Posted on 12/20/2004 12:24:18 PM PST by gopwinsin04
Tucked away in a quiet corner of this Dutch port city, Senior en pand looks like an ordinary retirement home. Comfortable sofas huddle around a television set in the lounge.
Puzzles and tattered paperbacks fill the shelves nearby. Residents chat about the weather over tea and coffee. But this retirement home has a twist. In the bedrooms, the elderly get high on heroin and cocaine.
'Ive been using drugs most of my adult life, and I cant stop now,' says Jan Gert, a 62 year old resident. 'Being old doesn't mean your addiction just goes away.'
Three other Dutch cities-Amsterdam, The Hague and Utrecht are setting up similar refuges for their own ailing addicts, and policymakers around Europe are watching the experiment. Funded by the city of Rotterdam and a semi private medical foundation, it is the first retirement home for drug addicts.
Though encouraged to consume fewer drugs, residents are free to buy heroin and cocaine on the street. The main aim is to help them see out their final years in comfort and diginity.
Outside contractors do the cooking and the cleaning. Medical staff visit regularly, and a social worker is on hand around the clock. In the Netherlands, where addicts recieve free medical care and methadone from the state, half the users are now over 40, and many are in their 60's.
To an outsider, the blend of domesticity and hard core drugs can seem almost surreal. One resident has a set of needles for knitting and another for injecting heroin.
Henny, 51 listens to Bach CD's. Arranged neatly on his desk are his phone, books, family photos-and a plastic sashet filled with brown residue. 'That was the herion I snorted last night, he said, holding up the tiny bag. 'It was pretty good stuff.'
'Old addicts are just like other old people,' said Carmel, 58. 'All we want is a safe quiet place where we can get on with our lives.'
And the short skirt tailor..
I want to see the security of this jumkines residence facility, it must resemble a third world presidential mansion.
BTW.. are you changing your Freeper name?
Bumping for later. Thanks.
I've thought about that.. sixty Senate seats in '06?
Remember, this is socialist state Europe..Im surprised they dont go and buy the drug for them!
It's really worked well economically for Eurpoe in the last decade right?
Watch out for the snow tonight!
very nice..musical..works for me..
I WANT snow. I live in southern Wisconsin, so we're only supposed to get 1-2" tops tonight. I wanna get on my snowmobile and zip around the Back Forty. Whaaaa!
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