Berkeley needle exchange program comes out of the shadows

Oakland Tribune ^ | 05/22/2009 | Doug Oakley

[csvset]

The NEED hands out drug cookers, ascorbic acid to break down crack cocaine for shooting, saline solution to mix heroin and methamphetamine, tourniquets to pop out usable veins, cotton balls to filter the drugs going into a syringe, Narcan, which can stop an overdose in progress, condoms, lube and personal containers for the used needles.

Isn't that just special.

[Enterprise]

Needle exchange programs are just a bunch of hype.

[going hot]

getting straight to the point I see.

[Enterprise]

Just more dope and change from the liberals.

[fieldmarshaldj]

What is it about the left that just loves enabling bad behavior ?

[Hildy]

this is a blueprint for everything that is wrong about government. Why on earth do you need a staff to hand out clean needles. If the intention was to make sure addicts get what they need, it would only take a couple of volunteers and a box of needles. But that is not what it’s about. How can people be so blind?

[gimme1ibertee]

This really gets under my skin.....

[Carry_Okie]

What is it about the left that just loves enabling bad behavior?

The supposed justification for this is that it saves on the cost of treating HIV. From what I can tell, it only marginally delays contraction. Do you know of any data on that?

[gimme1ibertee]

Only one of several zillion reasons why CA is packing it in (no pun intended!) financially.

[Nathan Zachary]

"We've really grown a lot in the last year," said NEED's 22-year-old director Christina Muller-Shinn. "When we got the money from the state, we were able to hire staff and before we were all volunteer. We were able to become legitimized."

And now it won't be long before you get your salary up into the six figure zone and staff that empire with all your relative relatives. Not a bad deal for handing out needles to encourage drug use and increase the perception to our children that drug use and a diction is "ok".

[jessduntno]

“We’ve really grown a lot in the last year,” said NEED’s 22-year-old director Christina Muller-Shinn. “When we got the money from the state, we were able to hire staff and before we were all volunteer. We were able to become legitimized.”

MONEY! MONEY! MONEY! MONEY! I is now legitimized!

[gimme1ibertee]

LOLOL,true enough!
...so,what Ms. Muller-Shinn is saying in this one line of the article,is that Zero's selfless volunteers are not legit unless they get taxpayer dollars (aka,assistance from the government).Hmmmm.....

[gimme1ibertee]

Kinda like ACORN,eh?

[jessduntno]

Exactly...now they can ride the Gravy Train on the tracks of their “clients”....

[fieldmarshaldj]

Nope, I don’t keep track of such figures.

[Nathan Zachary]

"The supposed justification for this is that it saves on the cost of treating HIV. From what I can tell, it only marginally delays contraction. Do you know of any data on that? "

The best thing for these addicts is to get aids and die. Prolonging their misery and the cost to society from crimes these drop outs from the human race commit, the the higher than normal costs of incarceration because they have to be placed on medical wards treated, cleaned up and nursed back to health, only to be released and repeat the cycle all over again.
Or, they end up in a mental institution permanently when they finally fry their brain for good.

Shifting the cost of their bad choices to the taxpayers is just plain wrong, and only encourages the addicts to continue living that way, since these bleeding heart liberals are making it easier to do so every year. Soon they will all live in government housing with 24 hr nursing care ensuring their government supplied IV line is filled with good clean drugsm and pillow fluffers making sure they are comfortable and tucked in so they have an enjoyable trip.

[Nathan Zachary]

"Kinda like ACORN,eh?

Yep. just another arm of the nanny state.

[mickey finn]

Well at least they did not forget the lube.

[STONEWALLS]

““When we got the money from the state, we were able to hire staff....”

.....it’s about creating jobs....another semi-government agency that will grow and grow....all to be funded at taxpayer expense.

[NCLaw441]

Aren’t the drugs themselves sometimes tainted and potentially dangerous? This group should be handing out heroin, cocaine, meth, etc. You know, for safety’s sake.