6 of 8

No

Write now Print Email Article Invite a writer™ Add to Favorites Contact this writer

I know that in some parts of the country needle exchange programs exist to help the intravenous drug user stay HIV and Hepatitis C free. But its seems ridiculous for the government to fund such programs. Where would the money be coming from? The tax payers? Isn't funding needle exchange programs the same as endorsing drug usage? Its a defeatist attitude that simply says that drug users will not change so if they are going to use it is better in the long run to give them free needles and hope to prevent some HIV and Hepatitis C cases then try to fund rehabilitation programs that might help the addicts get clean.

How can anyone offer needles to inject killer drugs because they feel the benefits outweigh the dangers? Perhaps if the addict couldn't get ahold of the needles then they would not advance to intravenous drug use. Maybe they would stick with snorting it or smoking it which results in less overdose deaths then injection. I think that needles should be illegal in all states without a prescription. They were once illegal in California without a prescription. I don't know if they still are or not but it seems like a good idea to me. Perhaps if they were harder to get ahold of like a prescription drug then the junkie would not move on to the last and final stage of addiction which is intravenous drug use. Most addicts simply start out snorting or smoking the drugs and don't move onto injection until much later in the addiction process. I know that this is true with Heroin usage.

Now I think that we need to look at the dangers that lie in giving out free needles to the street addicts. These dangers exist for the every day person and most importantly for our very children! Do you think that the addict who is totally strung out on Heroin is going to make sure he or she makes it to a trash can to toss away that used needle? Or make it to exchange sight? NO. They are going to sit in the some park in the middle of a city and inject their drugs. Then they are going to drift off into their coma like state where they are unaware of what is even going on around them. Some of these junkies don't even pull the needle from their arm before they are off in a sleep induced high. The needle dangles there until it falls blood filled to the ground. Plain and simple. This is the behavior of an addict after injection. The addict doesn't care what happens to the needle after he or she has used it. Now here comes a child who finds the needle. A needle that is not only swarming with toxic drugs but probably full of HIV or Hepatitis. Or the poor unfortunate man or woman wearing flip flops who drives the needle into their foot.
The addict doesn't care. All the addict cares about is the ultimate high. The needles will not be exchanged or thrown away. They will lie strewn everywhere. So outlaw the needles. Make them available by prescription only in every state. Don't just hand them out!

Learn more about this author, Kim Sharpe.
Click here to send author comments or questions.

more options

hide

Add your voice

Know something about Should the government fund needle exchange programs??
We want to hear your view. Write now!