drugs will start decreasing in the streets, and people will stop dyeing in high rates from overdoses? Well I think we can all mostly agree on the facts that jail/prison isn’t working, so the only thing a person can really do is try something else. These facilities will have medical staff there in case of overdoses, which will most definitely save lives. The only problem is that it is an unsure thing as far as how the facilities will work as far as how many times a day a person can come in to get high because we know addicts typically get high numerous times a day? Where they will getting the drugs from; from the facility or bring them in themselves? Are we housing these addicts because usually when people get high they need to eat and sleep? Are we going to start them on treatments while they are there? I can go on and on with unanswered questions on how they think this would work, but once these questions come with answers the fact that addicts have an option to go to a safe haven to do their drugs instead of out in public places where they are using dirty needles, running the possibilities of being raped, mugged, beaten up, or injuring themselves, is a blessing. I would hope that if these facilities do open that these addicts will take the initiative to use these facilities and overcome their addictions. Maybe there is an answer in the light of legalizing drugs? People become drug addicts and dealers because of the sense of living on the dangerous side; it tends to give them a rush. If we take away the sense of being watched, doors being kicked in, jail and prison numbers, and just let them do what they want to do, maybe there is a chance that dealers won’t have the adrenaline rush from selling anymore, and will stop selling which would then also stop addicts from having drugs to buy? Or would legalize these drugs just open the flood waters for the site of profit, and have companies distributing drugs to people anyway? Instead of Marlboro cigarettes, we may have companies called Highlife that would be selling Heroine. Which in a way could stop the increase in jails and prisons of drug dealers? If the drugs are legal, and being sold by legal companies for cheaper prices or equivalent that you can get on the streets, then there would be no use for drug dealers because they won’t be able to make profits anymore. So the decrease in housing so many drug dealers and addicts in prison may go down; which would start saving us money; but that also runs a risk that the population of drug users may go up, yes we would then have these safe havens to use; which would be where our money went that got freed up from all the people in prison; but in all honestly that just may lead to the death of even more people due to overdoses. So the big question is, will this help or hurt our society? -MyChildrensKeeper456
In a sense, I agree with some of your opinions. I do believe that drug use has absolutely plagued of country. I do see where these safe houses could be a means of cutting down on the use of dirty needles, and at least clean up the environment behind drug use a little. The issue that lies behind all of this is that any use of these kind of drugs are not going to be safe. We aren’t talking about a drug like marijuana, that does not have practically any harsh affects associated with it. The drugs that are being spoken about in these safe houses are drugs such as heroin and fentanyl. The consequences behind these drugs are often times horribly deadly. To open up a public place and say that it is okay to do it in this area puts not only medical personnel working there at risk, but also the users themselves. With the lack of consequences that could be behind their actions, what would drive them to stop? They are receiving medical assistance while still being able to administer this drug, it is essentially the best of both worlds for a chronic drug user who has no will to stop what they are doing. (Patriots123)
In ways this could help people and we could save much of people's lives. We know if we can keep these people of the treats and get them to these “safe clinics” we can maybe show them safer ways to do the drug and maybe get off of the drug. We are entertained on this topic because people have no idea what it can do to your body or how are these drugs affected. It can affect your body obviously because people overdose all the time on this drug. I agree that if there going to do the drug they need to do it the safe way and not affect their body. I don't disagree trying to encourage people do stay alive. We are promoting this for a good cause. Having doctors or people knowing what they are doing with the needles is a way safer way for homeless people living on the streets. But encouraging this is not a healthy way we should have these people going to rehab instead of going to a place where they can do the drug the safe way? Conrad 456.
The loss of life to drugs in the United States is very high and only seem to be getting higher as the world progress forward. Drugs are often used to “free” as person from daily or ongoing stress that the person may believe is overwhelming and unconquerable. As a conservative thinker, I do not agree with the use of drug and believe that they can, generally, only destroy or worsen lives of US citizen. I do not agree with the use, however, after reading this articles, I believe that this would be a great idea. The use of drugs is not something the US as a whole has been able to stop and I believe that if this site given users the ability to drugs and remove the possibility to harm other citizens and further harm themselves, then it should be given a chance in the US. This would also be a great thing for studies as we could gather a large amount of information about drug use and the affects, as well as information of the effects of drugs on a person. This safe place for the users really agrees with me on a personal note because it may remove some possible harm to other people. However, I also see that this may cause some problems for the city because it may give people the idea that they may partake of opioids without the negative effects of police containment and may further lead to a bigger problem within the city itself. Should this be the case, we will have a safer area to do drugs like opioids but also I foresee an increase of users in the locals area as well. In my own opinion, that would be the bigger of two evils and it will affect us if we do and if we do not. Either way, it will affect us in some way. –TheMarshall789
When I first ventured into reading this article, I had no idea what a safe-injection site was. To me, the name “safe-injection site” itself is pretty ironic. I say this mainly because there is no way to completely make extreme drug use safe. Even though there may be doctors on site, that in no way makes the use of these drugs any safer. The upside of these sights would be, yes, there is immediate medical personnel there in the case that someone overdoses and needs immediate assistance. Don’t get me wrong, I, of course, value each and every person’s life. If this could potentially save lives of those caught in the midst of drug addiction, then it could be a viable option. Although it could help some, I have to say I stand in opposition to the idea of having these in our country. The first major issue it would present would be the fact that it brings the use of these drugs more out in the open. Instead of people being ashamed of their choices and potentially seeking help because of it, they may see the safe houses as places that are beginning to normalize the use of these toxic drugs. With drug use being out in the open, chronic users may see this as more of a reason to continue using. Rather than getting help to stop, they may go to these safe places to get help with reversing the effects of these drugs. This promotes an idea that drug use should be accepted as normal, rather than something that should not be happening. It promotes use and then medical treatment as opposed to rehabilitation. On top of the personal issues, we then get into issues that would fall onto law enforcement individuals. How would these kinds of centers be enforced in the eyes of the law? The activities that would be occurring here would be completely illegal. How then would officers go about doing their jobs in getting these deadly drugs off of the streets when they are being promoted at these centers? In a sense these centers would provide an immunity from the normal action taken against them when they are found doing drugs anywhere else. In reality, these centers are saying, “Look it’s okay for you to do these drugs here, but not anywhere else.” But in this case, how do the police explain and distinguish between the two? (Patriots123)
After reading the article and watching the video I am honestly at a standstill on the opinion. I can honestly see how it would be helpful and how it could also be very harmful to people. Overall Philadelphia has a terrible opioid problem on their hands. I thought it was incredible that the number of overdoses doubled from the previous year. It was already at 459 and last year it spiked to 907 people. That is a crazy amount of people dying from this addiction. I do not really know how I feel about the safe places for opioid users. On one side I can actually see how it could be beneficial. People are using these drugs in very dangerous environments and using very bad needles on the streets when they use opioids. This clinic, as it stated in the article, would provide users with a safe place to use the drug with clean needles so they do not have to worry about diseases or other issues they may have while using on the street. Also if someone is addicted to these opioids, they are going to use them anyways, whether that is in a safe environment or not. They might as well have a safe place to do it and might receive help and treatment afterwards. I can also see how the places might be a bad idea as well. I can see this as some kind of promotion for people using opioids, when it is not. It is telling people that it is okay to use the drug and to come here and use it. They will not be arrested for doing it. I can see the conflict in that and how it could get out of hand. There might be better ways then just allowing the person to shoot up in a safe environment. I personally would like Philadelphia to give it a try however and use the clinics. 907 deaths from overdosing is a huge number and something has to be done to stop it. They might as well give it a try and see if it works for the addicts and if they get treatment with it afterwards. If it fails then they can just take it away, but they wont know unless they try it. No matter what the city decides, they had better choose quick before the overdose deaths keep going up in Philly Icantgrowabeard456
This article stated that, User for drugs such as opids and heroin can inject themselves without fear of being arrest, In October of 2017 I lost my step mom and my little sisters one is 4 one is 6 lost their mom due to heroin overdose with having places like this could make a difference as this could have saved her life and prevented this. Many families have impacts such as these losing friends, siblings, and parents so having a prevention of lost of life is critical for these people because to often they fail to seek help for fear of the conquences of seeking help. Even having the police commissioner for Philadelphia on board as they realize that this issue is far outreaching even in mindset of just law enforcement alone, this issue is so critical he stated that he went from a opposed point of view into having an open mind regarding having these sites available for people who may have overdosed as he understand the importance this has as many people have lost their lives due to the epidemic that we have folding on hand. Even more of a harsh reality that even from birth 25% are drug dependent babies.Desibite pushback that may come from federal authorities there must be a stand to ensure that these individuals have access to treatment programs if not this could mean death. This issue comes from addictions that are in many painkillers as well as many other medications that are issued to individuals and at such an early age as well we are creating a culture thats dependent for these issues as well as other issues all this needs to be charge through the idea of reform. Another fact is many of these doctors were paid based on the number of predictions that were written to patients. 300,000 illegal ones have been written that had links to opioid overdose. eagle789
I agree. When I saw the commissioner say that at first he thought it would be a terrible idea, i didn’t think he was too crazy for thinking that. I mean letting people do drugs in a certain area is a huge risk. But then the more i thought about it, the more i realized that this could really help people. As long as it saves people from overdosing or getting diseases from dirty needles, then it’s doing the job it was intended to do. Who knows, it could maybe even make people quit the habit. I think it was great you pointed out that there were illegal prescriptions written that could have possibly caused deaths. - ST789
I think this is a really cool approach to drug problems with opioids. The article explains that Philadelphia is making safe injection sites were the user does not have to fear arrest while being there. This idea seems to be really cool. I feel like this could save many people by doing this and maybe even let some people get off of the drugs. I’m not exactly sure how well this would work out with rules and regulations since heroin is such a criminalized drug. One thing in this article that blew me away was that it says there was 1,200 deaths related to opiods. This number was nearly four times the amount of homicide related deaths. But like i mentioned earlier, I don’t understand how this is going to get past with the liability and federal laws. It would be a huge liability to just let people of the city do very illegal drugs. Granted it would allow them to do this and possibly get themselves off of these drugs, but there is still a huge risk involved in doing something like this. When I watched the video attached to this they talked about how the war on drugs kind of failed. After people realized this, that is when they started to come up with better ideas and ways to start to fix the problem. When they started doing this, the video mentioned that they started to look at it as a health problem rather than a crime problem. I think this is a really good thing to change the outlook on this stuff because obviously throwing them in prisons is not working. They go into prisons. Serve time, and then as soon as they get out they use again and go back. It’s just a revolving door if we do not do something about it. - ST789
I can definitely see the benefits as to why this would be a good idea but their is also so many factors that go into a situation like this. Such as how would even them a space to do drugs help them get off of drugs? To me that is just encouraging them to do the drugs not stop them. Also a big thing that I pointed out was even when they use these injection sites how long are you going to keep them their because you can be end for hours on end. I would hope they do not just send them out into the public because that would be ever unsafe for the public. I was very back and forth on this article but I do see some benefits as to why it could possible be a good idea. Hollywood789
Yes I agree to a certain extent. I feel like going to these sites were they don’t have to worry about being arrested is good for them, but at the end of the day its not reducing addiction. I can view how it may potentially reduce the overdose of drugs because now they can get it at the inSite place without any worries. I am totally fine with it, but people should be more eye opened to taking care of themselves so they don’t pass out. Being safe is the number one thumb rule to remember at the end of the day, but totally agree overall. - LILPUMP789
The opioid epidemic is spreading and it is spreading quickly. Even here in my hometown of Peoria. This was never this bad of a problem. Yes, you would get the people that were looking for a way to get high, so they started to shoot up heroin. That’s where people run into the problem of overdosing. No one knows about what is put or what is mixed with the heroin that people buy off the streets. Especially now with the makers of the heroin putting fentanyl into the mix which is extremely deadly. Here in our hometown, we hear about the overdosing and the deaths that come from overdosing. It has gotten so bad, that the officers on the street have to carry Narcan kits with them. Majority of the people that overdose, are the ones that just can’t kick that addiction. Some of these people even after facing death because of heroin, still go back and keep doing it over and over again. I have mixed feelings you could say about the safe injections sights. I do think that having medical staff there is better because if someone overdoses, they are there to help them. I am also against this because regardless of it being safe, it is still illegal according to the law. I know it’s an addiction that the person has but they do have that option of going and getting help. It is just hard for them because of the withdraws they suffer. I think if they do go to one of the safe injection sites, they should have to sing up for rehabilitation programs. People have to think about the decisions that they make and how they can impact you. Especially with drugs. People would do so much to get that little bit of drugs to get them that high that they need. In Peoria, we are averaging at least one overdose a day. They say that they are only going to do a little bit, but they don’t realize how much damage a little bit can do to a single person. The war that we did lose for sure was the war on drugs. There was so much done to try and keep the drugs out of the United States but they all managed to make it in. I believe if someone is arrested for heroin or any hard drug like that, the arrestee should have to go through a rehabilitation program. -Chewbacc789
I agree with you when you say that the main problem people run into is that they are looking for anything that will get them high. The only way for these people to get these drugs is by purchasing them off of the street. This means that the dealer could have laced the drug with something that can easily kill you and aid in the process of overdosing. Not only that, but the dealer may get the drugs from someone else. This means that even the dealer does not know exactly what they are selling, as the person they bought it from may have laced it with something and the dealer is selling these drugs without even knowing this. -Fozz789
It has become a common thing to read in the paper about someone overdosing on drugs, and the number of people dying each year over this cause is only increasing as life goes on. General someone got hooked onto the drug based on situations that happened in their life. I will never think that using a drug is a good idea to suppress those things that are happening in your life. When I started first reading this article I kind of laughed to myself because I thought why on earth would this be a good idea. But by reading I could see the benefits of safe-injection sites, but there is also a load of problems that could come with it also. So I am very back and forth on this idea. By giving the right to inject opioids at a safe site without police involvement is a concern because you are basically saying it's okay to use drugs. Which in reality we all know is wrong. Also even though we give a safe-injection site for users, that wouldn't stop most from taking some home and doing it there which in that case would be illegal. Another point is that when they inject these drugs at the site when its time to leave they could still be very high causing safety issues for the public or even them getting in trouble by police for being under influence in a public place. Another big question I ask is why are we encouraging it when we are trying to stop the influence on drugs on people. Now on the other hand I can see a couple benefits for the use of the site such as the users could be monitored by scientists which intern could create even more research and data about drugs. It also could help the epidemic of overdosing that is current in our country because they are being carefully watched. In my eyes the cons outweigh the pros for the safe injection site. But their might be some hidden benefits to why this would be a good idea. Hollywood789
I know what you mean about going back and forth about this topic. Like it’s a good thing that they have these sights to prevent someone dying from an overdose but it still doesn’t change the fact that drugs are illegal. I don’t believe that something happening in some one’s life is an excuse to turn over to drugs. Yes, bad things happen to everyone but people don’t go to drugs to try and get them out of their funk. This drug destroys lives and separate families. Majority if the drug addicts are known to be homeless or have very little income. Then when they have that little bit of money, they go and try to score some more dope off the streets. It just isn’t worth it at all in my eyes. -Chewbacca789
This article talked about a very interesting idea being used in Philadelphia. The state has recently opened up facilities known as safe injection sites. These safe injection sites allow drug users that use the drugs such as heroin to inject and use these drugs with medical attention being feet away from them. Also, no fear of being arrested is present at these places. No one who injects drugs here will be arrested, as these places are meant to provide medical assistance, not allow and promote drug use. Last year, it was estimated that there were twelve hundred deaths in Philadelphia. Of these twelve hundred, eighty five percent of the deaths were opioid related drug overdose deaths. I think that this is a very smart move. I say this because although it may seem that these types of places are just promoting opioid use, I view it as the complete opposite. Safe injection sites were created to not only provide extremely quick medical attention to people, but to also show how the problem has gotten so bad that medical attention needs to be placed on the streets due to the amount of abuse that is associated with opioid use. At these sites, there are special drugs present that can reverse the effects of an overdose and save hundreds of lives. I like the idea of having a place where one can inject heroin and not having the worry of whether or not they will be alive within the next two hours. Medical attention is so much closer at these places compared to apartments, parks, etc. where people don't want to be seen by the police and have a much lower chance of receiving medical attention. People with the proper medical experience are working at these places to ensure that if someone does overdose on an opioid, they will be much more likely to survive. -Fozz789
