Proposal+5—ifurreadingthisits2l8

Posted on September 28, 2015 by ifurreadingthisits2l8

Giving heroine addicts the exact tools to help them continue using heroine seems counterintuitive. In my research I expect to learn how useful giving these addicts clean needles, and a safe place to do drugs actually effects their overdose rates and chance of survival. I’d also like to learn how it keeps the city safer, and if it helps keep the crime rate lower. I would like to know if these addicts are more or less incarcerated and what benefits this gives them, their city, and the other people who live in it as well as the costs related to this program.

I would also like to know if it costs the same, more, or less to run this program than to keep people with drug problems incarcerated for drug related crimes such as possession, paraphernalia, intent to distribute etc.

http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-02-04/vancouver-combats-heroin-giving-its-addicts-best-smack-world

This story gives insight into what Vancouver does to help heroine addicts. They allow them clean needles and a safe space. I expect it to show me the statistics and standpoints from both sides of the debate.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/17/needle-exchanges-heroin-disease_n_4922237.html

I expect this article to help my curiosity about whether or not this program actually benefits people health wise and if it saves money or not.

http://www.nytimes.com/1987/03/09/world/some-nations-giving-addicts-clean-needles.html

This article sums up how other countries are also incorporating the same types of programs that Vancouver has. I expect it to show me if the program is working well in other countries and compare it to how well it’s worked here in the United States so far.

http://healthland.time.com/2011/12/16/clean-needles-saved-my-life-now-congress-wants-to-ban-funding-for-needle-exchange/

I expect this article to give me the standpoint that it is actually necessary and life saving to to fund a clean needle exchange program. In this program addicts would exchange their dirty (and possibly harmful) needles for clean ones which could save their life by preventing overdose, infection, or spread of disease.

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/4/18/needle-exchange-programs.html

I would like this article to help me understand the opposition of the use of this program and others around the world. I think it’ll also help me gain greater insight into how the programs are run and their success rates in places other than Vancouver. It’ll show me how people still oppose this being put into law even if it shows signs of a better survival rate.

This entry was posted in Proposal Archives. Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to Proposal+5—ifurreadingthisits2l8

  1. davidbdale says:
    September 29, 2015 at 2:15 pm

    This has been a very popular topic for the last two semesters, ifurreadingthis, but it hasn’t resulted in an “A” paper yet. The tendency of students who choose it has been to rely on the provided news accounts as their sole source material, and to make bland statements about either, 1) the shortsightedness of providing addicts with drugs instead of “curing” them, or 2) the “better than nothing” advantage of making addicts less likely to commit crimes to support their habits. Best grades will be reserved for writers who dig deeper and bring in support from unexpected academic sources. Be ready to be challenged on any simplistic explanations.

    Of course proceed if you like the topic, but don’t by any means consider it an “easy” essay.

    Reply, please.

    Like

    Reply
  2. ifurreadingthisits2l8 says:
    October 2, 2015 at 9:04 am

    The clean needle exchange program is a program meant to reduce the spread of fatal disease among drug users. The program lets drug users exchange their dirty needles for clean ones in order to reduce the risk of developing hepatitis or HIV. In New York City 50% of people who used drugs with a needle had HIV while today the percentage has dropped to 16% after introducing the clean needle exchange program. The program is not meant to entice drug users to continue using, but to keep them safe until they are ready to commit to rehab. Keeping drug users alive before they make the choice to commit to rehab is a vital step in decreasing the use of drugs, and overall death among drug users in the United States.

    In Vancouver the harm-reduction program is meant to reduce the risk of a heroine addict overdosing by providing them with safe doses of heroine, clean needles, and a safe place for them to do the drug. In addition to the safety of the addict, it’s meant to keep them from stealing, prostituting themselves, and stray them away from obtaining money for drugs in any other illegal forms. By providing heroine users with the drug, and the means to do it the city believes it will keep more drug users alive, and reduce the crime rate in the city.

    Like

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s