Heroin Program's Deadly Toll; Needle Exchanges Save Lives but May Imperil Worke

[bijou]

By JUSTIN SCHECK
SAN FRANCISCO -- Pete Morse devoted his life to saving the lives of heroin users. A dreadlocked community activist with a Ph.D in history, he bore a tattoo that read: "Injury to one is an injury to all."

So his friends and colleagues were shocked when he was found unconscious in 2007 on a bathroom floor with a needle by his side. Doctors pronounced the 36-year-old Mr. Morse dead from an overdose of heroin, alcohol and cocaine.

Mr. Morse spent more than 10 years working in drug-addiction programs that follow the principle of harm reduction. This philosophy argues that the best way to save users' lives isn't to force them off illegal drugs. Instead, its adherents teach safer ways to use drugs -- supplying clean needles to prevent the spread of disease, for example, or teaching how to avoid overdosing. The programs are credited with saving lives in cities across the U.S.


But harm-reduction leaders have struggled to address a sometimes-lethal issue: dangerous drug use by the very workers who are supposed to help users. In the circles of New York and San Francisco where Mr. Morse worked, at least five harm-reduction staffers have died of overdoses. These included needle-exchange founders in both cities, as well as psychologist John Watters, a needle-exchange advocate who started a study to track how outreach programs benefited drug users. Mr. Watters died from an opiate overdose in 1995.

Worker drug abuse is "a huge problem," says Jon Zibbell, the founder of a Massachusetts drug users' coalition who is now an assistant professor at Skidmore College.
 ...MORE...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123154657089469819.html

A long article but it makes some interesting points about unintended consequences. Don't expect anyone to learn from them though.
It also contains devastating descriptions of utter moonbattery.

[DumbAss Tanker]

DAMN YOU, CHARLES DARWIN!!!111!!!

 

 

[Miss Mia]

Interesting article Bijou. 

[JohnnyReb]

It was a liberal idea.........gone bad as usual.........due to lack of funding.

Now let me translate that...... It was a liberal idea which automatically tells you it was a bad idea from the get go. gone bad as usual as all liberal ideas are doomed to failure. due to lack of fundingis always the excuse. There's not enough funding in the world to make liberal ideas work.

[docstew]

It was a liberal idea.........gone bad as usual.........due to lack of funding.

Now let me translate that...... It was a liberal idea which automatically tells you it was a bad idea from the get go. gone bad as usual as all liberal ideas are doomed to failure. due to lack of fundingis always the excuse. There's not enough funding in the world to make liberal ideas work.

for such a profound analysis of liberal ideology, H5

[PatriotGame]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123154657089469819.html

A long article but it makes some interesting points about unintended consequences. Don't expect anyone to learn from them though.
It also contains devastating descriptions of utter moonbattery.

A populace that is morbidly stoned out of their mind, disconnected from reality, and completely dependent on the government for everything is the perfect voter drone for the liberal left.

Dreadlocked hippies no less.

[Thor]

I'd like to legalize all drugs. That way, we can allow folks to cull themselves from the herd. Let Darwin's theory have a chance to work.

[DumbAss Tanker]

I'd like to legalize all drugs. That way, we can allow folks to cull themselves from the herd. Let Darwin's theory have a chance to work.

There's a lot to be said for that, unfortunately the collateral damage bill would be too high.