Drug addictive is increasing in Philadelphia every year and is has became the major killings in the city . As I read and watched some of this videos most like Philadelphia and some cities has higher drug overdose drug deaths. Even though the city is is implementing behavioral health and intellectual disability services but this doesn’t mean is the cure of drug usage. The officials is also announcing that the city will encourage private sector development of comprehensive user engagement sites for individuals experiencing a substance disorder related to opioids. My question is is this going to end overdose death?. Philadelphia fatal overdose is the worst in the nation among large cities , and incidents of overdose has steadily increased to an alarming degree. The development by private sector entity of one or more CUES is a harm reduction strategy, and taken together with multiple other strategies will move the city forward in addressing the opioids crisis by saving lives and reducing the public disorder caused by open air drug use. Health department are using their means to use every proven tool to save lives of drug users until they recover from the grip of addiction . As it has been said it is not that easy to drug someone who is addicted to dugs directly so a sober person . This will be a miracle if it will happen. What I mean here, to create efforts to prevent addiction, help people access treatment, prevent overdoses in other ways, increase housing resources and address public safety concerns must continue and strengthen. Having comprehensive user engagement sites as part of the city continuum to treatment is just one way in which can connect Philadelphian struggling with substances use disorders to lifesaving. But the lifesaving medication is not a cure. After it has done its job, overdose survivor are left with their cravings intact. Without follow up care they are likely to keep feeding their habits,putting them at risk of another overdose, one that could kill them. GUSII 789
Just WOW! I’ve never ever read an article like these in my life. Now, personally I believe there are better options, and not do drugs that can potentially kill you is not a risk worth taking. But, I can see that limiting them from taking opioids, syringes, or more than doing them selves. This is something we should not adopt for a life long-term because its extremely unhealthy, and hopefully the only city to adapt on that kind of program. At least the people going to these safe sites are being monitored. The article mentions that more than a thousand people have overdosed on opioids. Also, I surprise to see their use of drugs in the city surpasses cities such as Chicago and New York by 40.0 more. Not to mention, in the article mentions that this new program (inSite) reduces and battles the use of overdose. I can see were they are coming from, but still using drugs to harm your body is unhealthy because any of the people taking the drug can pass out and die. I don’t know about handling addiction because they are still offering them syringes and opioids. I don’t know if this is good, but can be to a certain extent. I don’t know if this site is going to reduce the number of overdose. As I read through the comments, some of the students agree that this good way to reduce addiction. I am still on the fence, I don’t know how offering them drugs is going to stop addiction? I feel like this could go out of control if people would want to do more and more because these people in the videos seem only doing it for the drugs, which is the point, obviously. I don’t know if I agree or disagree, I just believe its dangerous. - LILPUMP789
I would have never thought that we would permit drug abusers to do drugs legally. Although it is a much safer amount, it is like being a thief who use to steal large amounts of money, to one who only steals a little. Either way, I believe it is still bad for the drug abuser. There is a lot of our money that is being spent on rehabilitation clinics that will get them through the withdraw phases without the use of opioids. I asked a friend who use to abuse heroine when he was in high school if he thinks that safe havens are a good idea and he said to me that getting off of the drug was the hardest thing he has ever had to do, and if there were safe havens here during his time of distress, he would have never gotten off of the drug. The AIDS epidemic is a different story on the matter however. I believe that the safe havens would be a good strategy to reducing Hep C and AIDS/HIV. It isn’t easy to get needles so some people don’t care whose needle they use to get high which increases that person's chances of getting one of the diseases. Safe Havens have a teeter totter effect for me; good for clean needles, bad because of the drug. - redman789
It’s an interesting idea to open a place where people can safely inject heroin. It is good to see that people are keeping an open mind to change in the way we think of drugs and drug addiction. I do believe the idea in a way shuttles drug addicts into a safe way of thinking about their addiction. If you do your drugs safely why change at all. Although I cannot say as to whether this is a good preventive measure fully because only time will tell. I do believe into is a step into a better direction. If people can open there minds to ideas such as this that means more ideas to fix this problem can come from this. Just locking people up for drugs seems to be far worse and leads to little behavior change from what we can tell. The numbers of opioid related deaths are crazy; I can’t believe it’s at a rate of 48.6 deaths per 100,000 residents. America does seem late to the party on this idea. Over in Europe there have been sites open since the late 80s. In Canada they opened in 2003; there death rates did go down. I do wonder what overall effect it has caused in those countries. The article didn’t state as to whether as positive effect outside of saving life’s happened. By this I mean did a large number of those lives they are saved stop using drugs and bettered their lives. It is unfortunate that the Trump administration decided go with stricter policies over the approach on drug criminalization. I hope that doesn’t hinder the progress in areas like Philadelphia. pj789
I have very mixed feelings on this topic. On one hand, I am generally libertarian about how people want to spend their time and money as long as they are not endangering anyone else. I also generally believe that government involvement should be as minimal as possible. However, I think that these safe-zones normalize opioid use for users. This is especially problematic for users who have families and do endanger others. While I do not believe that addicts should explicitly be punished for their actions, I think that these people would be bettered by being isolated from society and made to confront their problems head on. I think that this article glosses over the root cause of the problem. Doctors over-prescribe opioids which is likely the cause for the dependencies in the first place. I believe that medicinal marijuana is a much better alternative to medicinal opioids because they are less addictive and there are fewer health risks. I think the response to this problem by the Trump Administration may work as a deterrent to some degree, but it does not solve existing problems and it is not ethical. That said, it only provides a deterrent to those who start to use opioid use illegally. Many opioid addictions stem from prescribed medication as stated above. It does not solve existing problems because these people are not educated as to how to end their addiction and will likely reoffend when they get out of prison. It is unethical because these people can likely be rehabilitated in a much shorter time span than for which they would go to prison. Honestly, I do not have a perfect answer for what should be done about the opioid epidemic. I do believe that if users were not afraid of criminal charges, they would be much less afraid of seeking treatment. At the same time, I think that many people would refrain from treatment because of social stigma and unwillingness to change.-Rudedogg789
This was a pretty interesting article about Philadelphia and the Opioid crisis. Drugs are a pretty big problem in the United States, and even all over the world. In the past, the United States have put tough strict laws on people doing drugs and criminalizing them and throwing them in prison and jail and then keeping them there for years. They keep them in there for all that time and then they release them back out into the world, and what do they do? They get out and it becomes harder for them to get a job because they were previously convicted so they turn to the thing that gives them a release from the world, drugs. I think that these sites in Philadelphia are a unique and new approach to the drug problem in the United States. I especially think that it would not hurt for Philadelphia to at least try it; because who knows, it might actually help out a lot with people's addictions. I think that experimenting with this idea is definitely better than what the Trump administration is proposing and just throwing the addicts in prison for the maximum amount of time available. All that would do is create more problems with populations of prisons and make them more crammed and cause higher spending on keeping the prisoners in there.
ReplyDelete-MickSwagger123
In Peoria alone we have been seeing the rise in opioids and heroin etc. overdose deaths. I don’t do any type of drugs and I don’t condone them but I do not judge. But I see what it is Philadelphia is trying to do because we do say “don’t do drugs” or don’t do this & don’t do that but is that really solving the problem or making people turn they head to drugs no. we can tell people “No” all we want but the real question is we don’t know what it is they are going through that’s so bad that it made them turn to drugs so if we don’t know that how are supposed to led them in a way which we would like them to go? or in a way which would be a deterrent from these overpowered drugs? Or how we supposed to be there and connect on a level where they do not feel hopeless and that the whole entire world is not against them it’s some that’s with them? because we all know from the looks of things once a person uses the drugs it’s a stimulant for the pain which when they use it goes away for a specific amount of time which makes them go back to the drug more and more because of the fact that they are tired and exhausted from the constant hurt that which they are feeling. I’m only 19 years of age so I’m just getting my feet wet when it comes to being very responsible and do things for myself but growing I done saw some things been through some things that let me know that life is not a game to play with and that it’s really hard out here and yet people go around here acting like they life can’t get no better or they get made with they don’t get what they want knowing that they got a necessity that some people would die for which is an a roof to keep you warn at night food & water that keeps alive and people around you to make sure you are kay and not left along at your darkest night. So I do agree that if we can’t stop them as soon as we ask why not suggest a place where they can go and get help from people that know how to help them in a way which they would like to be helped. Junior123
DeleteThe idea of putting addicts away for longer periods of time is to keep them from hurting others while on certain drugs, so I think that the main job of the us government(protecting its people) is being attempted. That said, I totally agree that these places in Philadelphia would be a much better solution to this problem. I am I massive advocate for small scale solutions in mass numbers to fix problems with society. I think that a lot of these problems are too numerous and complex for the federal, or even state government to handle. It needs to be fixed by the communities themselves.
Delete-DMPeschy
I understand that putting the addicts away in prison keeps the rest of the general public safe; however, the way that the Trump administration worded it made it sound like they were just wanting to lock up the addicts and then throw away the key without any other action after that. The addicts need help with their addiction so then they can return to the world without needing to feel like they need to escape. Locking them up would just give them a temporary time away from their drug and as soon as they are released they will most likely do them again.
Delete-MickSwagger123
While I disagree with the solutions proposed by the trump administration, I am not convinced that it is responsible for the Philadelphia government to even try this without further considerations. I fear that people who would normally go to rehabilitation facilities would have less incentive to go because they can legally maintain their addiction. I do prefer that drugs are decriminalized in general, but I also think that children should not have to live with parents who are chronic users. I would not mind if fewer arrests were made, but I see many problems with public facilities promoting this kind of behavior. -Rudedogg789
DeleteWhile I disagree with the solutions proposed by the trump administration, I am not convinced that it is responsible for the Philadelphia government to even try this without further considerations. I fear that people who would normally go to rehabilitation facilities would have less incentive to go because they can legally maintain their addiction. I do prefer that drugs are decriminalized in general, but I also think that children should not have to live with parents who are chronic users. I would not mind if fewer arrests were made, but I see many problems with public facilities promoting this kind of behavior.
DeleteI do agreed with you drug is a big time problems in the United States and something need be done because we can arrest them all we want and still not improve the world. So why not give this thing a try if can work because right now, all we are doing just put them in jail or prison and it's not help them out and just wast time and so they get out they go back on drugs. That all they know how to do and what to do and i know some try stay clean but at the end day still not help in the long run. Even if it might help them out just a little bit i take any improve at all.
ReplyDelete-Panthers 123
I have to agree with you that the war on drugs is failing, and it has been failing since pres. Nixon declared a war on drugs. Ever since the 1970s the government has gone about tackling the drug problem in America the wrong way. By doing so people who are addicted to drugs, end up going to jail when they should have been going to rehab, counseling, anything to help them get clean. A safe place for users to shoot up is a good thing, as long as there are programs that are in place to get users off the drugs they are addicted to and dependent on.
DeleteWith that being said, our current president needs to look at the opioid crisis, and propose drug laws that allow for users to have a second chance, instead of jail or prison. By doing so more can be done from a treatment standpoint to help the addicted. It does not make sense to punish people whose lives revolve around shooting up. Punish the drug dealers, the suppliers, anyone who thinks it is ok to let people hurt themselves. Both the Federal and state governments need to be on the same page when it comes to handling those who get caught using and abusing opioids.
--Acquit456
After reading this article I would have to say personally it isn’t a good idea for Philadelphia to try and have an overdose prevention strategy. I personally feel it would be easier to try and stop the addictions not keep them going and just making sure people don’t die from it. I also feel it is hard to trust whether the needles will be sterile but people who are addicted won’t care they just want the drug. Even though this is strategy is going to be used who is to say the people doing the drug will want the help to prevent an overdose, back in criminal justice 114 Marquis Mighty said in his presentation “if they won’t accept the help what’s the point” with that in mind yes, it is a great idea to try and stop the overdose deaths but who’s to say anyone will go to these “safe injection sites”. I do have to say that saving between 24 and 76 people from overdosing is a great statistic but then it is also saying that between 1 and 18 cases of HIV infection. Which with that stat in mind 1 in 18 people isn’t very much and HIV infections I feel should be getting a lot more attention then trying to stop people from overdosing. The reason being is anyone who wants to overdose on drugs can and will find a way to do so, but when it comes to HIV infections you can’t really just stop it you need medical attention which we need to use our research towards instead of the opioids. I would also have to agree with David Oh when he said “I don’t see this as a well thought-out, practical plan” I agree with this because like he also said how can they get past zoning, and who is liable for the private investors. Everyone is wanting this to happen and help people with an opioid addiction but no one sees the potential downsides to each of the different aspects of the safe injection sites. One final thing I could not find in the article is how much will this cost because they have to build the facilities, get the over dose reversal drug, get sterile needles, get professionals to inject the drug, and there are many other things that will be needed to run such facilities properly without causing a huge issue. After doing research of my own just the drug by itself ranges from $20 to $50 for just 2ml which after a while can cost a lot because it is not very much you get for the price you end up paying.
ReplyDeleteCarlBaconWho123
Well i do see your point they should not try this and stop it. However i think they should open it up because be better if they had more doctor to keep an eye on them because if they was out there would be doing this on the street and you think be safe around them. Some may stop but the true is half them don't care if this is clean or not just care about get drug on. However, if they do and don't get this try if they don't just going keep get bad for those who do drug like will end up in jail and back to doing drug and that why need find some way to cut it down. At the end day will all want be in a better place who really know if this will work or not be for its to late.
Delete- panther123
I agree completely agree with your comment to the video. Its going to be a hard life if they continue to let these people take that drug. Just making sure they wont die is not a good reason to me at all, its still the same way if they weren’t taking it in the doctor. I don’t think this its getting attention at all because it’s the same thing just with doctors. The HIV thing is also crazy to me as well. They can’t really stop someone from getting HIV with the program because like I said before, who’s to say they didn’t shoot up before they came there. They could be doing it after they leave there as well. They are using money on the wrong things, we should be helping over causes and helping people it actual health problems.- babyblue123
DeleteIf this treatment will work and stop people it from overdose and I think it's good thing to try because right now this world it's a big mess when it comes down to drugs. From what I can tell this does work depends on if you are state or city like Vancouver because they save at least 1,800 from overdose. One good thing about this treatment would take away people stay outside because they don't need be out there and some those folks out there are dads, family members and who does it like five or six days basic. I think if they have people watch them would help them out if not it's just going get more bad because out in the open who know what can happen. If they in that treatment at least be around people who can watch them or even try help them out. If you just send them to jail or prison won't help them out just because sometimes can find some kind drug they get addiction to and what happens go back to the same drug and won't do no good just send them away. Yes, half the people who are in prison are poor people and I not really surprise about that. Instead look at it at police problem how about we look at it different as heath problem instead. Yes, you going get them folks who disagreed with you but what can do just give it a try. Like one example this guy went to one the treatment called Insite and he try out also overdoes just five times, however he made the choices to get clean and changes his life styles. Look sat him he been clean for four years and happy married to and that one case had work out. In some states it has work out but you will always get those who will not be on your side at all. I do agree with the police if can't just do nothing about it and sit here keep send them to the same place and when they get out just do it all over again. I think this has work for good reason and also help got some folks clean at the same time. Without this would never happened them out at all.
ReplyDelete-panther456
Normalizing this problem is just going to make matters way worse. When you tell someone “come into our clinic and you can shoot up without being criminalized” it’s like you’re giving them the okay to do drugs. No one allows people to come into clinics and smoke weed or shoot up heroin, so why is it okay for them to do opioids? Also, how are we going to fund these clinics? Our tax dollars? I don’t want my hard earned money to fund someone’s addiction. If these clinics were support groups, or different healthier alternatives then I’d be all for funding something like that, but it’s not fair to the million other addicts who are hooked on something other than opioids to not get the same luxuries. In other words, we shouldn’t be giving them “safe” places to do illegal activity. If they want to ruin their lives with this drug then that’s on them. If they want to replace their family and loved ones for the evil drug, then that’s their fault. I do not feel any remorse for someone who did this to themselves. This may sound harsh, but I just don’t agree with the fact that we are “babying” these adults who are very capable of knowing right from wrong. Cheer123
DeleteOkay that is just one case for one of the very few people that actually want the help and want to better themselves. This is a terrible idea it is just promoting drug use as is everything else in today's world with the legalization of marijuana. We can't normalize the issue if we do then it becomes a global issue that everyone gets hooked on drugs like heroin and the world just falls apart. Why don't we take a look at the problem and instead of controlling the issue we go out and stop the issue. Why don't we spend money and help these people in the front end before the addiction starts. It would be cheaper, easier and would make a much bigger impact on this type of issue and not just for these types of drugs but for all types of drugs. Let's do this for everything in the criminal justice system not just drugs expand it to the corrections department and so on. If we do these types of things and help the people stop before they get started eventually there will be no one doing drugs "hopefully". Then our world will become a better place and the criminal justice world would become easier and cleaner. NDIrish123.
