Canada supplies the junkies!

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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," said Dr. Martin Schechter, the director of the heroin program.
Vancouver is the first city to take part in the North American Opiate Medication Initiative, which plans to enroll 470 participants at three sites in Canada. The Toronto and Montreal sites are expected to begin recruiting candidates this spring.
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.
"I'm not a medical expert, this is not my field. I'm an expert in public safety," Graham said. "And if this will help reduce the crime rate �- I'm all for it."
In the program all addicts have to do to get their fix is show up three times a day seven days a week.
Junkies offered different views of the program to FOX News. Some think it's the government's way of killing them, while others say they can't wait for the free dope. But none of them thought it would eventually get them clean.
"I think it would lower the crime rate. Nobody's gonna be robbing each other. Nobody's going to be sick enough to rob each other. All be taken care of. Free dope, woo-hoo," said heroin addict Olivia Edgars.
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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What on Earth is wrong with Canada? Why are you going to enable people to continue down a path of self destruction? Next thing you know people from the US are going to be crossing the border for an all new Rx.

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Re: Canada supplies the junkies!

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What on Earth is wrong with Canada? Why are you going to enable people to continue down a path of self destruction?

The U.S. gave G.W. Bush another term, didn't they? Evil or Very Mad

At least it will be purchased wholesale Laughing

The more important issue here is that the drug pushers will be hit by this. If it is not profitable to sell it on the streets, then the Canadian government has made an impact.

It is simply part of the Canadian health plan. Marijuana is also provided to the terminally ill and those who need it for medical purposes. It does appear, however, that it is of inferior quality to that which is sold on the streets.

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Some think it's the government's way of killing them

I guess they could send them to Iraq rather than try to help them with their habit

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Thats funny. Canada gives free heroine to people in an attempt to solve a problem. Canada is toast with this attitude. 15 years is my estimate.

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Good for them. Thankfully someone has the guts to conduct an experiment and analyse its results. It will be good to see the results when they are finally published. It would be great if my country could try something similar when the results come out but our federal government would overturn any attempt by a state government to give it a shot due to shortsighted ideological problems.

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Re: Canada supplies the junkies!

Baldimo wrote:

What on Earth is wrong with Canada? Why are you going to enable people to continue down a path of self destruction? Next thing you know people from the US are going to be crossing the border for an all new Rx.

I don't know about your academic record in medecine, but could you please explain those two questions a bit broader?

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Yes.
Heroin addicts are addicted to their habit ... simple.
What would you prefer? That they are preyed upon by criminals demanding the current market price of their drug of choice? That they commit crimes to find that right amount of cash? That they could die from the effects of impure heroin?
Congratulations are due to Canada for seeing its heroin addicts as people. People with an addiction. In my book, an enlightened & compassionate attitude. Bravo.

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If heroin were free (in terms of pricing, not availability) would it mean that the bottom fell out of the market?

I mean it has no intrinsic value and I would think that the price is set by the market. At the moment it seems that the price is set by market forces.

Just a thought.

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It's about demand & supply. There's a big demand out there (addiction) & a limited supply (governed by the criminal suppliers). Is this a recipe for anything but more corruption? Why pretend otherwise?

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I believe that registered heroin addicts in Britain can get free methadone as a substitute for heroin, as well as free syringes via a "old-for-new" needle exchange scheme. If it stops them from mugging my gran on her way back from the post office with her weekly pension money, then I'm all for it.

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Then why not let the free market control it?

Prohibiting a substance that people want must surely ensure its price is kept artificially high. Fair enough that the producers should get a reasonable profit but isn't it the case that prohibition is a form of artificial restriction on supply which then forces up price depending on demand?

On edit - sorry if my post is out of whack with GD's post, I was responding to msolga but for the record GD I'm with you on that one.

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I most definitely DON'T agree that the producers are entitled to a profit decided by market forces! Heroin is highly addictive. Why should the producers gain from a business that does so much harm to so many? And not just the "consumers" of heroin. I like the idea of putting the producers out of business altogether.

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msolga wrote:

I most definitely DON'T agree that the producers are entitled to a profit decided by market forces! Hereon is highly addictive. Why should the producers gain from a business that does so much harm to so many? And not just the "consumers" of heroin. I like the idea of putting the producers out of business altogether.

Brewers and distillers have been doing it for years :wink:

Fauldings are the biggest (legit) producers/suppliers of opiate-based medicines in Oz, are you advocating they be pushed out of business? (I know you're not but a bit of sophistry livens things up a bit).

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I'm talking about the suppliers of heroin.

