Heroin Addicts Go to Switzerland! (not spam!!)

Started by Greenthorn, December 06, 2008, 11:48:07 AM

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Greenthorn

Ahhh I love Time's blue box!

Now...Switzerland voters approved the "creation of permanent, legalized heroin centers aimed at helping hard-core addicts learn to function in society"  The centers will provide the addicts with two doses each day instead of weaning them off the drug.

Oh and in the same referendum, those voters....yeah...they rejected decriminalization of marijuana.  Go figure!

Thoughts?
 

Revolverman

It would just easier to legalize all drugs, many problems would be fixed that way.

Greenthorn

 

Revolverman

That I can't explain... perhaps someone in the government is riding the white horse?

Greenthorn

And imagine all the health care that will be needed when one of the said heroin addicts cause work related accidents?  Ugh!
 

Inkidu

That's the Swiss for you. I'm scared to by chocolate from there now. It's heroin-a-licious! :D
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Will

Well, I think the idea about the heroin vs. pot thing is that heroin addicts go to desperate measures when they don't have their fix, whereas marijuana users just tend to lie on the couch and complain about it.  It's not that they think heroin is better than pot, they're just trying to control a problem.  Marijuana addicts are not such a problem, I would guess.

Just my initial reaction. :)
If you can heal the symptoms, but not affect the cause
It's like trying to heal a gunshot wound with gauze

One day, I will find the right words, and they will be simple.
- Jack Kerouac

Greenthorn

Quote from: Will1984 on December 06, 2008, 12:51:32 PM
Well, I think the idea about the heroin vs. pot thing is that heroin addicts go to desperate measures when they don't have their fix, whereas marijuana users just tend to lie on the couch and complain about it.  It's not that they think heroin is better than pot, they're just trying to control a problem.  Marijuana addicts are not such a problem, I would guess.

Just my initial reaction. :)

But why not put the money towards rehabilition instead of enabling?
 

Will

Quote from: Greenthorn on December 06, 2008, 12:54:29 PM
But why not put the money towards rehabilition instead of enabling?

*laughs*  Good point!  Still, I don't have much faith in methadone rehab and the like.  My experience is limited, but I've never seen it work.  Why not try something new and different?
If you can heal the symptoms, but not affect the cause
It's like trying to heal a gunshot wound with gauze

One day, I will find the right words, and they will be simple.
- Jack Kerouac

Greenthorn

Quote from: Will1984 on December 06, 2008, 12:56:50 PM
*laughs*  Good point!  Still, I don't have much faith in methadone rehab and the like.  My experience is limited, but I've never seen it work.  Why not try something new and different?

A country full of heroin addicts...I predict in 10 years over 30% of Swedes will be addicts *laughs*
 

Trieste


gideonblake

I read that article, or an article about the same thing. They interviewed some of the voters, and one of them said something about the reason that he voted against legalizing pot is because he thought it was like saying it was okay. The centers for heroin addicts are meant as a rehabilitation clinic to get them away from a self-destructive addiction and get them into doing something worthwhile. Legalizing pot, as it was in the bill, was just like saying it was cool to burn a j, and he wasn't okay with that. Also, I think in the article it mentioned that they were two separate bills to vote on.

I'm not impressed with the decision to give heroin addicts heroin until they get better. It just seems like a bad practice. I can create some good arguments for legalizing pot, but I wouldn't really care to. I don't think that we need more mind-altering substances for recreational use just because. However, if you were to legalize all the drugs and then tax them and enforce, dare I say, quality control, then I think a lot of issues would be solved and the War on Drugs could be won a lot more easily because you'd be destroying the profit margins of the drug dealers.

Greenthorn

Quote from: gideonblake on December 10, 2008, 02:58:03 PM
I read that article, or an article about the same thing. They interviewed some of the voters, and one of them said something about the reason that he voted against legalizing pot is because he thought it was like saying it was okay. The centers for heroin addicts are meant as a rehabilitation clinic to get them away from a self-destructive addiction and get them into doing something worthwhile. Legalizing pot, as it was in the bill, was just like saying it was cool to burn a j, and he wasn't okay with that. Also, I think in the article it mentioned that they were two separate bills to vote on.

I'm not impressed with the decision to give heroin addicts heroin until they get better. It just seems like a bad practice. I can create some good arguments for legalizing pot, but I wouldn't really care to. I don't think that we need more mind-altering substances for recreational use just because. However, if you were to legalize all the drugs and then tax them and enforce, dare I say, quality control, then I think a lot of issues would be solved and the War on Drugs could be won a lot more easily because you'd be destroying the profit margins of the drug dealers.

The thing is...it's not a rehabilition center!  It's simply a dispensing center.  They do not plan on trying to wean anyone off of the heroin...simply give them two doses a day and hope they decide to work and be somehow productive!

 

Will

They just consider that better than sitting in a park and shooting up in front of kids and everything.  *shrugs*  There's got to be a better solution, though. :-\
If you can heal the symptoms, but not affect the cause
It's like trying to heal a gunshot wound with gauze

One day, I will find the right words, and they will be simple.
- Jack Kerouac

gideonblake

Oh really? That changes pretty much everything then.

That idea is just made of fail.

Paradox

Having once been a heroin addict, I can say with unequivocal certainty that this is a horrible idea.

After numerous attempts to quit cold-turkey, I enrolled in a methadone program. (in reference to Will's comment)- it worked, but it only suppresses the physical dependency. It's essentially substituting one substance for another. It does nothing for the deeper, underlying causes of the addiction itself. There is a huge difference between addiction and dependency, which I won't go into here. Suffice to say that Switzerland would be better off implementing a nationwide methadone program for these people, combined with comprehensive counseling/support groups. Methadone helped me to stop sticking needles in my arms, but it took a whole hell of a lot of work to actually rid myself of the addiction. Giving heroin to an addict is like giving victims to a murderer...you aren't stopping the crime, nor are you doing anything to help their problem. You're simply controlling it on your own terms as opposed to theirs.


"More than ever, the creation of the ridiculous is almost impossible because of the competition it receives from reality."-Robert A. Baker