DeleteBut, it’s not helping them at all. At the end of the day they are still taking the drug. The drug is dangerous they are still going to be using regardless if the doctor is giving it to them. Yes, the world is a big mess when it comes to drugs but, they are so focused on getting people that sell or use weed they don’t understand that that’s not the dangerous drug, the drug they are promoting to use it. Yes, it may help families function better but, they need to use it at all because they have a family to take care of. I just don’t think the treatment is a good idea at all. It shouldn’t be used, they shoot make a treatment to prevent the drug to be used. I feel like its going to get out of hand and they aren’t going to know what to do but to shut down the over dose center. The drug war has been going on for a while now and this treatment program is not helping to prevent drugs.-babyblue123
DeleteI agree with you saying that if treatment will work then it is a good thing to try out. However starting out by taking a little step might cause the mess to grow and grow. We can’t send everyone through treatment because some people it might not work on them and then what? Some people don’t want to be treated, some people don’t want the help that can cure them. In the end overall treatment may work for some people but others it could just make it worse. In your statement I agree with you about saying we shouldn’t just put them in jail because you’re absolutely right about that. If you stick them in jail right when they get out they might just go back to the drug anyways. Overall I agree with that police need to step up and change their ways and not just sit back and watch it all happen. If it is a good reason why not give it a shot and all you can do is hope that at the end of they day it comes out all right and makes the world a better place. Smile123
DeleteAfter reading the article about overdoses in Philadelphia I think that trying to come up with a prevention idea isn’t the safe bet to go. I personally think that they should try and stop the addiction before the overdose problem grows but, after reading it I do agree with them that whatever they got to do to stop people from dying then it must be a good thing. If this new way works for Philadelphia then we should learn from them and take it into other states that have heavy drug issues because you can’t just keep putting people in jail over and over. People that go for jail just end up getting out and can’t hardly do anything because of what is on there back. For example it’s hard for them to find a job, it’s hard for them to get a loan out. So overall they just go back to using the drugs that put them in jail for the first place. All for what? Another solution is rehab but, rehab doesn’t always cure a person. Rehab can help someone as long as they wanna help themselves. In the article they state that there is a safe injection site for people are supervised by medical personals to inject heroin and or other opioids in there system without getting arrested. To me that is absolutely mind-blowing. It is a great way to get people in the treatment they need but, there is also many risks to the factor. For example they could get someone to start up an addiction they never really had, or even make the drug addict feel like they are never going to get caught for such a thing or that it is okay what they are doing to their body. To hear how many overdoses they have had in their city is heartbreaking and to think they are risking move lives by letting people know there is a safe place where they can inject themselves with any drug they want is sad. I understand they wanna handle it there way and whatever they have to do to make this problem less than it is but, I don’t agree with their solution in hand. In the article they mention that they don’t want the federal government to get in there way of local governments saving lives. I think they don’t understand what they are actually dealing with in a way because, most community’s would want help from anybody that would be able to save the people with this addiction. I might be wrong in some senses but, I do believe that if I was in this situation and one of my family members or closest friends was killing themselves with a drug that they are injecting in themselves I would want as much help as I could. Smile123
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this i can see where this may work but however I don't think this be good idea to open. There so much wrong with this pictures if they not going stop for them self and why you think they going stop? I get it's hard for them find a job but at some point you have get your life together because Rehab always not the right place because something people are scared to get their life together. I don't have any person experience with drugs but my dad used be on drugs but he did get clean over time and some people can get clean other just don't want to.
Delete-Panthers456
I think there is so many things wrong with opening up a safe place for people to shoot up. For one, people shouldn’t have somewhere where they can go to feel “safe” while shooting up. These drugs are illegal and killing so many people daily that I think it’s absurd to allow them to do it. Regardless if they have a safe place to do it or not, they’re going to do it. “Safe” place or not, it’s not going to stop or reduce the usage. This may sound harsh, but these people are choosing this life. Addiction is a hard thing to overcome, and I realize that, but instead of setting up safe places for them to shoot up we should be setting up healthy alternatives that don’t allow drug use. This is like someone creating a place for people to go smoke marijuana. Something like that wouldn’t happen because it’s ILLEGAL and shouldn’t be normalized. Saying “everyone does it” doesn’t make it okay. These people overdosing are the same people who chose this lifestyle and CHOSE to let opioids take control of their life. We’ve had drug problems all over the world for so long in this country. Normalizing it and telling people to come into the clinics to do it is like telling them it’s okay to shoot up drugs. I don’t want my children to grow up in a world one day where there are clinics around the world for people to go and shoot up drugs. This is also a hard decision because I also don’t want them to be able to walk around and see people dead on the streets from this god awful drug. There is no middle line here, but I think the opioid problem is out of our hands and if these people want to choose that life to live, then we shouldn’t interfere. I think if we’re going to open up clinics for people to be able to shoot up opioids, then we should open up clinics for every single drug there is. Is it fair to allow people to do one drug but not the million others? People are still on the streets doing drugs we didn’t even know existed. This problem has spiraled out of control and I don’t think any help we try to offer is going to help these people stop their addiction. The guy on the video has kids and is still choosing to live on the streets and let a drug take full control of his life. Cheer123
ReplyDeleteYes there are some flaws that you can easily spot with this idea as you can with any new idea. But view the benefits it has and all the possibilities it can bring to the United States of America and its people. It will limit the number of overdose related deaths, lower HIV and blood born diseases infection rates, improve and clean up society and the people involved. This idea can handle and help all those problems given the chance it will just take time for it to work and come into place number wise. If this one idea actually delivers in what it is saying it is going to it will only help society improve and help clean up our messed up world. Now I am not promoting drug use but a place to escape for these people and for them to feel not alone. If we can get these people together as one they are more likely to accept help that way than each individual alone. Why not try something like this? We are already at the end of the road not much can get worse from here with all the overdose related deaths and just the drug related deaths. NDIrish456.
DeleteThe main purpose of this idea is to create a "safe place" for people to shoot up. If we are going to offer this idea for opioid addicts, we need to do the exact same thing for any other person addicted to any other type of drug. It's not fair in any way for opioid addicts to be able to shoot up and not get in any sort of trouble. Opening up these clinics is like telling them it's okay. We are enabling them. This whole idea is to keep the streets safe, but we could do that just by locking them up. We shouldn’t give them any sort of satisfaction. They chose this life, no one shoved the needle in their arm for them. Like I said before, if we allow this, other addicts are going to start letting their addiction get out of control so they will be allowed to shoot up in clinics with no repercussions. We shouldn’t allow this, and in no way, shape, or form, is this okay. Also, how are we going to pay for these clinics? My money is way too important to me to be giving it away to these clinics for addicts who aren’t going to ever repay me. This may sound selfish, but it’s my opinion. Cheer456
DeleteI agree why would we the people be spending money to have clinics shooting up people so they are happy or feel good? Dont we have enough things to pay for like maybe helping out our veterans that are homeless? Stop and think to yourself will people ever stop using these drugs if there doing it the safe way? I dont think they ever will stop there homeless and all there thinking and waking up to is getting high and feel better about there life. Its sad we have a world full of people that have no common sense. We are trying to get away from people shooting up. Shit we might as well start promoting people whp shoot up heroin or do coke. conrad456
DeleteI am all for saving lives and trying to prevent the people from overdosing and killing themselves but we need to do it in a different way than this. This way of opening safe injection sites is really just promoting drug use in these areas. Instead of solving the drug problem and helping these people I believe that the amount of people getting hooked on these types of drugs will increase because they now know if they break the law there will be no penalty for it. This is a awful drug and a awful thing to see about nine hundred plus people die in one year from this drug but after all this time of seeing the problem and think of how to fix it this is the best solution we have came up with? I see the point behind this but I don't see a positive outcome. The majority of the people that go in and overdose on a drug like this isn't always accidental, some people really just want to end their lives and they do it the only way they know how to live which is under the needle. My first question to the user would be why did you start these drugs and why did you let it take over your life? Being in law enforcement you will have to deal with these things all the time but you also have to remember you can't force someone to get help if they don't want it they won't go and won't try to better themselves. The majority of the people that have gotten this far with the drug in their life won't make it without the drug the body depends on this drug to operate, also the people wouldn't want help would you want to go out and change your life from something you have been living on for years? It's a lifestyle change the number one thing us as Americans don't want we all have routines and this is theirs. This overdose saving drug was a great invention and a great thing to put out on the market but no one knows how and or when to use it and that can be deadly. If we could teach people on what to look for and show them how to use this saving drug and when to use it the rates would not be what they are today. I would like to see studies done on the actual drug reversing medicine and see how it actually saves people and when someone has died if they could have used it but just didn't know how. Us as Americans and citizens of the United States of America we are all under informed the media and politics and many other things try to hold the truth from us and leave us wondering and we never know the whole story or how to use certain products. NDIrish123.
ReplyDeleteI agree, and I think that everyone can agree, that saving lives is the main goal of trying to help people addicted to drugs. This way may not be the best way to go about it in the future but for the time being I have not seen a better way to control, or even put an end to drug use. These people working these businesses are going to be well trained to deal with these addicted drug users. And while they are receiving safe materials and getting injected properly they will be exposed to these people who will hopefully have the same mindset and want to help those people other than just giving them their drugs. People become addicted to opioids a lot of the time through an injury and they are prescribed an opioid pain reliever. Doctors are giving out generous prescriptions to these people and are too lenient in what they are handing out, and then they wonder why people become addicted and then turn to the cheaper option of the drug which is also more dangerous. These safe injection sites are a way that we can make up for the mistakes that doctors have made and in theory save these people before it gets too bad, and they overdose. Wings123
DeleteI think that some sort of mandatory rehab would be better than just allowing for people to continue to shoot up legally. If we do not stop the problem now we may never be able to until almost everybody will be at one of these injection sites, so that they will not get arrested for trying this drug. I agree that the overdose saving drug is great and that it should be available for those who are addicted or for the families of those who are addicted, because no one wants to come home and find their sibling laying on the ground with a needle next to their body and not have a way of saving them. If we do give more people the opportunity to have safe injection sites I feel that if someone is looking for a new way of getting high and they have never used these types of drugs, this would be the new way for people to get addicted.
DeleteIllini123
I think what Philadelphia is doing is going to benefit society greatly. Seeing these addicts get taken into clinics is going to make the streets a safer place. No one wants to see needles laying out and a million homeless people everywhere because they’re too high on drugs to seek help for themselves. I also think this should be used as a stepping stone for these addicts and not a forever thing. If these addicts get comfortable with being able to go into these “safe” places to use, they’ll start to rely on it. What happens when we can no longer give them a “safe” place to go? Will they riot? Will their usage double? Thing could get really, really bad, really, really quick. I’m also a little iffy on how long we should allow this to go on. When will we cut off the clinics? These addicts can’t rely on them because then the problem will never be resolved. We shouldn’t be enabling these addicts. Maybe we could lower their usage daily to slowly get them back to a stable health and mindset. The major goal for these clinics should be to help addicts get back onto their feet and release them back into society has a full functioning citizen. I think the addicts that truly want to change, will, but the ones that don’t, won’t. These “safe” places could help out immensely but it’s a shot in the dark and we won’t know until we try. My hope for the future is that we will have ½ as much usage and ½ as many people choosing this killer drug over their loved ones. These people have so many people who care about them and the fact that they’re choosing this life is beyond heartbreaking. One day, I hope to live in a world where we don’t have thousands and thousands of deaths a year due to drug use, but that might never happen. We also should reach out to those doing other hard drugs if we’re going to this for people addicted to opioids. There is no difference in addiction, it all has the same affects on people. What is the people who are addicted to other drugs lash out because they aren’t getting clinics opened up for them? What is the usage doubles on the street and the addicts take it all as a joke. There are so many things that could go wrong with this whole scenario. Cheer456
ReplyDeleteThe idea of these safe injection sites is to ultimately save lives, which honestly who would not be against that? However, these sites will become a place that these drug users will become dependent upon as time goes on. I do not foresee any rioting going on if these safe injection sites were to go away, but I do agree that these sites should aim more at possibly lowering how much a person uses daily and help them get and seek rehabilitative treatment in order to get off the drug. These sites are indeed a good idea when we look at them from a medical stand point as far as saving lives, but we also have to wonder if we are unintentionally advocating and support the use of illegal drugs. Gymlife123
DeleteI am all for saving lives and trying to prevent the people from overdosing and killing themselves if we can limit the national drug overdose percentage great. This one idea can help stop numerous things that we have problems with today. One is the overdosing issue. For us to stop and or control this big issue would be a big win for the criminal justice field. With there being around one thousand deaths just from overdosing in one year is way to many, one overdose related death is to many. Another big issue this would help stop and control is HIV and blood born diseases. With there being "safe" injection sites that people can go and use clean needles and have someone by them to help insure that they don't get any worse than they are is another great win. A big problem is people sharing needles or already finding used needles and they are being stuck with them with another person's blood on it. You don't know what that person could have just by looking at their blood with the naked eye. The other big thing this would help is that it would make a police officers job much safer. If there are a lot of "safe" injection sites and they provide the needle for these people officers would not have to worry as much of being stuck by a needle in a car or on a person because they know most likely they won't be carrying any. Now that doesn't mean that people will just stop carrying needles, no people still will and the officers would still have to be cognizant of that. These are just some of the important issues that America faces today that these "safe" injection sites could fix and or help fix. This would be a great thing for very desperate society's and it would be great if everyone participated in this but not everyone will. Not everyone wants the help and not everyone wants to drive to a office just to hit up. Most people want to do it somewhere they are comfortable for example their house (if they have one). If I was in their shoes I don't necessarily know if I would go out and drive to this special place just to get my daily dose of heroin. This is a good idea but there are some big flaws with this plan and hopefully they can figure it all out and get it working here in the United States of America do to the benefits it offers not just from saving people from overdosing but for many others. For example, cleaner streets, less overdosing, less HIV and blood born diseases and the list can go on and on. NDIrish456.
ReplyDeleteThese safe injection sites, I agree, can help to eliminate many different problems that we are faced with nowadays. The safe injection sites would aim to drastically reduce if not completely eliminate the number of deaths resulting from a drug overdose. Also these sites would lower the spread of HIV which I absolutely agree is a huge plus. You also make a good point that not everyone is going to want to go drive to an office to shoot up the drug of their choice. The purpose of these sites are to reduce the number of overdose deaths and to save lives, but if users do not want to even bother going to these sites we have to ask ourselves if we are just wasting our time and money. Not only that, but we could be sending the wrong message that we are beginning to encourage the use of illegal drugs. Gymlife456
DeleteI have to disagree with you about your stance regarding safe injection sights. I agree with you that it is a great thing to save a life, but it is another to condone and to legally allow people to shoot up their drugs in facilities that allow drug use to occur freely. This facility will be used by addicts who got their drugs by either robbing or burglarizing homes and businesses that are located close to this facility. Addicts will do anything to get their hands on their drug of choice, and in this case that drug of choice are opiates. In a sense carte blanche has been given to users, to keep using opiates, without fear of reprisal. In a sense this facility is allowing people the opportunity to overdose, and then to be brought back to life. That allows the user to keep using because they know they will be saved from death. This is like putting a bandage on something that will not stop bleeding for a long time. The government needs to take a stronger stance on finding and punishing the dealers, the suppliers, etc. The harder America is on those people, the quicker the realization that the opioid issue is being addressed.--Acquit456
DeleteThe opioid epidemic is something that only an ignorant person would say is not a problem. Many people say that this problem is solely on the lifestyle of those who are overusing these drugs, and there isn’t anything that other people can do about it. Those who disagree with that have been looking for a way to slow down the numbers of opioid overdoses, and they think they are on to something with their idea in this article. Safe injection sites would be used so that opioid addicts can go to these places, and do their drugs safely, sanitarily and without worry of being arrested. These establishments would also have information people can get about treatment for their addictions. The numbers of opioid overdoses are to a point to where they cannot be ignored anymore. People used to shake off these deaths because they were low enough numbers to be considered a personal issue, but now these numbers are high enough to where it is considered a public health issue. This means that it is time for the public to step in and figure out a solution to this problem. The way I see this, these people who are addicted are going to keep taking the drugs whether we help them or not, and not in safe and sanitary ways. These safe injection sites are a good way for people who want to help can reach out to those struggling with these addictions and try to give them some better chances at being able to survive. The government has been cracking down on drug enforcement since Trump has taken office, and this has caused problems for the development of these businesses. Another problem they have come across is the fact that insurance companies are not going to want to insure an establishment such as this. Despite these hurdles the idea of these businesses have not gone away. Overall I think that these are a good idea. Helping these people needs to be the mindset other than just letting them die because of their addiction. These safe injection sites have been around since the 1980’s in Europe, and there is one that has been around since 2003 in Vancouver. The amount of time these establishments have been around speaks volumes to the idea that they should be brought into the United States. Wings123
ReplyDeleteThe numbers of opioid overdoses are to a point to where they cannot be ignored anymore. Something need be done because people don't need be overdose at a young age and some will over look this but try to stop this. Or come up with some kind program before get out of hand and this a heath problem. Yes these people will still use drug some will try get clean but most them will not listen at all just keep doing what they do. Yes if can try our best to stop them in jail but still won't help them. If you put these people in these place help them in the long run. I do agreed with you and this good ideas because nobody else try help all they doing put them in jail and not not help at
Deleteall.
