I am increasingly shocked by the stories and articles I see in the news. Generally it is disappointing because topics that really are important aren't being written. And when something of importance is discussed is because it has become so alarmingly atrocious or because it is politically charged. This morning I read an article about a new Task Force that was created in the state of Washington for Seattle because of the increased deaths it has been experiencing due to Opiod overdoses which have raised by 60% over the last year. The Article was written by Jonah Bromwich the New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/26/us/seattles-potential-solution-for-heroin-epidemic-places-for-legal-drug-use.html?_r=0
The task force is considering as their solution to present to the Mayor of creating drug safe facilities where those with addictions can shoot up, smoke & get high under trained supervision. The goal is clearly to focus on one of the most severe consequences of drugs and that is the transmit of disease through unclean needles and the rising death rate from drug overdoses. This has been tried in other various Countries including Vancouver Canada without bringing increased crime to the areas the facilities have been created.
We are in an Era in the United States to overthrow morality in the name of acceptance, really it is appealing to the idea that you must break the rules to be accepting. They take something that appeals to the goodness of human nature to help others to be kind to others and they abuse it into something that is more than kindness. In this case it is called enabling. Enabling is when you "make someone able to do something" as defined by Miriam Websters dictionary. Those who have themselves, friends or family who have been or currently are involved in a drug addiction will be familiar with the term. It is when we trying to be kind and to help them and in the process give them the tools they need to continue in their addiction.
Those who support this new proposal by the Task Force are simply enabling the user to abuse drugs, harm their body and break the law. Drug addiction is a disease it affects the brain destroys your ability to make rational decisions. There will be people who use these locations but there will be many who will not because it doesn't matter, all that matters is that they get their next high. It super-cedes all other desires or needs pushing beyond, relationships, responsibility and eventually the need to eat. It becomes the most essential and important piece of their life.
This is a solution with so many flaws. First it focuses on a symptom and not the problem. One cannot cure cancer by simply going to sleep when it takes all the energy out of their body, exhaustion is simply a symptom . The problem is a lack of education to our youth, increased support of drug abuse & gateway drugs, a prolific amount of Opiod prescriptions being given to patients and more free access than ever known before to the deadly substance.
Rather than focusing more energy on creating new gender identities for our kids to learn in school the time should be used to educate them on the variety of drugs and the effects they ultimately have on the body. It should be spent teaching about addiction and how it destroys your freedom to choose by enslaving you to your addiction.
We need to be aware of the changes happening to our country because of the politically correct decisions of others and haste to support causes they do not fully understand. Firstly we have a crisis of Black Tar entering the country through our southern border. Because of recent law changes to allow the medical and recreational use of marijuana in some states it has now destroyed the market for farming in Mexico. Instead they have seen an increase in poppy farms and sending the narcotics straight to the U.S. Supporting a known gateway drug like marijuana will only increase the amount of people who choose to try deadlier substances.
We have too many prescriptions being written for addictive substances and sometimes indifference even with the knowledge that an individual has had addictions in the past or now struggles with the problem when writing them. Fewer prescriptions need to be written and doctors need to be monitored for high levels of prescriptions per the ratios of clients they see.
Finally rather than free college across the United States we provide a simple federal grant program to those struggling with addiction to get into a recovery center which often have unrealistic and expensive rates those trapped in addiction could not afford without insurance. Family members who often do not have the funds are forced to take out 2nd mortgages to pay for a program that is not even a guaranteed solution.
We are facing an epidemic. New solutions do need to be brought to the table but supporting drug use and perpetuating the life of those caught in addiction only makes a more difficult problem. Yes, we should strive to prevent overdoses but if we aren't stopping access to the poison or providing more treatment to those afflicted our wound is only going to fester.
-Trent D Nielson
* Additional sources provided upon request, there was not enough time provide citations at the creation of this posting.
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