Maine's Governor Vetoes A Lifesaving Bill; tells heroin addicts to drop dead

[Norgy]

Naloxone does not truly save lives; it merely extends them until the next overdose. Creating a situation where an addict has a heroin needle in one hand and a shot of naloxone in the other produces a sense of normalcy and security around heroin use that serves only to perpetuate the cycle of addiction.

I don't see the problem.  You make a conscious choice of using a dangerous product, and you do so because you know you can be easily revived.  Making it freely accessible would not only enhance drug users experience but convince others to try it who would not normally do it.

Uhm. No.
NO!

[viper37]

Naloxone does not truly save lives; it merely extends them until the next overdose. Creating a situation where an addict has a heroin needle in one hand and a shot of naloxone in the other produces a sense of normalcy and security around heroin use that serves only to perpetuate the cycle of addiction.

I don't see the problem.  You make a conscious choice of using a dangerous product, and you do so because you know you can be easily revived.  Making it freely accessible would not only enhance drug users experience but convince others to try it who would not normally do it.

Uhm. No.
NO!

Why?  You don't make a conscious choice of using heroin?  Someone forces you to consume it in the vast majority of cases, until you become addicted to the stuff?

I'm all for helping people quit the habbit.  Not maintain them on it.

Going after drug trafickers does not do much.  It has to be done, but it's not a very effective policy.  Demand affects supply, not the other way around. 
Just because you market something does not mean someone will buy it.  However, if there's no one to buy your product, you sell something else.

[viper37]

I don't see the problem.  You make a conscious choice of using a dangerous product, and you do so because you know you can be easily revived.  Making it freely accessible would not only enhance drug users experience but convince others to try it who would not normally do it.

Don't post drunk, is my advice.

Sober up and try again, in English next time.

I am sober.  I don't see how helping drug user use more drugs is beneficial for the society.  Especially in places where the state will pay for such sill things and not cover other medications.

[Barrister]

Why?  You don't make a conscious choice of using heroin?  Someone forces you to consume it in the vast majority of cases, until you become addicted to the stuff?

Very, very few people just wake up one day and say "you know, I think I'm going to try smack today".

There's hundreds of different routes to addiction.  Maybe someone was hurt, got addicted to prescription painkillers, then couldn't get them anymore, and turned to heroin?

[Jacob]

Very, very few people just wake up one day and say "you know, I think I'm going to try smack today".

There's hundreds of different routes to addiction.  Maybe someone was hurt, got addicted to prescription painkillers, then couldn't get them anymore, and turned to heroin?

I'm also pretty sure that people rarely consider the availability of an antidote for a potential overdose when the take drugs.

[Barrister]

Very, very few people just wake up one day and say "you know, I think I'm going to try smack today".

There's hundreds of different routes to addiction.  Maybe someone was hurt, got addicted to prescription painkillers, then couldn't get them anymore, and turned to heroin?

I'm also pretty sure that people rarely consider the availability of an antidote for a potential overdose when the take drugs.

Actually I'm pretty sure that addicts are painfully aware of the risk of an overdose.  There were 272 overdose deaths in Alberta last year.

It just doesn't stop them.

[The Larch]

No comments about his Jamaican manservant/souvenir? 

[Jacob]

Actually I'm pretty sure that addicts are painfully aware of the risk of an overdose.  There were 272 overdose deaths in Alberta last year.

It just doesn't stop them.

Actually, I'm pretty sure that the availability or lack of same of an overdose antidote does not significantly alter the decision for addicts to shoot up.

[garbon]

Actually I'm pretty sure that addicts are painfully aware of the risk of an overdose.  There were 272 overdose deaths in Alberta last year.

It just doesn't stop them.

Actually, I'm pretty sure that the availability or lack of same of an overdose antidote does not significantly alter the decision for addicts to shoot up.

Indeed.

[viper37]

There's hundreds of different routes to addiction.  Maybe someone was hurt, got addicted to prescription painkillers, then couldn't get them anymore, and turned to heroin?

Sure.  But how is it helping that we help them maintain their habit?  They make that choice for themselves, eventually.  Not from day 1, but eventually, somewhere down the road, once they decide smoking pot is not for them, not enough of a buzz. 

They want it for different reasons, but it is still a voluntary gesture.  They could seek help.  There's tons of help everywhere for drug abuse.  If there's not enough help, or if it's not good enough, then let's improve on it.  I don't know what it takes to treat drug addiction.  But I do know that encouraging an habit is not a way to make it go away.

You don't offer free cigarettes to people trying to quit smoking.  Some doctors even refuse to treat their patients who don't want to stop smoking.  Some doctors don't want to see patients that do not lose weight on command and refuse surgery.

Why should we act differently when it's heroine?  Giving them free heroine, a free place to shoot themselves, a free nurse to take care of them while other sick people need private insurances to pay for a private nurse?

It seems to me there are people more worthy of saving than someone who refuses to change.  A smoker who refuses to quit smoking won't get a surgery to remove a lung.  Officially, they will not refuse it.  Unofficially, he gets pushed to the bottom of the waiting list if they don't stop.  If you're fat and need medical treatment, your doc will tell you to lose weight.  If you can't, he asks of you to go into gastric surgery and if you refuse, you get to the bottom list of whatever treatment you need.

Again, why make things different for drug users?  Why the need to cuddle them in their habit?  We have limited resources, not infinite ones.  I think it's a waste of those limited resources.

[garbon]

Naloxone is not heroin and the governor needs to just look at all the other states where it is easier to access to see if there is a sense of normalcy around heroin use.

[viper37]

Naloxone is not heroin and the governor needs to just look at all the other states where it is easier to access to see if there is a sense of normalcy around heroin use.

Just look at Europe.  First, they let people get heroine in controlled and safe place, apparently for health concerns.  They gave them needles, as we did for a short while in Vancouver.  Then they had to make sure they had easy access to anti-overdose medication.  Then they realize they have super-users who don't react to any kind of conventional therapy, including methadone, so they need to give them free heroine in the hope they will eventually cease using.

In my opinion, that is equivalent to giving free cigarettes to a lung cancer patient.  Or having hospitals with smoker's room, something we did away with a while ago over here.

[derspiess]

Isn't Narcan available in some places without a prescription?  I could swear it's that way with West Virginia.  The big issue in WV is whether to require state cops to carry it in their cruisers.

[garbon]

Naloxone is not heroin and the governor needs to just look at all the other states where it is easier to access to see if there is a sense of normalcy around heroin use.

Just look at Europe.  First, they let people get heroine in controlled and safe place, apparently for health concerns.  They gave them needles, as we did for a short while in Vancouver.  Then they had to make sure they had easy access to anti-overdose medication.  Then they realize they have super-users who don't react to any kind of conventional therapy, including methadone, so they need to give them free heroine in the hope they will eventually cease using.

In my opinion, that is equivalent to giving free cigarettes to a lung cancer patient.  Or having hospitals with smoker's room, something we did away with a while ago over here.

Oh, I guess I'll leave you to continue to construct fantasy land.

[Barrister]

Isn't Narcan available in some places without a prescription?  I could swear it's that way with West Virginia.  The big issue in WV is whether to require state cops to carry it in their cruisers.

Yeah, that's what the Maine bill was about, and the story says there are similar provisions in place in 30 states.