-Panthers456
Thank you for agreeing. The numbers of overdoses is definitely a main point to me as to why some change is urgent. This has grown into something more than just some drug junkie’s hobby and way to get high some people are truly addicted and they do not want to be. Some people undoubtingly will take advantage of the generous people trying to help them and just keep doing the drugs, just legally. On the other hand though this program is not necessarily designed to get people to stop, but instead it is a way for people to safely use the opioids without putting themselves in danger. These addictions a lot of the time come from prescriptions given from say for example a surgery, and once they are hooked it is a lot easier said than done getting off of the drug. I’m not saying that shooting up heroin is okay by any means, but in some cases people fall into this addiction not by choice, and once it is there and has a hold of your life it can begin to take over and that is when people turn to heroin because it is cheaper, but much more risky. Wings123
DeleteThese people that go to these "safe" injection sites don't want help usually. They are just there to shoot up and leave because they now know they can't be arrested there. If we really want to stop this issue and not promote drug use which is what we are doing, we need to get people on the grounds looking for this people and help them get to the places they need to go to for treatment. If we can help those people who truly want the help and better themselves then we are doing all we can do. We can't force other into rehab or some other type of treatment you just can't. If we get people on the ground in those areas helping the people who really want the help then good, lets help those people and spend the money in the front end of the problem that way we don't have to worry about this issue becoming worse. Stop the people from becoming addicted show them other things they can do and show them how much better life is. Some of these people could be turning to drugs because of pressure or depression or whatever it may be lets help them before they get to the drugs because drugs don't make everything okay. Plus if we let this get worse who knows it might become legal because everyone is doing it like marijuana and who knows how bad that will screw our cities and our country or even the world up. NDIrish123.
DeleteWhen I first read this article and watched the two videos I didn't know what to think about the safe injection sites. As I read I started to think that it was a ridiculous idea and it wouldn't work. And part of me still does. But then as I watched the videos and reread the article the other part of me thought it might be a better solution than what we have going on right now. The amount of opioid deaths around the country recently is crazy. Especially in Philadelphia. And there really isn't a solid way to try and stop it and it continues to get worse and worse. I do think that these safe injection sites are somewhat of a step in the right direction because it's something new for the United States. Plus it has shown that it works over in the other countries that have had it for years now. But on the other side of things I can see how it could be advocating use of opioids for either first timers that want to try it for the first time in a safe environment or for people that have been hooked on it for years. The other good thing about these safe sites is there are nurses and medical professionals there for when things go wrong like overdoses. But the other side of things is to me it comes down to human nature and if people really want the help or if they are just looking for an easier solution to do their drugs because at the end of the day if people don't want help they won't get it. Even if they have overdosed several times. I don't think they realize fully what they are doing to themselves until it's already too late. As I said before this could either be a really good thing to help decrease the amount of opioid deaths or it could make doing drugs like heroin and other opioids a more acceptabel thing. I'm interested to see if the federal government will have a major hand in this with how hard and heavy President Trump is hitting down on opioids, or if they will leave it up to the states like they have done with other things such as the legalization of marijuana. It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out and I hope that we find a better solution soon for this opioid epidemic. -Ramones456
ReplyDeleteI know that almost if not everybody in the United States wants to help reduce the number of overdoses in the country. I’m all for helping those who have a problem, but I feel this is not a safe way to do it. Having those who are addicted being able to go to these safe places and do drugs whenever they feel like would just give them the chance to do the drugs more often than if they were on the street doing it. It would also open up the opportunity to those who may not be addicted to those who may not be addicted; give them the chance to try the drug and then they would get addicted. I know that the war on drugs was a failure, but we need to find something better than just letting addicts do drugs whenever they feel like. We need to start having mandatory rehab for those who are addicted, so they can get their problem resolved; not just let them keep going on and using everyday. If we do open these safe injection sites, then who would be paying for the drugs and needles and the medical staff that would have to stay on guard incase someone does overdose. More people would probably overdose because they know that they will be able to shoot up more drugs at a time and there will be someone there to save them. Like the mother said if we do open these sites more addicts will come to that area and even though they are there to seek safe injection, they could also be there to shoot up out on the street, and they could also be trying to sell to younger people. Also by opening these sites we are basically saying that it is ok to do heroin or any other drug for that matter and eventually we will be allowing these people to come in and start snorting cocaine. By allowing these sites to open I feel that we would just be opening a gateway for addicts to stay addicted legally, when I believe we need to start having some sort of mandatory drug rehab for those who are addicted.
ReplyDeleteIllini123
Yes some sort of mandatory rehab should be required or some sort of treatment for those who want it. If we do that and start the rehab and the treatment it will be giving that support and the help that these people need. These people feel alone and scared because they don't know how else to feel and they have no one to support them. If we can form the support group and help these people get off the drug and go out and get a job and become the person they want to become. Lets help them accomplish their dreams they have lets actually sit down and talk with the person and see what they want it life and what they view success as. Once we do that and have an understanding of the person and know what they want we know how to help them achieve those goals and get to that success that they want. These people are alone and left to fend for themselves lets be the bigger person step in and help fight this issue. Once someone actually steps up to the plate and begins doing these things not just this drug but drugs as a whole I believe will begin to decline quite rapidly, because then people will see what they are capable of and it will give them hope and a little bit of hope goes a long way. The future will become so bright for those people that once lived in the dark forgotten corner of society that suffered all alone and now they have someone who gets them and understands them and someone who is there to help. NDIrish456.
DeleteYes if we can get some support groups to go and help these people and sit down and communicate I believe we will start to see more people going to rehab and trying to better themselves not just for them, but for family they may have. If we all help each other out we can hopefully end drug overdoses and eventually we can end drug use all together, but first we need to find a better way than just letting people shoot up whenever they want with no consequences whatsoever. If people know that someone is out there who is willing to believe in them, I think they will want to turn their life around and find a good job and they will want to raise a family.
DeleteIllini123
After reading the article and watch the videos and I can why people are worried because people should not have place. Where they can shoot up or overdose also the police can do so much because they will end up back on the street some way. Even if the police try find a way to take them down or eliminated them some way. The truth is hard because a lot times they don't can't do it all bye them self. Drugs are a big problem and need find a way to help who want the help. That why some parents who have seen the love one who are against this program and to them this won't help them just make it worst from them and the community to because it won't be a safe place. Some places may help them however other like small states won't because to them why would you give those kind folks drugs and needles so could just overdoes? That not really the smart way to go give them needles and have doctors watch them. Maybe have more treatment place would make a different that would be better not the so-called safe injections half them don't care if the needles are clean or not care about use it. What going happens instead stop it going just bring more people out to for the needles not stop and go away.
ReplyDelete-panthers123
In this article I completely disagree. I disagree because why you want to influence more drug use, when we are trying to avoid it. Yes, maybe it is good that is health people injecting it but, I wouldn’t want to influence it more when they are already doing in illegal. The drug addict is going to think its all good to even use drugs and maybe people that aren’t on drugs, would want to try it because they are influencing them that “It’s safer”, “come try it we got you”. Its not cool at all to me. The only positive thing that they could say it overdose rates went down but the drug is still getting used. The fact that we’ve been in a drug war for a long time and now they are tolerating the use on heroine is crazy to me. But, lets be honest another positive thing about the program is it might be helping families who have gotten broken apart because of the drug. The kids don’t have to see their parents or parent looking crazy or going crazy because of the drug. Drugs shouldn’t be getting used period, we can just promote programs and think its okay because 9 times out of 10, as soon as they leave that program they are going out to find more of the drug just for side use. Its going to be hard for them to live their life’s because they are always going to want the drug. I feel like we need to put a stop to it and use that motivation for something more important health wise, not saying overdosing is not important but something that naturally happens to people. I also, think its crazy because police will be quick to lock up someone who is using weed. Why are they promoting heroin, something that could kill you but weed is horrible? I don’t understand how backwards that sounds at all. Weed is it not a killing drug but they are telling people its okay to use a killing drug. Everything is so backwards in this world and it needs to be changed asap. -babyblue123
ReplyDeleteI disagree because for the simple fact that this is just a place where they are trying to get them all to come too so they can start helping them instead having to go all across the world hypothetically speaking to find then but what if we don’t know that how are supposed to led them in a way which we would like them to go? or in a way which would be a deterrent from these overpowered drugs? Or how we supposed to be there and connect on a level where they do not feel hopeless and that the whole entire world is not against them it’s some that’s with them and this is the only way? because we all know from the looks of things once a person uses the drugs it’s a stimulant for the pain which when they use it goes away for a specific amount of time which makes them go back to the drug more and more because of the fact that they are tired and exhausted from the constant hurt that which they are feeling I know we are also adding a problem but what is it we doing as of right now? Because like the article said bodies are just dropping from overdoses and it seem to be going up and up every year, just the thought of a different way of helping is always a good step in the right direction even if does cause a little more back fire than we would like.junior456
DeleteSafe injection sites are being introduced to the United States as a way to help reduce the opioid epidemic in our country. Essentially, safe injection sites are medically supervised locations where users can inject heroin and other opioids without having to worry about being arrested. These walk-in sites offer sterile needles for users to shoot up the drug of their choice as well as naloxone; a drug that reverses the effects of overdose. Many people may think these sites are not a good idea because they may get the assumption that we are advocating and supporting drug use. That is certainly not the circumstance here. What the goal is for these safe injection sites is to reduce the number of opioid and drug related overdose deaths. The city of Philadelphia saw over one thousand overdose deaths last year with nearly 85% being related to opioid use. What I found staggering was that this article mentioned that overall number of overdose deaths was four times the number of homicides. With these safe injection sites, the city of Philadelphia hopes to reduce the number of opioid deaths anywhere from 24-76 annually as well as reduce the number of HIV infections by up to 18. In the span of just four years, from 2013-2016, Philadelphia saw their overdose related deaths nearly double, increasing from 459 in 2013 up to 907 in 2016. Another statistic that I found alarming that this article mentioned was that , there are roughly 46.8 drug overdose related deaths per 100,000 residents. Compare that to cities such as Chicago which saw 15.4 per 100,000 and New York which saw 11.2 per 100,000 in 2015. The article explains that the recent surge in opioid related deaths can be linked to the drug fetanyl, which is a drug that is 100 times more potent than morphine as the article describes. There were 412 overdose related deaths in Philadelphia where fetanyl was found in 2016. Europe has been using safe injection sites since the late 1980’s. Also Canada and Australia have also been using these safe injection sites. It is disappointing that the Justice Department under the Trump Administration has urged prosecutors to pursue the maximum sentence available for drug offenders. Is it really fair to make a person who clearly has a medical issue, as we can and should look at it, be incarcerated in our already overpopulated jails and prisons? We are not solving anything by going that route. These people need treatment, they need rehabilitation which is not something they are likely to receive while incarcerated. Not only has this been proven not to work when it comes to the war on drugs, but we are adding to another problem, the problem with mass incarceration in our country. Overall, I believe these safe injection sites are a good idea because in the end, we are trying to save lives. Not advocate or support the use of drugs. Gymlife123
ReplyDeleteI agree but what if we don’t know that how are supposed to led them in a way which we would like them to go? or in a way which would be a deterrent from these overpowered drugs? Or how we supposed to be there and connect on a level where they do not feel hopeless and that the whole entire world is not against them it’s some that’s with them? because we all know from the looks of things once a person uses the drugs it’s a stimulant for the pain which when they use it goes away for a specific amount of time which makes them go back to the drug more and more because of the fact that they are tired and exhausted from the constant hurt that which they are feeling I know we are also adding a problem but what is it we doing as of right now? Because like the article said bodies are just dropping from overdoses and it seem to be going up and up every year, just the thought of a different way of helping is always a good step in the right direction even if does cause a little more back fire than we would like. junior123
DeleteI agree with what you said. The statistics are alarming and they should not be looked over lightly. The United States needs to do something different in regards to the opioid crisis. We all have seen how the War on Drugs has not really solved anything so it's time that something different should be done. These safe injection sites could work.
