Posted on 05/18/2015 3:25:20 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Volunteers behind a needle exchange in Seattle are now handing out meth pipes to drug users for free.
The program is offered 5 days per week off an alley next to a church in Seattle's University District. It was launched by a group called The People's Harm Reduction Alliance about 2 months ago.
The demand for the free meth pipes has been growing ever since, the alliance's executive director said.
"People kept coming to our program and saying that they were getting syringes because they didn't have access to a pipe," said Shilo Murphy.
About 25-30 meth pipes are handed out each day, Murphy said.
The theory behind the program is that by handing out the pipes, some drug users will rely less on needles, Murphy said. That helps cut down on the risk of certain diseases, he added.
"Whatever the reason is why both parties don't have their own… They wind up sharing. Well, this program has prevented that because all it takes is a cut orally and you've transmitted a disease possibly," said Regg Thomas, a drug user for the past 20 years who currently works with the Urban Survivors Union.
Whether the theory for the program actually works is still up for debate. But according to state law, handing out drug paraphenalia like the pipes is illegal.
Murphy said he knows that.
"And so was syringe exchange 25 years ago. And yet we have syringe exchange and it's proven to be one of the biggest HIV prevention tools for injection drug use in the state," Murphy said.
Murphy said the program, which he claims is the first of its kind in the nation, has reduced some risky behaviors and helped get a number of users tested for Hepatitis C. Public Health of Seattle and King County could not be reached for comment Sunday about Murphy's claims.
On top of handing out meth pipes, Murphy said drug users can also pick up wound care kits and get crucial information about treatment options.
"By engaging them, we gave people self worth… Give back people's desire to live better in life and live better in society," Murphy said.
Even though it's illegal under state law to give someone certain kinds of drug paraphenalia, police said they're more concerned with what's put into the pipes and not necessarily the pipes themselves.
You can’t make this stuff up.
Do we have to pay for the dentist visit when they loose all their teeth?
Well of course we do.
That’s it, lets foster meth addiction.
Meth is pretty much one of the few drugs that everyone agrees on that should be banned.
“For the man who has everything”.
A free meth pipe.
Whadda country.
Good gwaad!
And you believed them?!?
Pure evil.
Skid Row needs a facelift
I have no problems with this at all, along with needle exchanges. I’d rather see them prevent the spread of diseases among these people than to pay really BIG $$$$$ when they get badly ill due to associated illnesses.
So very true. That stuff is 'poison' to the mind/body in every sense of the word.
And what about unintended consequences? Do these programs really cut back drug abuse or prevent spread of disease??
Supposedly handing out condoms and birth control in school cuts back pregnancy and VD. But there seems to be concerns as to whether those programs work or just encourage more sex. I wonder if needle exchanges really make people safer or just foster more drug use.
Why not lace those free meth pipes with Strichnine and just speed up the inevitable process?
I mean that will certainly “cure” them, right?
It would progressive in the same vein that the founder of planned un-parenthood was progressive.....
[ “People kept coming to our program and saying that they were getting syringes because they didn’t have access to a pipe,”
And you believed them?!? ]
Are meth heads getting HIV from meth pipes and open sores in their mouths? or is it the Secks.....?
They’d rather inject it.
“So very true. That stuff is ‘poison’ to the mind/body in every sense of the word.”
Yet it’s prescribe-able to children under the brand name Desoxyn
It's perfectly logical, though, even if heartless. Is a man free to abuse himself? He is, in a perfectly free society. So let him use his freedom. The drug will do a quick job on him. Free supply of the drug only means that the addict has no need to go out and kill people for a couple of dollars. Will that be a suicide? Yes; however on each kiosk there will be a phone number to call in case the addict wants to live. If he doesn't call, it's his choice.
Any other solution belongs to the "Nanny State" class of solutions, where the state or the society needs to protect a person from himself. It doesn't work anyway. So in the end those who are determined to kill themselves with drugs will do that, one way or another. Usually that involves a lot of crime.
Seattle is such a great place. /s
Wow.. Just wow.
So if I understand this if I am a drug addict I can get free stuff to sustain my habit.
Well I’m not a drug addict but I am a sex addict.
Where’s my free hooker?
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