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Okay - then the producers (eg the poppy farmers in Tas) can be put aside for a moment.

If heroin was available on a prescription basis (eg on the PBS) then wouldn't it put the black marketeeers out of business?

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Grand Duke wrote:

I believe that registered heroin addicts in Britain can get free methadone as a substitute for heroin, as well as free syringes via a "old-for-new" needle exchange scheme. If it stops them from mugging my gran on her way back from the post office with her weekly pension money, then I'm all for it.

Have the Brits moved to methadone? It used to be heroin. Was so for years and years, as I understand it. (I haven't checked) Haven't noticed them being toast, but nemmind.

We use methadone here in Oz. It is effective for folk who really want to get out of the junkie whirl, and can't kick the habit - but it sure isn't any fun. (Eg maintenance dose but no "rush")

Of course, as Baldimo does not seem to realise, such programs are tightly controlled (like - the dose has to be consumed on the spot etc.) and are highly unglamorous to junkies.

But it sure does cut deaths, disease, crime and such horrors for the folk prepared to stick to it - (and their victims.)

I doubt it will put more than a few black market folk out of business. (Any are a plus!) As I understand heroin programs, they are maintenance too - ie no "rush" - and there is none of the attraction of the "junkie lifestyle" (the hunt, a lot of the subculture"glamour" is gone, it is controlled, pedestrian, medicalised.) And they are still sort of dominated by their habit, often - though I do know some well functioning methadone folk who hold down jobs etc.

Anyone in Oz (or at least in my state) can get free needle exchanges, BTW. As a public health measure.

And safe needle disposal boxes are in public loos, and such.

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You'd certainly hope so. But particularly the dealers. The criminal element.

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msolga wrote:

You'd certainly hope so. But particularly the dealers. The criminal element.

But criminals are made - in some instances - by bad laws. Prohibition makes criminals out of those who supply and consume harmless substances.

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goodfielder wrote:

Good for them. Thankfully someone has the guts to conduct an experiment and analyse its results. It will be good to see the results when they are finally published. It would be great if my country could try something similar when the results come out but our federal government would overturn any attempt by a state government to give it a shot due to shortsighted ideological problems.

I believe the results would be well known in Great Britain, would they not?

I am interested in the decision to use heroin, not methadone. One assumes there is good research suggesting this is more effective.

Has there been an attempt to get such a program off the ground in Oz?

I am aware of the pressure the supervised shooting up places have had from the ignorant - but I did not know we had had a government willing to attempt a heroin program.

here is information about the program:

http://www.ofcmhap.on.ca/addiction/north_american_opiate_medication.htm

This is basically a drug ad, but it says some interesting things.

http://www.hazelden.org/servlet/hazelden/go/INFO_BURPRENORPHINE

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Well, I'm talking about our current circumstances & the laws as they stand. Heroin is not about to be legalized any time soon. So my concern, right now, is with the criminal syndicates that exploit any profit-making venture, whatever the cost to society as a whole. Say nothing of the users, who I see as victims, really.

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dlowan wrote:

goodfielder wrote:
Good for them. Thankfully someone has the guts to conduct an experiment and analyse its results. It will be good to see the results when they are finally published. It would be great if my country could try something similar when the results come out but our federal government would overturn any attempt by a state government to give it a shot due to shortsighted ideological problems.

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I believe the results would be well known in Great Britain, would they not?

I don't know. I think it was tried some years ago in the UK but it wasn't so much an experiment as a half-arsed policy decision (from memory junkies would be hanging out outside one of the few outlets that dispensed it - at a pharmacy in Piccadilly - which sort of screwed up the tourist experience of checking out the great monument to Lord Shaftesbury).

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I am interested in the decision to use heroin, not methadone. One assumes there is good research suggesting this is more effective.

This is purely anecdotal but apparently methadone tends to reduce the craving for heroin but doesn't reproduce the rush. If someone still wants the rush then they will eschew methadone. As I said, anecdotal.

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Has there been an attempt to get such a program off the ground in Oz?

Not that I'm aware of. I know that methadone programmes are in place but see my previous comments.

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I am aware of the pressure the supervised shooting up places have had from the ignorant - but I did not know we had had a government willing to attempt a heroin program.

Ain't going to happen anytime soon. Populism over policy at the moment.
Everyone knows that cannabis destroys your brain and that heroin makes addicts who will do anything to get the money for it. No politician in Oz has the guts to contest those ideas. Ignorance feeds on itself and those who should know better haven't got the courage to break that particular vicious circle.

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Canada supplies the junkies!

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