Delete-MickSwagger123
Well I agree with you saying that the safe injection sites can be helpful since they are supervised but, what happens when it doesn’t work the way they thought it would. How are we supposed to support them in a way that fits their needs. In a way these safe injection sites can make it even worse on someone when they already think the world is against them. The statistics are very alarming and shouldn’t be overlooked but is it a really good idea to try something new right off the bat? People who use drugs use them for a reason, and sometimes that reason makes them keep using the drug or more onto more serious drugs. It is per say hard to stop someone from using drugs in a sense, overwhelming enough that is why there is so many overdoses happening around the world. It is a major problem and it needs to be stopped for a fact. Overall I do think you know what you’re talking about when you say the safe injections sites are a good idea cause if it works out then we have a one step part to a solution of ending overdoses. Smile456
DeleteIn Peoria alone we have been seeing the rise in opioids and heroin etc. overdose deaths. I don’t do any type of drugs and I don’t condone them but I do not judge. But I see what it is Philadelphia is trying to do because we do say “don’t do drugs” or don’t do this & don’t do that but is that really solving the problem or making people turn they head to drugs no. we can tell people “No” all we want but the real question is we don’t know what it is they are going through that’s so bad that it made them turn to drugs so if we don’t know that how are supposed to led them in a way which we would like them to go? or in a way which would be a deterrent from these overpowered drugs? Or how we supposed to be there and connect on a level where they do not feel hopeless and that the whole entire world is not against them it’s some that’s with them? because we all know from the looks of things once a person uses the drugs it’s a stimulant for the pain which when they use it goes away for a specific amount of time which makes them go back to the drug more and more because of the fact that they are tired and exhausted from the constant hurt that which they are feeling. I’m only 19 years of age so I’m just getting my feet wet when it comes to being very responsible and do things for myself but growing I done saw some things been through some things that let me know that life is not a game to play with and that it’s really hard out here and yet people go around here acting like they life can’t get no better or they get made with they don’t get what they want knowing that they got a necessity that some people would die for which is an a roof to keep you warn at night food & water that keeps alive and people around you to make sure you are kay and not left along at your darkest night. So I do agree that if we can’t stop them as soon as we ask why not suggest a place where they can go and get help from people that know how to help them in a way which they would like to be helped junior123
ReplyDeleteWe are seeing this even as a local issue well having issues of dealing with this head on in places such as Pekin, and Peoria Illinois. As far reaching as this is careful measures must be set in place as this has a tremendous effect on local communities, governments, as well as many other factors that are a part of everyday life. I agree that its more important for people to get help how are dealing with this kind of an issue but I also believe that people just getting these shot treatments shouldn't be the only thing given at these programs due to the fact they will need a support system in addition in order to ensure their own survival. eagle789
DeleteIn Peoria alone we have been seeing the rise in opioids and heroin etc. overdose deaths. I don’t do any type of drugs and I don’t condone them but I do not judge. But I see what it is Philadelphia is trying to do because we do say “don’t do drugs” or don’t do this & don’t do that but is that really solving the problem or making people turn they head to drugs no. we can tell people “No” all we want but the real question is we don’t know what it is they are going through that’s so bad that it made them turn to drugs so if we don’t know that how are supposed to led them in a way which we would like them to go? or in a way which would be a deterrent from these overpowered drugs? Or how we supposed to be there and connect on a level where they do not feel hopeless and that the whole entire world is not against them it’s some that’s with them? because we all know from the looks of things once a person uses the drugs it’s a stimulant for the pain which when they use it goes away for a specific amount of time which makes them go back to the drug more and more because of the fact that they are tired and exhausted from the constant hurt that which they are feeling. I’m only 19 years of age so I’m just getting my feet wet when it comes to being very responsible and do things for myself but growing I done saw some things been through some things that let me know that life is not a game to play with and that it’s really hard out here and yet people go around here acting like they life can’t get no better or they get made with they don’t get what they want knowing that they got a necessity that some people would die for which is an a roof to keep you warn at night food & water that keeps alive and people around you to make sure you are kay and not left along at your darkest night. So I do agree that if we can’t stop them as soon as we ask why not suggest a place where they can go and get help from people that know how to help them in a way which they would like to be helped. 456
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this article and watching the videos, it was interesting that Philadelphia is going to try what other country did so-called "safe injection sites." It sounds good, but we cannot say if it is going to work properly or not, not the same as the other country who are already using it. Drugs are one of the significant problems of the United States and the reason for high recidivism, not just here but all over the world. Since the war on drugs and strict laws, we put more people in jail and prison than those who committed heinous crimes. But what happens to those who got imprisoned once they got out? They go back to doing what they are doing before, for the reason that they have not been given help correctly and rehabilitated when they are behind bars. I think that these sites they are putting in Philadelphia are unique and a new approach to help those who have addictions. In my own opinion, I believe that this sites idea might bring good and bad views due to its way of helping others to save lives. By giving the place, needles, drugs, and assistance for those addicted are what other country did and saw the difference between the person and community. So, I think by giving it a chance to see how it would work in Philadelphia and the impact that it will bring to the people and community must have a limitation because a different country has different people and different ways on how they follow the rules. It is better to take chances for once than go along with the administration to pursue the maximum sentences available for drug offenses. Which will make the prison population high and cause the taxpayers more money to keep them behind bars. -Chopper123
ReplyDeleteI can strongly relate to when this sentence was said- “Extraordinary times require novel thinking,” Philadelphia’s health commissioner, Dr. Thomas Farley, told NBC News." In my opinion, I believe this couldn't be more true because we have tried so many different things and nothing has worked very well thus far, and our problem is only getting worse. Philadelphia is one of many places struggling against the battle of overdoses and drug use. It can be seen right here in our hometown of Peoria, Il too. There have been a rising number of overdoses and drug users in the recent years.
ReplyDeleteSomething that needs to be answered quick about whether or not this idea of Philadelphia’s will work is whether or not this will encourage the use of drugs/increase the statistics we wish to bring down, or if it will truly decrease the rising number of overdoses and help provide safe habits for drug users. On one hand, I can see how having safe places for addicts who truly wish to quit to shoot up/use would have a positive effect. It would help provide medical attention to them, help encourage them with the support of the medical staff, and allow them somewhere safe off the streets to do what their body feels the absolute need to do. Some people do make stupid mistakes in their lives and try something once, but with something like trying heroin/strong opioids once, it can be a life-ending decision.
On the other hand, I can see how this idea would encourage the use of opioids because it’s like the city is saying,”Here ya go guys! Here’s a safe place to shoot up, free medical attention, no worry of overdosing, and free needles!” I could see how this could potentially end up increasing the number of drug users because they feel like it’s becoming something like that of marijuana across the USA- acceptable and in the process of becoming legal- which it isn’t. From my personal family experiences, I can say that if a safe haven had been around Peoria, like what that of what Philadelphia is wanting to establish, when my uncle was still alive, he may still be alive to this day. For this reason, I can honestly say I believe this attempt at helping prevent overdoses/providing a safe atmosphere for drug users is worth a shot. It may be a one in a million shot, but at this point, with all the lives that have been lost/continue to be lost, it’s worth it to me. Hoagie123.
I agree with you that these facilities are a toss up in the air on whether they would work or not. I also agree they may save some lives. What I would like to state though is that it wouldn't just be free needles that these facilities would have to give to any addicts that want to come to these facilities. We all know that addicts have to get high numerous times a day. We also know that these addicts would have to have a place to safely sleep while they are passed out on these drugs. So we would have to have facilities big enough to house these addicts, because you wouldn't allow them to come get high sleep then force them to leave, they would just go get another high else where! With that being said you would think that these addicts would be staying in these facilities getting high, eating, bathing, and sleeping. My concern with that would be would we be encouraging addicts to stay addicts or homeless people who aren't addicts, to become addicts? The reason I ponder this is because people that already have housing typically won't be like "Hey i'm ready to inject this fire into my arm, let me jump on a bus, or walk however far to these facilities, so I can shoot this fire up!" Most people who have their own places will continue to do these drugs in their own places. The people that would want to go to these facilities I feel would be mainly homeless addicts. If these places are supplying everything a person needs to get high why not go to them if your on the streets, especially in the winter time, because they are also supplying everything a person would need to live, and they are staying warm, being fed, and have a bed for free, to go along with their drugs. The moral should be trying to get these people off drugs so they can function in every day life, not give them a place to go where we as tax payers would have to pay for them to live for free so they can get high every day, instead of overcoming this sickness they have and contributing to the society they live in! I do not agree that these facilities would work! I think what would be best would be sticking these addicts in rehabs instead of jail and prisons, and then once they are clean give them a person kind of like a probation officer, to make them do weekly drops, and if they fail to drop without approval, then they will go straight back to the rehabs. Start getting these addicts accounted for, and start getting them the real help they need, and sticking a needle in their arm for them I do not believe is the real help they need!
Delete-MyChildrensKeeper123!
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ReplyDeleteOpioids are one of the leading causes of death due to the transmission of HIV as well as overdose. This problem is getting more pronounced every year. Some cities and states are recommending “Safe Injection Sites “looking for possible ways to not only save lives but to also take the drugs off the streets. The thought is these sites would be equipped with clean needles, medical staff, and Naloxone an overdose reversing drug there would be more addicts using there instead of on the streets and fewer deaths. If these sites become a reality as some have in other countries the addicts using, there are also safe from arrest. This is a very controversial issue facing not only cities and states but also for law enforcement. One of the problems that I am having with this option is the fact that we try to teach our children that drugs are unsafe and can become addictive and can even cause death. Drug use causes all sorts of issues not only for individuals but also for families. Drug use causes loss of jobs, dropouts from school, crime and worse yet death. Children of addicts are typically placed in foster care as their parents are unsafe and unable to care for them. Safe injection sites in my opinion are only encouraging addicts to continue using but now they are safe from arrest and being forced into rehab to try and get clean. These sites are also going to be costly which is going to cause economical issues for city, state and counties. Who is going to foot the bill for this? I am sure it would be the taxpayers. Addicts chose this lifestyle maybe through no fault of their own. But they all had a choice. Seems so unfair to me that families fighting cancer or the elderly needing help cannot get it through their cities, states and government due to cost and cuts in funding. But we are willing or thinking about sites like these to help addicts to continue to use drugs. Something is very wrong with this system.
ReplyDelete--Softball123
I completely understand the "double-edged sword" effect the idea of safe injection sites has on you, because I feel the same way. Not only would we have to pay for it as tax payers, but we would have to explain to our children why those people going in and out of that building aren't getting arrested or being punished for their decision to shoot up. Who's to say we, as taxpayers, even care enough about these people who have made these decisions in their life times to put forth the finances needed to provide them with a "safe place to shoot up." Some of them likely have no intention of ever even changing their ways.
DeleteOn the other hand, however, there can be many lives that could be saved from overdose prevention and diseases from sharing needles. I know from personal experience the effect that heroin can have on someone’s mental state and how badly they always feel the need to want to get their next high. If the participants of the safe-havens truly are trying to change- and by this I mean taking advantage of the medical staff and the support they provide, always using clean needles and ensuring to look after others who may not know about the safe-haven, and who truly have the desire to change and get better. It truly is a very difficult decision.
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DeleteI completely understand the "double-edged sword" effect the idea of safe injection sites has on you, because I feel the same way. Not only would we have to pay for it as tax payers, but we would have to explain to our children why those people going in and out of that building aren't getting arrested or being punished for their decision to shoot up. Who's to say we, as taxpayers, even care enough about these people who have made these decisions in their life times to put forth the finances needed to provide them with a "safe place to shoot up." Some of them likely have no intention of ever even changing their ways.
DeleteOn the other hand, however, there can be many lives that could be saved from overdose prevention and diseases from sharing needles. I know from personal experience the effect that heroin can have on someone’s mental state and how badly they always feel the need to want to get their next high. If the participants of the safe-havens truly are trying to change- and by this I mean taking advantage of the medical staff and the support they provide, always using clean needles and ensuring to look after others who may not know about the safe-haven, and who truly have the desire to change and get better. It truly is a very difficult decision. Hoagie123
The idea that this article is trying to toss at us is that the introduction of safe injection sites would help to lower the number of drug overdose deaths. While I do believe that these safe injection sites will definitely help to lower the number of overdose deaths, we have to question ourselves as to whether or not we are just advocating drug use and making it seem like it is okay. When we look at what the big picture is here with the purpose of these safe injection sites being to save the lives of those who overdose on their drug of choice, it is easy to say that yes they are an excellent idea. These safe injection sites will offer immediate medical attention to those who need it and it will save their lives, which is the goal. However, we also can get the idea in our minds that we starting to become okay with drug use and that we could just be encouraging it in my opinion by having these safe injection sites. I believe that the better alternative to trying to reduce the opioid epidemic would be to set up something more aimed towards rehabilitation for these people that feel they have to depend on that drug they use to get through life. These sites I feel would not aim at trying to ultimately help these people get treatment that they need. By treatment, I am referring rehabilitative treatment, not necessarily medical treatment although it is still important to have the medical treatment there. In the video that was shown in this article, a lady state that these safe injection sites are not a good idea because they will bring more and more addicts to the area. I can understand why she would think bringing more users into the area would be bad because if that happens then suddenly the city begins to have a bad reputation. That city would be known as the city that is filled with drug users and drug use, which would cause many people to feel that it would not be a good place necessarily to either raise or start family due to the amount of drug activity and use in the area. Gymlife456
ReplyDeleteI personally feel like no state should have safe injection sites. I feel like having safe injection site Is allowing people to do illegal drugs. They shouldn’t even want people to do Opioids they aren’t even good for people. I feel like they should be doing more things to have people stop using drugs instead of having more people do drugs. Now since they have a safe injection site more people are going to do drugs simply because they are allowing it. Opioids is a serious drug and its spreading to many states and many people are dying from this drug. I feel like people should be trying to get it off the streets instead of supporting it. I like their idea that they want safe injection sites simply because they will prevent overdose, but I feel like this is the wrong drug to do this for. I think they should do it for something like weed. I don’t feel like having a safe injection site will prevent addiction they still will be addicted they probably just won’t overdose as much. I feel like people should not be able to openly shoot heroin or anything down that line. Like heroin is a serious drug people lives change drastically when they get hock on that drug. I feel like those prevention sites don’t care about the negative affect those drugs have on those people long term wise. I think instead of letting them shoot up they should be helping them not shoot up they should be trying to help them do better in life instead of letting people just throw their lives down the drain. I think it’s a real bad idea I think this sites will make more people try these drugs since they can do it in a safe site. I think if they will let people shoot up heroin they might as well legalize weed flat out since they are letting people shoot up heroin and heroin is way worse than weed will ever be.
ReplyDelete-Jolly Ranchers
I agree with you 100% about the safe injections sites just allowing people to do the illegal drugs, and that no state should have them! and yes because of them having these safe injections sites, it is just going to push people into doing them and them giving them the okay to do so. It wouldn't help anyone. There are so many reasons to not open one of these sites, they are looking at it the wrong way and aren't taking into affect how wrong it really is to give them the okay to inject something so bad for someone into themselves. They look at weed like it's such a bad drug but honestly opiods are way worse and they are just going to let people do it in a "safe" place, how is that safe at all! I just agree with everything you said in this! Motocross123
DeleteI disagree with your statements. The idea of safe injection sites isn't meant to be a permanent solution to the opiate crisis, it's only meant to be a solution to the viral byproducts of widespread opiate abuse and the overdoses which inevitably ensue due to usage. Providing a place where users can safely abuse using sterile products and having access to Narcan in the case of an overdose reduces fatalities and the spread and evolution of HIV and other viral and bacterial pathogens. I also strongly disagree with your statement that opiates are bad for people. Opiates are regulated medications which have comforted and will continue to comfort many thousands of people with leukemia having blast crises, end-stage pancreatic cancer, Lesch-Nyhan syndrome, and countless other terminal illnesses. Opiates are a valuable tool and without them people who have or will have these conditions would experience an agonizing and painful death beyond measure. Opiates have only become a problem once they started to become widely abused by the general population. Much like nuclear fission, for example. A nuclear reactor is a valuable tool that can provide power to many millions of people and can even save the lives of people. However, if militarized, this tool becomes a devastating weapon which can kill many millions. The tool isn't the problem, it's the accessibility and the hands of whom it ends up in. -Gwynbleidd123
DeleteI understand what you are saying, but I have to disagree with your statement. The idea of safe injection site was not allowing people/user to do illegal drugs. It will be medically supervised locations where users can inject legal drugs without fear of arrest. It was the way what other countries did, and they have a good result because as of right now they are still running and helping others. It was not a place where they encourage the user to shoot drugs and prevent overdose. It’s a place where they assist those who seek to change. Example of this is the person from Vancouver, British Columbia, he was addicted before and not four and a year sober/clean, happily married with two kids and a full-time job. It will be the first in the United States, and we cannot tell right away if it has a good impact on the community or it will be the same till we see how it works. We cannot stop people from using illegal drugs even when we put them behind bars. Without help while their incarcerated, they will just go back to what they are doing before. Taking chances is something we need to make than doing the same thing and get the same result.-Chopper456
DeleteThe opioid epidemic is something that is in the headlines of our news almost daily. This issue is getting worse by the day. This is an issue that faces many people and there needs to be a way of fighting this issue head on. Before addicts were considered criminals breaking the law by using and holding drugs. Addicts were then charged held in jails or prisons and forced to undergo rehabilitation. However, to many addicts fell through the cracks and ended up going right back to their ways once they were released. Some states are wanting to try a new approach. Safe injection sites are a proposal of some of these states and has been used in other countries as well. These sites allow addicts to come where they are given new needles to shoot up their drug of choice, have medical assistance available as well as Naloxone an overdose reversing drug in case of them overdosing while there. This is a controversial issue, but the thought is this would reduce the number of deaths on the street as well as the spread of HIV. These people using the drug injection sites would also be free from arrest. Overtime most authorities have understood that those using drugs may not be able on their own to quit using making it a health issue. After viewing the information some of those using these sites have came to the realization they with help can get clean, find jobs and become healthy and happy with families of their own. Now granted there is costs involved for staffing and for the meds used but if these options could safe lives it is worth the cost. Most addicts feel helpless and feel as if they are worthless. Sites like these can show there is hope and people do care about them. this might be all they need to kick the habit. Who knows the reasons some start doing drugs it could be for recreation but most because of a health issue where they were prescribed pain meds to help with the healing process. When the pain subsided, they were fine but when the pain came back they were taking it again. Causing a never-ending cycle and addiction. Will we ever find the answer probably not but rather then punishing we are trying to find cures and answers.
