Taxes going towards Crack Pipes?

Jaimee.

Jaimee.

Member
Vancouver Coastal Health will begin handing out between $50 000 and $60 000 worth of crack pipes to users starting in October.

Vancouver health officials will distribute new crack pipes to the city’s non-injection drug users this fall as part of a pilot project aimed at engaging crack cocaine smokers and reducing the transmission of disease such as hepatitis C.

The program, part of Vancouver’s harm reduction strategy, is expected to start in October and run for six months to a year, said Dr. Reka Gustafson, a medical health officer with Vancouver Coastal Health.

The intent is to connect health care workers with crack cocaine smokers to evaluate how many of the drug users are in the city and what equipment they need to lower their risk of catching diseases such as hepatitis C, HIV and even respiratory illnesses.

A kit with a clean, unused pipe, mouthpiece, filter and condoms will be handed out to the participants, Gustafson said. It’s not known at this time how many drug users will take part in the pilot, which is estimated to cost between $50,000 and $60,000.

“There’s been a shift to crack cocaine smoking and we want to make sure the services we provide are the services they need ... if we’re providing syringes and what we need are pipes, we’re not serving them,” Gustafson said.

“We know there’s a demand and chances are what we’re going to be able to supply won’t last very long.”

Health officials already provide mouthpieces for crack pipes but not the pipe themselves. This means many drug users are sharing the glass pipes, which may be old or chipped, and are at risk of contracting a disease, such as hepatitis C, from cuts on their mouths, or respiratory illness or pneumonia from inhaling crumbling filters or the crack directly into their lungs.

“It’s just understanding and knowing the health consequences of crack cocaine smoking,” Gustafson said.

“Mouth pieces alone are not enough. Health consequences don’t just come from the mouth piece; they come from unsafe pipes.

The pilot project is expected to reach out to the rising number of crack cocaine smokers. Although specific numbers aren’t known, it’s estimated there are up to 15,000 of drug users in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

But while heroin users can get clean needles from needle-exchange programs or the city’s safe-injection site, new pipes aren’t as easily accessible.

“There’s quite a high prevalence of [people] smoking crack but it can differ from city to city,” B.C. medical health officer Dr. Perry Kendall.

He said the pilot should help to reduce transmission rates for disease, particularly for hepatitis C, which continues to be on the rise in Vancouver. About 60 per cent to 80 per cent of drug users in Vancouver have the disease or at risk of getting it, he said, because it’s easily spread through blood or saliva or through sexual activity.

“There’s good reason that hepatitis C and HIV can be transmitted on the mouth piece of pipes. It’s not as clear as with needle-sharing but it’s pretty persuasive,” Kendall said. “This pilot will tell us if we should be doing more.”

The pilot was initiated partly because of a report by Kendall last spring, which found a rise in crack cocaine smoking has been consistently reported in the Downtown Eastside with increases in requests for crack smoking supplies.

But as only mouth pieces and push sticks — used to clean the filters — are supplied, the report said, youth who use non-injection drugs may not be getting the services they need.

“Safer crack cocaine smoking among those who use this substance needs to be encouraged, and crack cocaine smokers need to be engaged, by including crack pipes with available harm reduction supplies and establishing supervised inhalation sites,” the report said.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Vancouver+Coastal+Health+hand+worth+crack+pipes/5189497/story.html#ixzz1U1EKxwFr

I see this as something quite interesting. I can understand why Coastal Health would want to try and reduce future medical costs by trying to inhibit the transmission of hepatitis and HIV but it also makes me upset that diabetics have to pay for some of their necessary medical supplies (ie lancets) yet, crack addicts are being given free crack pipes.

What are your thoughts?
 
Maybe they will coat the inside with arsenic so they will all just die, then they wont have to worry about them anymore. I wouldn't mind some of my tax money going towards that, better for the long run.
 
so basically they want to stop the spread of disease? by enhancing smoking crack? this is when you know the world is fucked up.
 
i don't see how it helps anything. they are still going to share the tax payer crack pipes anyways. its just now they are less likely to have to search for one when they need to burn one down.
 
Supervised inhalation sites for crack smokers? Didt Canada just downgrade pot rights and BC goes and condones shit like this. Seems government everywhere is fucked
 
Classic backward liberal thinking. This won't do anything but enable/promot crack smoking and at the same time make it look more accpetable and normal to the general public
 
This is kind of what I'm thinking.

Except, I don't think it would make it look more acceptable to the general public. To me it just makes fueling a person's addiction easier.

I can understand what Coastal Health was thinking, but at the same time I would rather see my tax money going somewhere else, like perhaps opening more beds in hospitals.
 
failboat.jpg
 
Addiction should be treated like an illness and not a crime. These people are going to smoke crack regardless, so getting them safe equipment so they don't transmit disease is the first step in helping to solve the problem.

