Brooker
Anjin
- Messages
- 369
- Reaction score
- 25
- Points
- 0
- Location
- Seattle, Washington
- Ethnic group
- Mainly: Italian, German, Scottish, Irish
Man, this is a pretty drastic step/desperate move. I'm sure the drug problem is bad, but the thought of a government giving away free heroin is just scary. This has been tried in Europe. Anyone know how that worked out there? Any thoughts on this?
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VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Just over the United States northwest border, addicts will soon be able to get their fix from the Canadian government in the form of free heroin (search) administered by nurses and doctors on the taxpayer's dime.
"They're using heroin. They'll continue to use heroin. What we're trying to do is prevent them from getting something irreversible like HIV, hep [hepatitis] C and overdose death,?h said Dr. Martin Schechter, the director of the heroin program.
Vancouver Police Chief Jamie Graham (search) is among supporters who say the heroin giveaway will let junkies shoot up without having to resort to theft or prostitution to buy their drugs. Breaking that cycle of crime, they argue, is the first step toward turning an addict's life around.
Recovered addict Chuck Swesey - who's been clean 20 years - says the program smacks of government drug pushing. He says he knows how he would've ended under a program like this: "I'd be dead ... or I'd be in a jail or an institution."
The $8 million Canadian program is patterned after similar efforts in Europe.
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