ReplyDelete--Softball456
After reading the article about overdoses in Philadelphia I think that trying to come up with a prevention idea isn’t the safe bet to go. I personally think that they should try and stop the addiction before the overdose problem grows but, after reading it I do agree with them that whatever they got to do to stop people from dying then it must be a good thing.I know for a fact I do not feel like you can just send people to jail because people that go for jail just end up getting out and can’t hardly do anything because of what is on there back. For example it’s hard for them to find a job, it’s hard for them to get a loan out. So overall they just go back to using the drugs that put them in jail for the first place. All for what? Another solution is rehab but, rehab doesn’t always cure a person. Rehab can help someone as long as they wanna help themselves. The real question to ask is safe injection sites are going to work properly or not. The injection sites may be making Philadelphia use a different approach in a unique way. The impact may affect the community well or it might affect it poorly but it is worth a try. Taking chances is all you can do. Smile456
ReplyDeleteI agree with how you said that you can't just send them to prison or jail for using, they clearly need help and prison or jail wouldn't do that for them. But I honestly don't think that they would get the right help from this either. Like you said rehab, prison, or anything for that matter would help these people if they don't want them help. You can't force anyone to do anything, that have to want to do it and chose to do it for themselves.Motocross123
DeleteI agree with you on the prison and jail part but if they go to jail or prison then they will get worse. They will still do it when they get out of prison or jail. People that use drugs are scared to get help but they need it. That Is why police officers should talk to them and help them.
Delete--Softball123
I do agree about what you said that we could not just send people to jail or prison because if we just put them behind bars and not treat them about their addiction, by the time they got out, they will just go back on what they are doing before. It is also true that rehabilitation doesn’t always help or cure a person unless that person decided to help themselves. We cannot tell if this Safe Injection Site will work properly or not till we give it a try. It might affect the community well, or it might change it poorly, but we cannot tell till we try. As of right now we can take chances on new experiment rather than doing the same thing and see no changes at all. -Chopper123
DeleteThis was an interesting article about a overdose prevention strategy. Philadelphia is trying to open a safe injection sites for opioids users. I honestly don't know how I feel about it, I understand why they are trying to push for it because of the rates of overdoses are higher then homicides alone but would it really help stop the overdoses or the uses of heroin or opioids I really don't think so. And honestly I think it would just make people think that it is okay to do these drugs. Do I think they need to send these people to jail or prison for using drugs no definitely not, they need help but in my opinion this wouldn't help them. They need rehab. There is drug overdoses everywhere even in our area, and the rates of them is just ridiculous. People are going to do them no matter what we do to try and stop them or prevent it. It was stated in the article that they would hope that the federal government wouldn't interfere with the local government trying to save lives, how is that helping them save lives, they are just giving them an okay to do it in a "safe" environment, and the federal government should have a say and an opinoin on it. The people that are using aren't criminals by any means, they have a problem which jail or prison time wouldn't help but rehab would. If I would be able to have a say in this, I would not give them the support for it. Motocross123
ReplyDeleteSafe injection sites have been used in Europe, Canada, and Australia and now being introduced to the United States. The opioid epidemic continues to rise across the country and something that we cannot just ignore and say, “That’s not my problem” anymore because we can see how it affects other people and our communities. There are good and bad things that I know this so-called “safe injection sites” that they are going to try and experiment in Philadelphia will bring to community and people. For some people they will not agree about how the procedures work because the experiment way is to give those addicted and user a place to shoot up and use, providing them needles and drugs and medical assistance free of charge in case they overdose. As of right now a lot of us see this experiment as a ridiculous idea to help those users to get better because we think that we are encouraging them to use more than to stop them. The example of this safe injection site is the one in Vancouver, British Columbia that opened in 2003 known as InSite. They reported that 700 users come in to shoot up drugs install using clean needles, and with more than 4000 people that overdose, no one died. One person who comes to the site and given help, assistance and decided to change is now four and a half years sober/clean. Happily married with two kids and a full-time job. The InSite was a place to help, as a rehabilitation center. The one that they are opening in Philadelphia was model from the Insite facility. We cannot tell right away how it would work to the people and community till it starts running. Its hard to judge when we know that it was the first in the nation. If we look at the result of the safe injection site from other country and the way it saves people lives from overdosing and death, it would be remarkable, and it will also clean the street of used needles that can result to HIV infection. We cannot reduce the city’s fatal overdose rate of 46.8 deaths per 100,000 residents by urging prosecutors to pursue the maximum sentences available for drug offenses and showing signs of a stricter overall approach to drug criminalization. Like Philadelphia’s health commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley told NBC News, “Extraordinary times require novel thinking.” Sometimes we have to take chances to lower and prevent death rate to increase and especially to help others in need. -Chopper456
ReplyDeleteFrom a purely medical standpoint, the recent surge in opiate usage and overdoses poses an ever growing threat to humanity, but not in the way that the general population may believe. In my experience, opiate users are much more ambitious than users of other drugs. They will often commit more property crimes in order to further their habit or, in the case of some women, will prostitute themselves in exchange for a fix. These are problems which need to be addressed on a greater scale than they currently are, however, they aren't the largest threat posed to the general population. The primary pathway of usage for opiates is through intravenous means. After a while, though, the user's veins will collapse and once they have no easy IV access, they generally switch to injecting the opiate through intramuscular means. Regardless of whether they choose IV or IM, both pathways require inserting a needle into the body. It's very common for opiate users to often share needles or re-use a needle until they lose it or it breaks. As you can imagine, using a needle that has just been inside of four or five other people isn't the safest idea and as a result, HIV rates are much more rampant among opiate users than among the general population. The human immunodeficiency virus is just that, a virus. Viruses are notoriously prone to rapid evolution and when you introduce a factor like this it only acts as fuel to the fire. This idea of a safe injection environment endorsed by the city of Philadelphia isn't a permanent solution to the worsening opiate crisis, but it is a step in the right direction. It offers a probable solution to the spread of HIV and other bloodborne pathogens as well as a chance to educate the opiate user about the risks and detrimental aspects of opiate usage as well as options to rehabilitate the user. Another aspect that this program could help with is the inevitable problem that ensues when an opiate user does relapse. After using opiates for a long time, the user experiences less and less of the high as they use the same amount. To increase the effects, they usually titrate the dosage given to the effects felt. Once the user quits, however, the body's resistance to the effects of opiates decreases more and more the longer someone stays clean. If the person does relapse and return to the dosage they were taking prior to quitting, they inevitably overdose. Therefore, this program allows for the education of overdose risks as well as general usage risks. Luckily, in this area, fentanyl patches are much more popular than Heroin or other traditional injected opiates. A common overdose call here usually sees the user having been found wearing a belt of fentanyl patches around their abdomen or waist in order to increase the effects felt in comparison to their last usage. This poses a new threat to first responders or anyone else who discovers and attempts to help the user. Usually, when searching or treating an opiate user, there is a risk of being stuck by needles. However, in the case of patches, there is a risk of the medicated side of the patch coming into contact with the responder's skin. Again, this program is a step in the right direction, however it's not a permanent solution. -Gwynbleidd123
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I think that giving opioid addicts a safe haven or a safe place to “shoot-up” while being supervised by medical professionals is really smart because it will bring down the overall number deaths from overdoses significantly, as it did in Vancouver. This will help to get addicts off the street and perhaps even get help. This will also help to clean up communities where dirty needles and empty, used syringes litter the streets, because the addicts will be in a safe environments and not on the streets. It’s a good idea to make these type of people know that what they’re doing is not a “drug” problem, it’s a health problem and they shouldn’t be ashamed, they should be open to accept help and seek guidance if they need it. A lot of drug addicts are ashamed and feel shunned so they don’t think to ask anyone for help, or to “bother” someone so they keep to themselves, which can lead to them overdosing while alone, leading to their death. A lot of people die regardless of prevention programs and telling people not to do drugs, so if they can come up with a way to get people to come in and help themselves then I can definitely see the good in that.
ReplyDelete-Xehanort123
I agree with you because people that use drugs are scared to get help but they need it. That Is why police officers should talk to them and help them. When I become a officer I will help people that wants help. I am glad Philadelphia is catching up to this because this is really serious.
Delete--Softball456
I think that allowing heroin addicts to do drugs openly is a very bad thing. Our society is becoming more and more okay with drug use and that we should be free to do any drug we want if it truly is a free country. While I agree that we should be able to do any drug we want, we should not be pushing for it or smiling upon it. I believe that it should be illegal and frowned upon. Over the past few years, so many artists have died from drug use, be it Xanax, lean, cocaine, whatever, and this shouldn’t be happening. We live in a culture that enables addicts and glamorizes drug use and allowing users a place to do it without penalty is a foolish idea and will lead to the further degeneration of our country. I hope this trend ends with Philadelphia. We need to stop idolizing and enabling drug users and start restoring/helping our communities reach their fullest, drugless potentials.
ReplyDelete=Xehanort456
From reading this article, I feel like this is the most hypocritical thing I’ve came across. I guess what im not understanding is how and why would this be considered legal and how these injection sites are going to “put an end” to opioid overdose across America. These drug sites are literally places where drug addicts are able to think it is okay and acceptable to be on or doing the drugs provided. Sure, the only thing from this article that i would consider a positive is the prevention of HIV infection with them providing sterile needles, but all i can think about other than this is how this whole plan to end opioid usage is a set up. I just find this whole thing extremely backwards since it seems that they are trying to put a stop to this but at the same time offering the drugs. The people that put these sites together should be more pro on getting the incoming people treatment right off the bat rather than offering and proving them help if they “really” want it. I could see this as a way for people struggling with addiction to take advantage of using without any consequences. Maybe it’d be a smarter idea to look at building more rehabilitation centers and actually getting these people some real help. Im sure others can agree that drug addiction is more of a health problem rather than a criminal problem. To me seeking to cause harm and trouble isn't necessarily an addicts motive and that's what people fail to realize. Drugs make people act out and do inappropriate things. But from reading this article i don't think my mind will ever be changed on this idea. The “safe” injection sites are nothing but legalizing drug use and i feel like if the people behind it are so compassionate about these people's lives and safety, then they should be finding a better way to pull them away from their problem, but pushing them further in.
ReplyDeleteHiwelcometochilis456
The article, as well as the videos, did a great job at tackling both sides of the opioid problem in our country. There people on both sides of this debate, who feel that their way is the best way. I for one believe that, allowing opioid users a safe haven to shoot up drugs, is not only morally wrong, but also illegal. Letting users, addicts, etc. use places to shoot up their drugs without legal ramifications sends a message to society. The message being that it is ok to use drugs, that the users themselves are the victims of their own choices. That just allows people to do keep living their lives recklessly, and hurting those around them. I believe that the opioid crisis in this country could have been prevented had there been abundantly stringent rules and guidelines in terms of how opioids were being used and prescribed. It has been clearly proven that physicians time and time again, preferred giving patients opioids for their physical ailments, rather than perusing alternative forms of pain management. America did not see the opioid epidemic coming, doctors kept pushing opioids for their patients, causing the epidemic to grow at an astounding rate. The drugs used to bring back into full consciousness do not always work, and therefore places like the one being opened up in Philadelphia could be held legally responsible for letting people overdose and die. In a way that could be viewed as reckless or negligent homicide. From a public safety standpoint, wherever this facility is located in Philadelphia, crime will go up, possibly drug related crimes. Robberies or burglaries will increase because users who are short on cash will do anything to score drugs, then take those drugs to the facility in Philadelphia, and shoot up without the fear of being arrested. In Europe and Canada safe injection sites have been proven to be successful, but the drug laws of the countries in Europe, and the nation of Canada are different than those of the United States. In America, state and federal laws can differ. States’ rights and sovereignty only can go so far, because federal does stump state law in the end. I have a strong feeling that the Federal Government will step in and shut down the facility in Philadelphia. I had a childhood friend who overdosed on heroin three years ago, the last time I remember him being happy was in grade school, why create, and facilitate a place where it is legal to keep yourself.
ReplyDelete--Acquit456.
This article is basically promoting people to do a hard drug, but having safe clean injections and so that they don't overdose on the drug. This is mind blowing to me to be honest. The opiods are cleaning these people for a reason and honestly if they want to open up a safe place for people to do drugs go right ahead I would love to see the effects of the situation. Having the streets filled with major drug addicts is wrong. I do agree that there should be safer places for these people. Having them go to rehab is one of them. America will not let this happen, they cant even let marijuana legal around the world. This could end well or really badly. In efforts of philly become the state to try and save these people so they can do the drugs safely? They shouldn't be doing the drugs at all in my opinion. You're killing your body either way I don't care if its safe or non safe. Knowing people are going to be able to get away with doing hard drugs, it's not just smoking a lil grass with your friends. Its injecting needles in your arm and ruining your body. We might as well have places where you can buy this drug and sell it out to everyone and anyone. This is very embarrassing to me that anyone would come up with an idea like this. People need to find a healthier lifestyle, knowing we live in a world where people have to put a needle in there arm over and over each day is crazy to me. Were promoting drugs that don't need to be promoted. Sooner or later we're going to have places people can shoot up heroin and do coke. If people are caught on the streets doing these ILLEGAL drugs are they going to go to jail or are we just going to send them to these clinics where they can do it legally. Its a very confusing weird topic that I don't agree with at all and they should not be promoting people to these drugs.Conrad123
ReplyDeleteI find this to me crazy as well. I believe that it's been thought of before, but it more crazy that local authorities promote the idea. I too would like to see the results from these sites. I assume it would be positive. I think you are looking at the site as more promoting drug use. I think it is doing what is best. Either way the addicts are going to get their fix. They aren't thinking, damn the safe sites are closes so I'm not going to do drugs. They are going to do them in dirty, or dangerous places. So why not give them a place to do it, but not supply it. If people are withdrawing, they can get other medicine that will treat them. I do agree with this life choice being absurd and not fair to ones self. Although these people have a problem and just need help. Hopefully these clinics can help people towards remission and save them before it's too late.
Delete^~^ Itis456
Yes for sure hopefully these clinics help these people and they save there life. But why promote these places? This is not just a hit of grass. We should stop these people from doing drugs. Im not saying it wouldn't help these people, but these is not what we need in society. conrad123
DeleteThis video is going to cause a bunch of disagreement on whether these ejection sites are a good thing. Right off the bat, I’m going to say that I am in favor of these sites. Having a safe place to shoot up is ideal, and way better than on some street. People are careless and overdose all the time. These sites make it possible to look over people and make sure they aren’t about to kill themselves! So it’s saving lives, but at the same time preventing addiction. These sites are offering treatment opportunities for willing addicts. Although, I see why people, like the senator would get mad. Some people would just be using these sites to get either a free high, or a place to enjoy it. I think it still is better than letting people get harmed by doing it out on the streets. If this is saving lives, then I don’t see a problem. Like the one story that guy had in the video. He came into the site, and overdosed. He had a nurse save him, and it inspired him to seek recovery. Not saying we want people to almost die to realize they need help, but it sometimes happens. Better a life saved, then another casualty. And as the cop said in the video, the current hard drug laws aren’t working. I agree with what the president has decided to do with hard drug laws. It’s a bold, but smart move to move people away from the drugs. Although, I think incarceration is the way to go to get people to stop taking said drug. I think it just causes them to go through withdrawal and as soon as they get out, they get hooked right back on the stuff. The studies show that the more number of drug arrest doesn’t lower the number of addicts. This is also coming from an experienced member of law that has been able to see both sides of the law. So, understand where he is speaking, or coming from. At least these sites are decreasing those numbers. Supposably, and expectaily. Saying that for technical reasoning. I would love to hear some reasons as to my someone would think this is a bad idea to do. I’m very open minded but I just don’t see the harm in these little sites. I just hope police don’t take advantage of these sites and begin profiling the people that go.
ReplyDelete^~^ Itis123
I completely respect your opinion in saying that you see how these could save lives. I am all for saving lives also. If these could truly be the means to start a change toward less drug use then these sites should be opened. I just see a problem arising though, which mainly comes from the fact that these places can take away a person’s sense of consequences for their actions. Why would someone want to stop using drugs if they have a safe place to do so and medical attention if needed? There thinking can then be shifted from, “There very well may be consequences to my actions,” to, “What is the harm in doing this since I am in a safe haven where the law cannot touch me?” The main need for chronic drug users is rehabilitation, and instead of being rehabilitated, rather their drug use is being reinforced. This reinforcement would come from the fact that these places are being provided by the government, the same government that always states they want the best for their general welfare. Not only this, but they may go to these centers and see dozens upon dozens of other people doing the same exact things as they are doing, thus reinforcing their behavior. (Patriots123)
DeleteSafe injection sites are not a bad approach, by any means, but they are an incomplete solution to a widespread problem. The drug using population must still live under threat of arrest while these drugs are criminal to use and produce. This is a radical position, but the present situation is clearly untenable. Kicking in doors and arresting users, while viscerally satisfying to the public's desire to abolish drugs entirely, have done little to actually prevent the proliferation of such narcotics. The hard question that we are now presented with is this: are we to maintain the present course, or legalize them? Would the situation be improved if medical companies like Bayer were able to produce and distribute it legally, at medically approved standards? Would the situation be improved if the population of abusers were not forced to live in fear of arrest? Are we making the problem better or worse when we add violence into the mix?