People suggesting this will make more people smoke crack are retarded. Do you think some kids on the street are thinking "hmm, crack looks appealing... if only i could afford a new, clean pipe..."?

Studies have shown that treating addiction like an illness is much more effective. Places like Portugal, where pretty much all drug use is decriminalized, show much lower addiction rates than the US (which ranks among the highest i think, too lazy to check stats)
 
right... i really am a "dumbfuck." allow me to correct my self... assholelol no state in america would ever do this.

 
Should we not treat obese people in hospitals? What about people with diabetes? It makes people overeating seem normal and acceptable to the general public.
 
believe it or not, programs like this are actually beneficial to the community. Firstly, crack smoking is hardly glamourous, and handing out clean pipes will hardly improve it's image. Secondly, addiction needs to be treated as a health problem, so access to clean using equipment is a must. It's the same concept as a heroin injecting room, and secondary health issues(HIV, HEP C etc)does not become a problem. Also, these people who contract such diseases can also inadvertently spread it into the wider community, so these programs hope to stop that becoming a major problem. /endrant
 
I've seen the shit people use as pipes and believe me, it's pretty fucking awful. A clean pipe is a whole lot cheaper than treating for septicemia.

The mistake people make is assuming that addicts behave in any way predictable by traditional economic theory. They'll just keep shovelling bullshit into their bodies until they die, clean up or have their liberties infringed upon.
 
How is it fucked up? The fucked up part is throwing people in jail for victimless crimes. Smoking crack harms no one but the person smoking crack and this is a good step away from the methods used from the failed war on drugs. It's not like their saying "LOL HEPATITIS IS GETTING BAD EVERYONE SMOKE CRACK LOL"
 
Crack=/=marijuana

You can be a smart, well rounded, high class, contributing member of society and smoke a joint every day. You don't fiend for more when you start to come down. It doesn't altar your mind into an aggressive personality. It even reduces stress and violence given that you aren't dealing or in a gang. This is more common than you might think.

It is very common for crack addicts to do anything and everything they can to buy more crack. They are likely to steal and harm others to feed their addiction. This hurts the country on many levels, as well as commonly starts crack users into a downward spiral.
 
You'll never convince people who see serious drug addiction as a moral shortcoming/Darwinism at work that it's anything but. Harm reduction strategies and treating addiction as a health/mental health issue has(ve) been proven to work, whereas attempts at policing away drugs have failed miserably.

But, again, we're taught (through a number of avenues) at a very young age that drug addiction is a poor, inner-city, black and brown problem, that befalls the particularly weak willed, or willfully self-destructive. People don't see the interconnectedness that exists between us all, and they also don't realize that we already pay for people "to get high" and to clothe and feed them when they're arrested.

this is a clear attempt at reaching out to people and trying to conduct research/establish trust and a rapport with addicts in an attempt to coax them into treatment. Everyone hears free crack pipes and shits themselves without actually investigating. The reality is that by doing this, health professionals are reaching people who would never willingly seek medical attention, and collecting information as to how better reduce harm. This is completely responsible, and anyone willing to look past the right wing news blurb fake outrage into what's really going on here will understand that this could prove invaluable. Are there ways to better spend 50g? Absolutely. However, if we want to play that game, let's look closely at any and all governmental spending....I guarantee that there are more egregious examples of wasteful spending on even more marginal programs.

Also, many, many cities in the US already provide free syringes to IV drug users, along with cottons, sterile water, and safe sharps containers....how's this different?
 
Irrelevant. They're going to smoke crack regardless, why not have them do it in a clean way to reduce money spent on treating them for the diseases they pick up?
 
in banff i had a friend that was crack dealer in the old days back in calgary, got out because it got dangerous for him and smoked it like kids smoke weed.. held down a full time job at the grocery store there. sure he had his problems, but he was the nicest kid you ever met... if he was your friend.

there are also people who have done it, but don't talk about it with anyone...

just regular people.
 
It is saving tax payers their money in the long run. By handing out clean pipes (and needles through the needle exchange programs/ safe injection sites)the spread of disease will hopefully be slowed so the tax payers won't have to shell out for future treatment costs.

 
Lesson 1. There is more to this world than liberal and conservative ideals. What do you even know about other countries' politics to comment this inanely?

Lesson 2. It is exactly helpful, just as free syringe drop-offs and pick-ups for addicts, it helps prevent spread of disease, simple as that and it is effective in every country that has such programs.

Do you actually believe what you wrote or are you just talking on auto-pilot, straight from whatever shocker news outlet you tune into for opinions?
 
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