Kill The Dopers - They Are Dead Inside Anyway
2017-04-17 05:44:20 UTC
With reports by the Center for Disease Control showing the
number of heroin-related overdose deaths quadrupling between
2002 and 2013, drug treatment centers are looking to alternative
methods that get around a recent congressional ban on federally
funded syringe exchange programs. One such example is a new
joint effort by the Southern Nevada Health District, the Nevada
AIDS Research and Education Society, and Trac-B Exchange, which
uses vending machines to distribute clean needles.
Instead of cash, credit, or debit cards, the vending machines
use a combination of an ID card and a PIN number. In return, the
machine vends a nondescript kit containing alcohol wipes,
syringes, safe sex supplies, and a disposal box. While Nevada is
the first state in the U.S. to introduce a syringe vending
machine, similar programs have been launched in Europe and
Australia.
This is a harm reduction approach, said Trac-B Exchange
Program Manager Chelsi Cheatom, while speaking with Las Vegas
NBC affiliate SLV3. By providing them with clean syringes as
well as other clean instruments they can use, they are reducing
the risk of sharing any items and they are also reducing the
risk of reusing.
The harm reduction approach has been debated, given how similar
epidemics in low-income black and Latino communities were
treated in past decades.
When the perception of the user population is primarily people
of color, then the response is to demonize and punish, noted
Marc Mauer, the executive director of the Sentencing Project, in
a 2015 article published in The Atlantic. When it's white, then
we search for answers. Think of the difference between marijuana
attitudes in the reefer madness days of the 1930s when the
drug was perceived to be used in the racy parts of town, and
then the 1960s (white) college town explosion in use.
As for the syringe vending machines, they will be located at
Trac-B Exchange, Aid for AIDS Nevada (AFAN) and the Community
Counseling Center. Program organizers say drug users arent
required to stop using drugs or enroll in one of the recovery
programs in order to use the machines.
http://www.complex.com/life/2017/04/nevada-approves-syringe-
vending-machines
number of heroin-related overdose deaths quadrupling between
2002 and 2013, drug treatment centers are looking to alternative
methods that get around a recent congressional ban on federally
funded syringe exchange programs. One such example is a new
joint effort by the Southern Nevada Health District, the Nevada
AIDS Research and Education Society, and Trac-B Exchange, which
uses vending machines to distribute clean needles.
Instead of cash, credit, or debit cards, the vending machines
use a combination of an ID card and a PIN number. In return, the
machine vends a nondescript kit containing alcohol wipes,
syringes, safe sex supplies, and a disposal box. While Nevada is
the first state in the U.S. to introduce a syringe vending
machine, similar programs have been launched in Europe and
Australia.
This is a harm reduction approach, said Trac-B Exchange
Program Manager Chelsi Cheatom, while speaking with Las Vegas
NBC affiliate SLV3. By providing them with clean syringes as
well as other clean instruments they can use, they are reducing
the risk of sharing any items and they are also reducing the
risk of reusing.
The harm reduction approach has been debated, given how similar
epidemics in low-income black and Latino communities were
treated in past decades.
When the perception of the user population is primarily people
of color, then the response is to demonize and punish, noted
Marc Mauer, the executive director of the Sentencing Project, in
a 2015 article published in The Atlantic. When it's white, then
we search for answers. Think of the difference between marijuana
attitudes in the reefer madness days of the 1930s when the
drug was perceived to be used in the racy parts of town, and
then the 1960s (white) college town explosion in use.
As for the syringe vending machines, they will be located at
Trac-B Exchange, Aid for AIDS Nevada (AFAN) and the Community
Counseling Center. Program organizers say drug users arent
required to stop using drugs or enroll in one of the recovery
programs in order to use the machines.
http://www.complex.com/life/2017/04/nevada-approves-syringe-
vending-machines