ReplyDeleteI come down decidedly on the side of voluntary action. There are very few circumstances that are improved when lethal force is added to the equation, and employing it to stop people from ingesting substances that are harmful strikes me as nothing less than a slippery slope into totalitarianism. We have tried Prohibition before, and all that it managed to produce were gangsters, bootleggers, and Nascar. Only one of those things outlasted the end of Prohibition at any great scale, and it involves a lot less violence than the other two (on a good day). In Colorado, for instance, there has been a reduction in overall usage of marijuana since its legalization, and although it's not quite comparable to heroin, the psychology does transfer to a degree. Removing the taboo from narcotics and treating them in the same manner as alcohol and cigarettes has borne fruit in Colorado. Perhaps wider consideration ought to be given to these questions.
-Arsenal456
I most definitely agree with you in the aspect of what we have been doing with fighting drugs has not been working. As far as legalizing the drugs and opening up these safe injection facilities though, I would have to ask you where would the cost of these facilities come from? Are these facilities going to be just another thing we have to pay for as tax payers? How are these facilities going to be ran? Addicts would need to sleep and eat after they get high, so we would have to have big enough facilities to house these addicts after they get high. For how long can they stay in these facilities that we as tax payers would be paying for? Addicts typically have to get high numerous times a day, so that would interpret that most of the addicts going to these facilities would probably be the homeless ones, which means if they are able to be housed, eat free, shower free, get high, and sleep, they would never leave. So wouldn't we then just be creating a place for the homeless? The addicts that live in their own housing would either just go there and stay for free or not go to these places for help and still be overdosing. Legalizing these drugs would free up prisons and jails, but the cost would be going into these other facilities. Personally I think instead of allowing people to do drugs in a safe facility, the addicts should go straight to rehab as their punishments, and then have probation type officers that make them come in and drop weekly, if they fail to come in without an approval ahead of missed appointment, then they will be dropped back off at rehab. The only difference between a rehab and this type of facility is a rehab we are saying NO to drugs where as this we are saying it's okay to do drugs as long as you're supervised! Rehabs are already housing these people, so lets keep it that way! Get these people the help they need! -MyChildrensKeeper456
DeleteI am quite astonished with this article! As I read this article and listened to the videos that are attached to it, I am appalled by the idea that Philadelphia and Seattle are planning on opening up facilities for “safe injections”. Opioids are drugs that are taken to “relieve” pain and relax people. Opioids are typically taken in the form of a pill like your standard vicodins, oxys, morphine, and Demerol that you may be prescribed legally from your doctor. The problem is, these opioids are not always taken legally. These pills are taken in illegal ways including being injected in a form called heroin. They lead to a high percentage of deaths, and because of that these cities think these facilities will help. I honestly see a ton of things wrong with the idea of these facilities. The first problem that I have with the fact that they are planning on opening these sites, is that as everyone should be quite aware that drugs are highly illegal! By opening these facilities and allowing people to come to these facilities and use opioids “safely,” is pretty much saying these cities are giving the green light on drugs. I know people are going to argue the fact that most opioids are legal medications, and they would rather people be taking medications that help relieve pain in a safe environment rather than other hard drugs like cocaine, meth, LSD, ecstasy, or any other hard drugs or steroids. The problem with saying taking one kind of drug is okay, and not Okaying all drugs is a problem in itself. How can a community arrest people for taking these drugs illegally, but yet allow people to walk in their door and take the drugs right in front of their face? Are we going to have the same mentality with the hard drugs and just allow people to do them as long as they are in one of these facilities? Are we going to say that these drugs are still grounds for arrest if done outside of these facilities, but legal as long as they are done in these facilities? My second point about opioids, is that China is the primary source where fentanyl comes from! Fentanyl is a highly addictive narcotic added to opioids and heroine. Fentanyl is a person’s best friend when used medically for surgery as an anesthesia or as a pain killer. The problem with this narcotic is that because it can suppress pain, people become addicted to the temporary high they get from taking these narcotics, and can become highly dependent on these drugs. I have seen in numerous studies done with Placebo pills, that people will take pills
ReplyDelete-MyChildrensKeeper123 (continued in comment below)
thinking that they will help with whatever issue the person is having, when in reality the only thing that’s “helping or curing” them, is their mind! These pills are filled with sugars and non reactive ingredients, and are safe to take. My point with placebo pills is that if we were to cut the addictive products like fentanyl out by stopping its imports to America, and either find another way to make less addictive pills like Tramadol, or replace addictive pills with placebo pills, and make the population think they are getting high, then maybe we can cut back on the amount of deaths due to overdoses! I am sure everyone has tried the experiment at least once in their life where you give a friend a beverage that you claim is alcohol, and really it’s just a juice or other similar type of beverage, and they drink it and act as if they are getting waisted. In reality they are sober as sober gets, but because they think they are drinking, they start appearing and acting drunk. It is the same concept with these pills, if people were to think these pills are still laced with the ingredients to get them high, they will take them still thinking they are high, when in reality they are not, and since the pills are only sugars and other safe products, it is less likely to see overdoses. Allowing people to continue taking drugs and just telling them to make sure to come to a facility to do them, in my opinion, is not going to help. Yes, the ones that come to the facilities can be saved if they overdose, but people love the thrill of living on the dangerous side, that’s why a lot of people do drugs. So in reality most of these addicts will not go to these facilities anyway because they will either feel ashamed, like they will be judged, like they could get in trouble and possibly arrested, or like they will have people forcing help onto them, which is not what most of them want! There is a high chance that if people become accepting of the use of these opioids, that people will just move onto a harder drug that people still aren’t okay with, or they will just continue doing it illegally under the radar. My third issue is that I am concerned on exactly where the expenses of these places will be coming from. Do we as tax payers have to pay into these facilities as well? The 24/7 staff that would have to be needed; because people don’t just do drugs during business hours; and then all the medical supplies that would have to be paid for because most addicts get high multiple times a day. Also are these facilities supplying the drugs or just the needles? If they are supplying the drugs, how are they being paid for? Are we just giving addicts unlimited supplies of high, because again addicts usually get high numerous times a day, so it’s not like you can just be there while they get high once and then expect that they will be fine the rest of the day or week. They would pretty much be moving in because they need their fixes daily and numerous times a day! If the drugs are being supplied, then technically the facilities are breaking a few laws, is that really okay?
Delete-MyChildrensKeeper123
In a sense I really agree with what you have to say. Opioids are a very big problem in Philly and taking them illegally should not be tolerated. They are encouraging people to use them, when they should never be using the harmful drugs in the first place. On the other hand though, there does need to be change. When there is 907 overdose deaths in the city in 1 year, something must be done. If that means they have to give them a safe place to shoot up then so be it. They might as well give it a try and see how well it works in the city. I do agree with most of the statements you made in your comment though
DeleteIcantgrowabeard456
This opioid problem has been around for a while now, and the numbers of overdoses are finally high enough to where people think it is time to step in and try to help these people who are addicted. Wanting to help these people is on the right track towards finding a solution to these drugs, but I do not think that safe injection sites are the answer. These sites give immunity to the drug users, and just promotes their drug use. Granted, these establishments provide a safe and clean environment for these people, and I am sure that feels good as a drug user to not be worried about dying, or being arrested while shooting up. These sites have good intentions but they will be taken advantage of inevitably. People need to come up with a better way, or make some changes to the plan they have already concerning these places. Opioid drugs cover a wide variety of drugs, and also comes with many different ways to take them. I blame doctors for prescribes too many powerful pain killers after surgeries or procedures, and then continuing to give these people more even after the pain has passed. Laws should be made, and enforced that will prevent medical professionals from giving out more prescriptions than is needed, and there needs to be follow up appointments with their patients to make sure they either still have the pain and need more, or are okay and are just trying to get more pills because they have become addicted. The danger of these drugs, and the new more powerful ones that are becoming easier and easier to get, such as fentanyl, are making the risk for these people higher and higher. Synthetic fentanyl is much more dangerous than heroine, and injecting a very small amount alone is enough to kill. All of these drugs keep showing up, and becoming easier to get, and that is why overdose numbers are going up. Like I said before the people opening up these safe injection sites are on the right track with wanting to help, and hopefully they can slow down the death rates among these addicts while another solution is being thought of so that we can truly help these people, and in a perfect world cure these people of their addictions. Of course there will be some people who do not want help and they are going to do the drug either way because they don’t know anything else, but there are many others who need help. Wings456
ReplyDeleteI agree with you in the fact that it may slow down the death rate in the drug community but it may also increase the overall use in the local community as well. By no means am I saying that the users should not get the safe area but I also foresee a problem of increase use stemming from the misunderstanding that it will become more acceptable or that you will have no law enforcement retaliation for use and they would start to go there to use opioids such as heroine. I think that it is generally a good idea but I also believe that we need to tread carefully if we decide to pursue this course of action. TheMarshall789
DeleteUpon reading the article about Opioids and the facilities that are opening in Philadelphia and Seattle to allow drug users to come into and take these drugs in a safe manner is a good idea in the aspect that it may possibly save a few lives. There is research out that shows that after locking these offenders up they are most likely going to return to jail or prison. It is a never ending cycle that no one quite has an answer to. Should we keep locking them up for breaking a man made law because we feel it should be illegal to get high? Or should we be doing something else to help these addicts and hope that they will eventually start cleaning up, and the drugs will start decreasing in the streets, and people will stop dyeing in high rates from overdoses? Well I think we can all mostly agree on the facts that jail/prison isn’t working, so the only thing a person can really do is try something else. These facilities will have medical staff there in case of overdoses, which will most definitely save lives. The only problem is that it is an unsure thing as far as how the facilities will work as far as how many times a day a person can come in to get high because we know addicts typically get high numerous times a day? Where they will getting the drugs from; from the facility or bring them in themselves? Are we housing these addicts because usually when people get high they need to eat and sleep? Are we going to start them on treatments while they are there? I can go on and on with unanswered questions on how they think this would work, but once these questions come with answers the fact that addicts have an option to go to a safe haven to do their drugs instead of out in public places where they are using dirty needles, running the possibilities of being raped, mugged, beaten up, or injuring themselves, is a blessing. I would hope that if these facilities do open that these addicts will take the initiative to use these facilities and overcome their addictions. Maybe there is an answer in the light of legalizing drugs? People become drug addicts and dealers because of the sense of living on the dangerous side; it tends to give them a rush. If we take away the sense of being watched, doors being kicked in, jail and prison numbers, and just let them do what they want to do, maybe there is a chance that dealers won’t have the adrenaline rush from selling anymore, and will stop selling which would then also stop addicts from having drugs to buy? Or would legalize these drugs just open the flood waters for the site of profit, and have companies distributing drugs to people anyway? Instead of Marlboro cigarettes, we may have companies called Highlife that would be selling Heroine. Which in a way could stop the increase in jails and prisons of drug dealers? If the drugs are legal, and being sold by legal companies for cheaper prices or equivalent that you can get on the streets, then there would be no use for drug dealers because they won’t be able to make profits anymore. So the decrease in housing so many drug dealers and addicts in prison may go down; which would start saving us money; but that also runs a risk that the population of drug users may go up, yes we would then have these safe havens to use; which would be where our money went that got freed up from all the people in prison; but in all honestly that just may lead to the death of even more people due to overdoses. So the big question is, will this help or hurt our society?
ReplyDelete-MyChildrensKeeper456
In a sense, I agree with some of your opinions. I do believe that drug use has absolutely plagued of country. I do see where these safe houses could be a means of cutting down on the use of dirty needles, and at least clean up the environment behind drug use a little. The issue that lies behind all of this is that any use of these kind of drugs are not going to be safe. We aren’t talking about a drug like marijuana, that does not have practically any harsh affects associated with it. The drugs that are being spoken about in these safe houses are drugs such as heroin and fentanyl. The consequences behind these drugs are often times horribly deadly. To open up a public place and say that it is okay to do it in this area puts not only medical personnel working there at risk, but also the users themselves. With the lack of consequences that could be behind their actions, what would drive them to stop? They are receiving medical assistance while still being able to administer this drug, it is essentially the best of both worlds for a chronic drug user who has no will to stop what they are doing. (Patriots123)
DeleteIn ways this could help people and we could save much of people's lives. We know if we can keep these people of the treats and get them to these “safe clinics” we can maybe show them safer ways to do the drug and maybe get off of the drug. We are entertained on this topic because people have no idea what it can do to your body or how are these drugs affected. It can affect your body obviously because people overdose all the time on this drug. I agree that if there going to do the drug they need to do it the safe way and not affect their body. I don't disagree trying to encourage people do stay alive. We are promoting this for a good cause. Having doctors or people knowing what they are doing with the needles is a way safer way for homeless people living on the streets. But encouraging this is not a healthy way we should have these people going to rehab instead of going to a place where they can do the drug the safe way? Conrad 456.
