I was watching "Tucker Tonight" last night and he had someone on talking about heroin injection facilities. That immediately caught my attention because my brother was an addict for years before committing suicide last year. As you can imagine, THIS news makes me SICK!
I don't understand it. I mean, it's one of those situations where I want to channel Estelle Getty, Sophia Petrillo from "The Golden Girls", and say "your heart is in the right place, but I don't know where the hell your brain is!" I understand this will significantly crack down on the occurrences of HIV, hepatitis and the like but people are going to probably die from the heroin if they don't stop using it. I also understand that addiction is not easy to "cure", as there is no cure right now. If it were easy, we wouldn't have overdoses, suicides, relapses or people on waiting lists for help at rehab facilities that currently have no room for them. However, surely there has to be another idea we can collectively come up with besides glorifying using and making it seem okay to do.
Tucker Carlson put it perfectly. If you're going to invest money on a drug program, why not make it something that will discourage its use and attempt to stop the epidemic, not try to normalize or encourage it and make it okay? They say the heroin injection facilities are for people to have a safe place to do it but, um, it's not a safe thing to do no matter which way you look at it! Time, money and energy would be better spent on bettering the rehab facilities, outpatient and transitional care for the people who want substantial help and can't get it, as well as even help for the families and friends of the addict. There are so many people without adequate health care to receive extended, quality care. Some people can't even stay a full 30 days in any facility because their healthcare won't cover it.
I don't understand it. I mean, it's one of those situations where I want to channel Estelle Getty, Sophia Petrillo from "The Golden Girls", and say "your heart is in the right place, but I don't know where the hell your brain is!" I understand this will significantly crack down on the occurrences of HIV, hepatitis and the like but people are going to probably die from the heroin if they don't stop using it. I also understand that addiction is not easy to "cure", as there is no cure right now. If it were easy, we wouldn't have overdoses, suicides, relapses or people on waiting lists for help at rehab facilities that currently have no room for them. However, surely there has to be another idea we can collectively come up with besides glorifying using and making it seem okay to do.
Tucker Carlson put it perfectly. If you're going to invest money on a drug program, why not make it something that will discourage its use and attempt to stop the epidemic, not try to normalize or encourage it and make it okay? They say the heroin injection facilities are for people to have a safe place to do it but, um, it's not a safe thing to do no matter which way you look at it! Time, money and energy would be better spent on bettering the rehab facilities, outpatient and transitional care for the people who want substantial help and can't get it, as well as even help for the families and friends of the addict. There are so many people without adequate health care to receive extended, quality care. Some people can't even stay a full 30 days in any facility because their healthcare won't cover it.
There is so much wrong with our system in so many areas, but in regards to addiction it is a mess and I can attest to that. I saw the lengths my brother had to go and hoops he had to climb through to get any sort of help. I also saw the discouragement he felt and how, at times, it felt easier to just use. I don't want another person to go through that or another family to lose someone because their loved one felt that way.
Fortunately, I do have friends who have a foundation that is designed to help addicts who want to get clean and sober but don't have the financial means to do so. Visit them for more information and/or to donate at http://nowmattersmore.org
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