Fight Drug Abuse, Don't Subsidize It.
Americans struggling with addiction need treatment and reduced access to deadly drugs. They do not need a taxpayer-sponsored haven to shoot up.
By Rod J. Rosenstein
Mr. Rosenstein is the deputy attorney general of the United States.
'Almost 64,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2016, a shocking 54 percent increase since 2012. Dangerous opioids such as heroin and fentanyl contributed to two-thirds of the deaths. This killer knows no geographic, socioeconomic or age limits. It strikes city dwellers and Midwestern farmers, Hollywood celebrities and homeless veterans, grandparents and teenagers.
Remarkably, law enforcement efforts actually declined while deaths were on the rise. Federal drug prosecutions fell by 23 percent from 2011 to 2016, and the median drug sentence doled out to drug traffickers decreased by 20 percent from 2009 to 2016.
The Trump administration is working to reverse those trends. Prosecutions of drug traffickers are on the rise, and the surge in overdose deaths is slowing.
Unfortunately, some cities and counties are considering sponsoring centers where drug users can abuse dangerous illegal drugs with government help. Advocates euphemistically call them safe injection sites, but they are very dangerous and would only make the opioid crisis worse.
These centers would be modeled on those operating in Canada and some European countries. They invite visitors to use heroin, fentanyl and other deadly drugs without fear of arrest. The policy is B.Y.O.D. bring your own drugs but staff members help people abuse drugs by providing needles and stand ready to resuscitate addicts who overdose. . .
Proponents of injection sites say they make drug use safer, but they actually create serious public safety risks. Many people addicted to opioids use illicit fentanyl or one of its analogues, which can be up to 5,000 times more powerful than heroin. Users often have no idea what they are actually buying from criminal drug dealers. Moreover, a bystander or emergency medical worker who comes into contact with such drugs can be gravely harmed.
Additionally, injection sites destroy the surrounding community. When drug users flock to a site, drug dealers follow, bringing with them violence and despair, posing a danger to neighbors and law-abiding visitors. For instance, the area near an injection site in Vancouver, British Columbia, was described by a member of the Redmond, Wash., City Council as a war zone with drug-addled, glassy-eyed people strewn about and active drug dealing going on in plain sight. . .
That is not the way to end the opioid crisis. Americans struggling with addiction need treatment and reduced access to deadly drugs. They do not need a taxpayer-sponsored haven to shoot up.
To end the drug crisis, we should educate everyone about the dangers of opioid drugs, help drug users get treatment and aggressively prosecute criminals who supply the deadly poison. Under the leadership of President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the Department of Justice is delivering results. Many federal, state and local agencies are working with us to combat opioid addiction. Cities and counties should join us and fight drug abuse, not subsidize it.'
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/27/opinion/opioids-heroin-injection-sites.html?
Eliot Rosewater
(31,125 posts)Ignore.
elleng
(131,191 posts)by the deputy attorney general of the United States. Ignore it and be uninformed.
Eliot Rosewater
(31,125 posts)This is the WORST possible way to go about this problem.
I dont even know where to start.
ProfessorGAC
(65,237 posts)The whole thing is banging the pulpit for enforcement not treatment.
The premise is that overdoses are up but prosecutions are down so the solution is more prosecution?
There's no logic in that. The only way that is logical is in Rosenstein's own mind.
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)... it's cynical, it's sanctimonious. I could go on, but I'll just say that I really have no respect for anyone who could be this heartless and cruel to someone, or who could try to defend and justify the cruelty.
Eliot Rosewater
(31,125 posts)muriel_volestrangler
(101,388 posts)... the Department of Justice is delivering results"? This is a Trump puff piece. It criticises the Obama administration, fluffs Trump, and is full of Republican talking points. Is that really the "information" you want to spread?
Eliot Rosewater
(31,125 posts)ehrnst
(32,640 posts)a criminal one?
I think that an editorial by someone in the medical field, rather than criminal prosecution would be far more credible, and way less right wing.
Eliot Rosewater
(31,125 posts)but it PROMOTES the rump administration and their SICK Way of dealing with it
infuriating to see this SHIT here
Nitram
(22,907 posts)to be effective in reducing overdoses and disease spread by contaminated needles. such sites do not "destroy neighborhoods." that is just a conservative NIMBY talking point. Prosecuting drug addicts only makes the problem worse. a three-pronged approach is needed:
1. Honest education about drugs that does not lump all drugs into the "evil" category, but objectively discusses the effects and potential dangers of each drug. Alcohol and nicotine must be included in this category.
2. Providing access to clean needles and safe places for addicts to administer quality-controlled drugs in measured doses.
3. Providing long-term rehabilitation to help get addicts off their drug of choice and help them prevent relapses.
Eliot Rosewater
(31,125 posts)Thank you , I get so angry when I see this garbage HERE!
Thank you for providing FACTS
ROB-ROX
(767 posts)I read years ago that countries which legalized drugs had a DROP in crime!!! Now none of this information was utilized to balance this article. I think this article is based on hear say versus FACTS............