ReplyDeleteThe loss of life to drugs in the United States is very high and only seem to be getting higher as the world progress forward. Drugs are often used to “free” as person from daily or ongoing stress that the person may believe is overwhelming and unconquerable. As a conservative thinker, I do not agree with the use of drug and believe that they can, generally, only destroy or worsen lives of US citizen. I do not agree with the use, however, after reading this articles, I believe that this would be a great idea. The use of drugs is not something the US as a whole has been able to stop and I believe that if this site given users the ability to drugs and remove the possibility to harm other citizens and further harm themselves, then it should be given a chance in the US. This would also be a great thing for studies as we could gather a large amount of information about drug use and the affects, as well as information of the effects of drugs on a person. This safe place for the users really agrees with me on a personal note because it may remove some possible harm to other people. However, I also see that this may cause some problems for the city because it may give people the idea that they may partake of opioids without the negative effects of police containment and may further lead to a bigger problem within the city itself. Should this be the case, we will have a safer area to do drugs like opioids but also I foresee an increase of users in the locals area as well. In my own opinion, that would be the bigger of two evils and it will affect us if we do and if we do not. Either way, it will affect us in some way. –TheMarshall789
ReplyDeleteWhen I first ventured into reading this article, I had no idea what a safe-injection site was. To me, the name “safe-injection site” itself is pretty ironic. I say this mainly because there is no way to completely make extreme drug use safe. Even though there may be doctors on site, that in no way makes the use of these drugs any safer. The upside of these sights would be, yes, there is immediate medical personnel there in the case that someone overdoses and needs immediate assistance. Don’t get me wrong, I, of course, value each and every person’s life. If this could potentially save lives of those caught in the midst of drug addiction, then it could be a viable option. Although it could help some, I have to say I stand in opposition to the idea of having these in our country. The first major issue it would present would be the fact that it brings the use of these drugs more out in the open. Instead of people being ashamed of their choices and potentially seeking help because of it, they may see the safe houses as places that are beginning to normalize the use of these toxic drugs. With drug use being out in the open, chronic users may see this as more of a reason to continue using. Rather than getting help to stop, they may go to these safe places to get help with reversing the effects of these drugs. This promotes an idea that drug use should be accepted as normal, rather than something that should not be happening. It promotes use and then medical treatment as opposed to rehabilitation. On top of the personal issues, we then get into issues that would fall onto law enforcement individuals. How would these kinds of centers be enforced in the eyes of the law? The activities that would be occurring here would be completely illegal. How then would officers go about doing their jobs in getting these deadly drugs off of the streets when they are being promoted at these centers? In a sense these centers would provide an immunity from the normal action taken against them when they are found doing drugs anywhere else. In reality, these centers are saying, “Look it’s okay for you to do these drugs here, but not anywhere else.” But in this case, how do the police explain and distinguish between the two? (Patriots123)
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the article and watching the video I am honestly at a standstill on the opinion. I can honestly see how it would be helpful and how it could also be very harmful to people. Overall Philadelphia has a terrible opioid problem on their hands. I thought it was incredible that the number of overdoses doubled from the previous year. It was already at 459 and last year it spiked to 907 people. That is a crazy amount of people dying from this addiction. I do not really know how I feel about the safe places for opioid users. On one side I can actually see how it could be beneficial. People are using these drugs in very dangerous environments and using very bad needles on the streets when they use opioids. This clinic, as it stated in the article, would provide users with a safe place to use the drug with clean needles so they do not have to worry about diseases or other issues they may have while using on the street. Also if someone is addicted to these opioids, they are going to use them anyways, whether that is in a safe environment or not. They might as well have a safe place to do it and might receive help and treatment afterwards. I can also see how the places might be a bad idea as well. I can see this as some kind of promotion for people using opioids, when it is not. It is telling people that it is okay to use the drug and to come here and use it. They will not be arrested for doing it. I can see the conflict in that and how it could get out of hand. There might be better ways then just allowing the person to shoot up in a safe environment. I personally would like Philadelphia to give it a try however and use the clinics. 907 deaths from overdosing is a huge number and something has to be done to stop it. They might as well give it a try and see if it works for the addicts and if they get treatment with it afterwards. If it fails then they can just take it away, but they wont know unless they try it. No matter what the city decides, they had better choose quick before the overdose deaths keep going up in Philly
ReplyDeleteIcantgrowabeard456
This article stated that, User for drugs such as opids and heroin can inject themselves without fear of being arrest, In October of 2017 I lost my step mom and my little sisters one is 4 one is 6 lost their mom due to heroin overdose with having places like this could make a difference as this could have saved her life and prevented this. Many families have impacts such as these losing friends, siblings, and parents so having a prevention of lost of life is critical for these people because to often they fail to seek help for fear of the conquences of seeking help. Even having the police commissioner for Philadelphia on board as they realize that this issue is far outreaching even in mindset of just law enforcement alone, this issue is so critical he stated that he went from a opposed point of view into having an open mind regarding having these sites available for people who may have overdosed as he understand the importance this has as many people have lost their lives due to the epidemic that we have folding on hand. Even more of a harsh reality that even from birth 25% are drug dependent babies.Desibite pushback that may come from federal authorities there must be a stand to ensure that these individuals have access to treatment programs if not this could mean death. This issue comes from addictions that are in many painkillers as well as many other medications that are issued to individuals and at such an early age as well we are creating a culture thats dependent for these issues as well as other issues all this needs to be charge through the idea of reform. Another fact is many of these doctors were paid based on the number of predictions that were written to patients. 300,000 illegal ones have been written that had links to opioid overdose. eagle789
ReplyDeleteI agree. When I saw the commissioner say that at first he thought it would be a terrible idea, i didn’t think he was too crazy for thinking that. I mean letting people do drugs in a certain area is a huge risk. But then the more i thought about it, the more i realized that this could really help people. As long as it saves people from overdosing or getting diseases from dirty needles, then it’s doing the job it was intended to do. Who knows, it could maybe even make people quit the habit. I think it was great you pointed out that there were illegal prescriptions written that could have possibly caused deaths.
Delete- ST789
I think this is a really cool approach to drug problems with opioids. The article explains that Philadelphia is making safe injection sites were the user does not have to fear arrest while being there. This idea seems to be really cool. I feel like this could save many people by doing this and maybe even let some people get off of the drugs. I’m not exactly sure how well this would work out with rules and regulations since heroin is such a criminalized drug. One thing in this article that blew me away was that it says there was 1,200 deaths related to opiods. This number was nearly four times the amount of homicide related deaths. But like i mentioned earlier, I don’t understand how this is going to get past with the liability and federal laws. It would be a huge liability to just let people of the city do very illegal drugs. Granted it would allow them to do this and possibly get themselves off of these drugs, but there is still a huge risk involved in doing something like this. When I watched the video attached to this they talked about how the war on drugs kind of failed. After people realized this, that is when they started to come up with better ideas and ways to start to fix the problem. When they started doing this, the video mentioned that they started to look at it as a health problem rather than a crime problem. I think this is a really good thing to change the outlook on this stuff because obviously throwing them in prisons is not working. They go into prisons. Serve time, and then as soon as they get out they use again and go back. It’s just a revolving door if we do not do something about it.
ReplyDelete- ST789
I can definitely see the benefits as to why this would be a good idea but their is also so many factors that go into a situation like this. Such as how would even them a space to do drugs help them get off of drugs? To me that is just encouraging them to do the drugs not stop them. Also a big thing that I pointed out was even when they use these injection sites how long are you going to keep them their because you can be end for hours on end. I would hope they do not just send them out into the public because that would be ever unsafe for the public. I was very back and forth on this article but I do see some benefits as to why it could possible be a good idea.
DeleteHollywood789
Yes I agree to a certain extent. I feel like going to these sites were they don’t have to worry about being arrested is good for them, but at the end of the day its not reducing addiction. I can view how it may potentially reduce the overdose of drugs because now they can get it at the inSite place without any worries. I am totally fine with it, but people should be more eye opened to taking care of themselves so they don’t pass out. Being safe is the number one thumb rule to remember at the end of the day, but totally agree overall. - LILPUMP789
DeleteThe opioid epidemic is spreading and it is spreading quickly. Even here in my hometown of Peoria. This was never this bad of a problem. Yes, you would get the people that were looking for a way to get high, so they started to shoot up heroin. That’s where people run into the problem of overdosing. No one knows about what is put or what is mixed with the heroin that people buy off the streets. Especially now with the makers of the heroin putting fentanyl into the mix which is extremely deadly. Here in our hometown, we hear about the overdosing and the deaths that come from overdosing. It has gotten so bad, that the officers on the street have to carry Narcan kits with them. Majority of the people that overdose, are the ones that just can’t kick that addiction. Some of these people even after facing death because of heroin, still go back and keep doing it over and over again. I have mixed feelings you could say about the safe injections sights. I do think that having medical staff there is better because if someone overdoses, they are there to help them. I am also against this because regardless of it being safe, it is still illegal according to the law. I know it’s an addiction that the person has but they do have that option of going and getting help. It is just hard for them because of the withdraws they suffer. I think if they do go to one of the safe injection sites, they should have to sing up for rehabilitation programs. People have to think about the decisions that they make and how they can impact you. Especially with drugs. People would do so much to get that little bit of drugs to get them that high that they need. In Peoria, we are averaging at least one overdose a day. They say that they are only going to do a little bit, but they don’t realize how much damage a little bit can do to a single person. The war that we did lose for sure was the war on drugs. There was so much done to try and keep the drugs out of the United States but they all managed to make it in. I believe if someone is arrested for heroin or any hard drug like that, the arrestee should have to go through a rehabilitation program.
ReplyDelete-Chewbacc789
forgot the "A" at the end of my name lol
Delete-Chewbacca789
I agree with you when you say that the main problem people run into is that they are looking for anything that will get them high. The only way for these people to get these drugs is by purchasing them off of the street. This means that the dealer could have laced the drug with something that can easily kill you and aid in the process of overdosing. Not only that, but the dealer may get the drugs from someone else. This means that even the dealer does not know exactly what they are selling, as the person they bought it from may have laced it with something and the dealer is selling these drugs without even knowing this.
Delete-Fozz789
It has become a common thing to read in the paper about someone overdosing on drugs, and the number of people dying each year over this cause is only increasing as life goes on. General someone got hooked onto the drug based on situations that happened in their life. I will never think that using a drug is a good idea to suppress those things that are happening in your life. When I started first reading this article I kind of laughed to myself because I thought why on earth would this be a good idea. But by reading I could see the benefits of safe-injection sites, but there is also a load of problems that could come with it also. So I am very back and forth on this idea. By giving the right to inject opioids at a safe site without police involvement is a concern because you are basically saying it's okay to use drugs. Which in reality we all know is wrong. Also even though we give a safe-injection site for users, that wouldn't stop most from taking some home and doing it there which in that case would be illegal. Another point is that when they inject these drugs at the site when its time to leave they could still be very high causing safety issues for the public or even them getting in trouble by police for being under influence in a public place. Another big question I ask is why are we encouraging it when we are trying to stop the influence on drugs on people. Now on the other hand I can see a couple benefits for the use of the site such as the users could be monitored by scientists which intern could create even more research and data about drugs. It also could help the epidemic of overdosing that is current in our country because they are being carefully watched. In my eyes the cons outweigh the pros for the safe injection site. But their might be some hidden benefits to why this would be a good idea.
ReplyDeleteHollywood789
I know what you mean about going back and forth about this topic. Like it’s a good thing that they have these sights to prevent someone dying from an overdose but it still doesn’t change the fact that drugs are illegal. I don’t believe that something happening in some one’s life is an excuse to turn over to drugs. Yes, bad things happen to everyone but people don’t go to drugs to try and get them out of their funk. This drug destroys lives and separate families. Majority if the drug addicts are known to be homeless or have very little income. Then when they have that little bit of money, they go and try to score some more dope off the streets. It just isn’t worth it at all in my eyes.
Delete-Chewbacca789
This article talked about a very interesting idea being used in Philadelphia. The state has recently opened up facilities known as safe injection sites. These safe injection sites allow drug users that use the drugs such as heroin to inject and use these drugs with medical attention being feet away from them. Also, no fear of being arrested is present at these places. No one who injects drugs here will be arrested, as these places are meant to provide medical assistance, not allow and promote drug use. Last year, it was estimated that there were twelve hundred deaths in Philadelphia. Of these twelve hundred, eighty five percent of the deaths were opioid related drug overdose deaths. I think that this is a very smart move. I say this because although it may seem that these types of places are just promoting opioid use, I view it as the complete opposite. Safe injection sites were created to not only provide extremely quick medical attention to people, but to also show how the problem has gotten so bad that medical attention needs to be placed on the streets due to the amount of abuse that is associated with opioid use. At these sites, there are special drugs present that can reverse the effects of an overdose and save hundreds of lives. I like the idea of having a place where one can inject heroin and not having the worry of whether or not they will be alive within the next two hours. Medical attention is so much closer at these places compared to apartments, parks, etc. where people don't want to be seen by the police and have a much lower chance of receiving medical attention. People with the proper medical experience are working at these places to ensure that if someone does overdose on an opioid, they will be much more likely to survive.
ReplyDelete-Fozz789
Drug addictive is increasing in Philadelphia every year and is has became the major killings in the city . As I read and watched some of this videos most like Philadelphia and some cities has higher drug overdose drug deaths. Even though the city is is implementing behavioral health and intellectual disability services but this doesn’t mean is the cure of drug usage. The officials is also announcing that the city will encourage private sector development of comprehensive user engagement sites for individuals experiencing a substance disorder related to opioids. My question is is this going to end overdose death?. Philadelphia fatal overdose is the worst in the nation among large cities , and incidents of overdose has steadily increased to an alarming degree. The development by private sector entity of one or more CUES is a harm reduction strategy, and taken together with multiple other strategies will move the city forward in addressing the opioids crisis by saving lives and reducing the public disorder caused by open air drug use. Health department are using their means to use every proven tool to save lives of drug users until they recover from the grip of addiction . As it has been said it is not that easy to drug someone who is addicted to dugs directly so a sober person . This will be a miracle if it will happen. What I mean here, to create efforts to prevent addiction, help people access treatment, prevent overdoses in other ways, increase housing resources and address public safety concerns must continue and strengthen. Having comprehensive user engagement sites as part of the city continuum to treatment is just one way in which can connect Philadelphian struggling with substances use disorders to lifesaving. But the lifesaving medication is not a cure. After it has done its job, overdose survivor are left with their cravings intact. Without follow up care they are likely to keep feeding their habits,putting them at risk of another overdose, one that could kill them. GUSII 789
ReplyDeleteJust WOW! I’ve never ever read an article like these in my life. Now, personally I believe there are better options, and not do drugs that can potentially kill you is not a risk worth taking. But, I can see that limiting them from taking opioids, syringes, or more than doing them selves. This is something we should not adopt for a life long-term because its extremely unhealthy, and hopefully the only city to adapt on that kind of program. At least the people going to these safe sites are being monitored. The article mentions that more than a thousand people have overdosed on opioids. Also, I surprise to see their use of drugs in the city surpasses cities such as Chicago and New York by 40.0 more. Not to mention, in the article mentions that this new program (inSite) reduces and battles the use of overdose. I can see were they are coming from, but still using drugs to harm your body is unhealthy because any of the people taking the drug can pass out and die. I don’t know about handling addiction because they are still offering them syringes and opioids. I don’t know if this is good, but can be to a certain extent. I don’t know if this site is going to reduce the number of overdose. As I read through the comments, some of the students agree that this good way to reduce addiction. I am still on the fence, I don’t know how offering them drugs is going to stop addiction? I feel like this could go out of control if people would want to do more and more because these people in the videos seem only doing it for the drugs, which is the point, obviously. I don’t know if I agree or disagree, I just believe its dangerous. - LILPUMP789
ReplyDeleteI would have never thought that we would permit drug abusers to do drugs legally. Although it is a much safer amount, it is like being a thief who use to steal large amounts of money, to one who only steals a little. Either way, I believe it is still bad for the drug abuser. There is a lot of our money that is being spent on rehabilitation clinics that will get them through the withdraw phases without the use of opioids. I asked a friend who use to abuse heroine when he was in high school if he thinks that safe havens are a good idea and he said to me that getting off of the drug was the hardest thing he has ever had to do, and if there were safe havens here during his time of distress, he would have never gotten off of the drug. The AIDS epidemic is a different story on the matter however. I believe that the safe havens would be a good strategy to reducing Hep C and AIDS/HIV. It isn’t easy to get needles so some people don’t care whose needle they use to get high which increases that person's chances of getting one of the diseases. Safe Havens have a teeter totter effect for me; good for clean needles, bad because of the drug. - redman789
ReplyDeleteIt’s an interesting idea to open a place where people can safely inject heroin. It is good to see that people are keeping an open mind to change in the way we think of drugs and drug addiction. I do believe the idea in a way shuttles drug addicts into a safe way of thinking about their addiction. If you do your drugs safely why change at all. Although I cannot say as to whether this is a good preventive measure fully because only time will tell. I do believe into is a step into a better direction. If people can open there minds to ideas such as this that means more ideas to fix this problem can come from this. Just locking people up for drugs seems to be far worse and leads to little behavior change from what we can tell. The numbers of opioid related deaths are crazy; I can’t believe it’s at a rate of 48.6 deaths per 100,000 residents. America does seem late to the party on this idea. Over in Europe there have been sites open since the late 80s. In Canada they opened in 2003; there death rates did go down. I do wonder what overall effect it has caused in those countries. The article didn’t state as to whether as positive effect outside of saving life’s happened. By this I mean did a large number of those lives they are saved stop using drugs and bettered their lives. It is unfortunate that the Trump administration decided go with stricter policies over the approach on drug criminalization. I hope that doesn’t hinder the progress in areas like Philadelphia. pj789
ReplyDeleteI have very mixed feelings on this topic. On one hand, I am generally libertarian about how people want to spend their time and money as long as they are not endangering anyone else. I also generally believe that government involvement should be as minimal as possible. However, I think that these safe-zones normalize opioid use for users. This is especially problematic for users who have families and do endanger others. While I do not believe that addicts should explicitly be punished for their actions, I think that these people would be bettered by being isolated from society and made to confront their problems head on. I think that this article glosses over the root cause of the problem. Doctors over-prescribe opioids which is likely the cause for the dependencies in the first place. I believe that medicinal marijuana is a much better alternative to medicinal opioids because they are less addictive and there are fewer health risks. I think the response to this problem by the Trump Administration may work as a deterrent to some degree, but it does not solve existing problems and it is not ethical. That said, it only provides a deterrent to those who start to use opioid use illegally. Many opioid addictions stem from prescribed medication as stated above. It does not solve existing problems because these people are not educated as to how to end their addiction and will likely reoffend when they get out of prison. It is unethical because these people can likely be rehabilitated in a much shorter time span than for which they would go to prison. Honestly, I do not have a perfect answer for what should be done about the opioid epidemic. I do believe that if users were not afraid of criminal charges, they would be much less afraid of seeking treatment. At the same time, I think that many people would refrain from treatment because of social stigma and unwillingness to change.-Rudedogg789
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