Today Mayor De Blasio quietly announced that the city plans to open "safe injection" sites in NYC. This means junkies will be able to go to these places, get high (shoot/snort/drop/maybe even smoke) their very hard drugs, and then get immediate assistance if they OD. The idea is for them to do this in a safe, clean, controlled environment.
So of you might be saying "What the hell?" but this is a great, mature approach, an advance off of needle exchange programs.
Instead of criminalizing addicts, this treats addiction as what it's always been: a health issue. And hopefully these centers will also be treatment centers that can help wean people off drugs. As long as drug use and addiction exists in the shadows, where people are persecuted instead of treated, we won't seriously make headway in treating addiction -- or drug crimes.
These centers are, as of now, illegal. The state still needs to approve them and the Federal government could prosecute. But assuming the state approves and the Feds lay off, this will be a significant advancement in the human dignity of people.
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