July 12, 2007
Remember to bring your own syringes
The news are sometimes most disturbing I think and have no sense at all.
Now Finnish junkies and drug addicts are by the Finnish National Health Institute warned against visiting Stockholm in Sweden without bringing their own clean syringes to shoot their drugs with. And this is because there has been an increase in the occurrence of HIV infections recently in Stockholm and the junkies are now warned against sharing needles. Where lays the point in this?
I have had some friends that already when young turned junkies and died; well they did not care about anything but to get their fixes. And still today I have a friend that survived and quit, that has been clean for decades now so I have not exactly experienced it myself but know from reliable sources that one thing is for sure, you do not think about clean needles when needing a fix, you are just dying to do it, no matter what! So where lays the use of this news or warning from the Finnish Health Institute about syringes?!?
It is part of the harm reduction efforts on the part by the more enlightened governments around the world, accepting the fact that drug abuse exists and will not go away immediately and decreasing the harm it does in the short run (by providing clean needles, encouraging their use, etc) while still fighting it on the other hand.
Posted by: mig at July 13, 2007 04:04 AM