• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Do you support the end of the syringe-exchange program?

Do you support the end of the syringe-exchange program?

  • Yes

    Votes: 15 40.5%

  • No

    Votes: 20 54.1%

  • Other

    Votes: 2 5.4%
  • Total voters
    37
iguanaman said:
Good thinking. Why not wait till they get HIV so we can support their treatment with our tax dollars. While we are at it let's outlaw abortion and contraception so they all can have lots of kids for us to support too. There is just too much money laying around.
Click to expand...

We shouldn't support them then either. They can drop dead and solve the problem.
 
Cephus said:
The idiots who caused the problem on their own. We shouldn't pay for stupidity.
Click to expand...

Yeah lets extract the money out of their AIDS ridden carcasses and all the unwitting who infected them. Do you think before you type?
 
Cephus said:
We shouldn't support them then either. They can drop dead and solve the problem.
Click to expand...

Even if they did that, they'd be a vector for infection until they did. Not all addicts are dirty, raddled near-corpses. Many pass as colleagues and friends. Some make a living selling their services, and pass the infection to customers who take it home to their partner.
 
lizzie said:
It's only a threat to those who engage in activities which facilitate the spread of HIV.
Click to expand...

We've done that for decades now. What do you suggest we do about that?
Click to expand...

Well considering 20% of those infected with HIV in America dont actually know that they are infected, through the spread of this infection with sex, my point stands - this poses an inevitable threat to society as a whole if the situation isnt addressed starting from one of the primary reasons people get HIV - dirty needles.

Thats where the syringe exchange program comes in. And the ignoramus elite in congress believe ignoring the situation rectifies is.

Many Americans With HIV Don't Know They Have It : NPR
 
Whether a majority of prisoners are drug users or not is irrelevant. They aren't in prison for using drugs.

Personally, I support legalizing drugs and ending all public support of junkies. Let them do their drugs and live independently. If they wish to be career criminals, so be it.
 
kaya'08 said:
Well considering 20% of those infected with HIV in America dont actually know that they are infected, through the spread of this infection with sex, my point stands - this poses an inevitable threat to society as a whole if the situation isnt addressed starting from one of the primary reasons people get HIV - dirty needles.

Thats where the syringe exchange program comes in. And the ignoramus elite in congress believe ignoring the situation rectifies is.

Many Americans With HIV Don't Know They Have It : NPR
Click to expand...

Okay- just for grins- pretend that I have a friend who is an addict and a needle-user. As long as I'm not an addict, and am not using his needles, nor having sex with him, there is virtually no chance that I am going to contract aids from him/her.
 
lizzie said:
Okay- just for grins- pretend that I have a friend who is an addict and a needle-user. As long as I'm not an addict, and am not using his needles, nor having sex with him, there is virtually no chance that I am going to contract aids from him/her.
Click to expand...
I agree with that. My stepson has it. One drunken evening in a bar shortly after breaking up with his girlfriend is all it took. Yep, that's the kind of, how did you put it earlier?, "activities which facilitate the spread of HIV" that we need to put a stop to! He was young, drunk, and horny - every reason to put him in his place!
 
Last edited:
MoSurveyor said:
I agree with that. My stepson has it. One drunken evening in a bar shortly after breaking up with his girlfriend is all it took.

Yep, that's the kind of, how did you put it earlier?, "activities which facilitate the spread of HIV" that we need to put a stop to! He was young, drunk, and horny - every reason to put him in his place!
Click to expand...

It has nothing to do with putting someone in their place. It's just the facts of life, regardless of your feelings about it.
 
lizzie said:
It has nothing to do with putting someone in their place. It's just the facts of life, regardless of your feelings about it.
Click to expand...
Yes, it was a threat to a young American male that was depressed. I guess since you're female and no doubt have never been drunk that you can't understand it.
 
MoSurveyor said:
Yes, it was a threat to a young American male that was depressed. I guess since you're female and no doubt have never been drunk that you can't understand it.
Click to expand...

Your guess would be very wrong. I have no problem understanding the stupid and irrational things people do out of emotional pain. This still doesn't change the fact that they are risky, and with risk, comes the possibility of bad results.
 
Last edited:
lizzie said:
Your guess would be very wrong. I have no problem understanding the stupid and irrational things people do out of emotional pain. This still doesn't change the fact that they are risky, and with risk, comes the possibility of bad results.
Click to expand...
So you're saying that because it's irrational behavior (even though it's 100% natural) that we should do nothing to mitigate the risk? Then we should simply insist that all meats are thoroughly cooked and quit worrying about germs in meat. If it's properly cooked - the rational choice - then there's no risk and if you're stupid enough to eat your steak medium rare, well, you knew the possible consequences. :shrug:
 
MoSurveyor said:
So you're saying that because it's irrational behavior (even though it's 100% natural) that we should do nothing to mitigate the risk? Then we should simply insist that all meats are thoroughly cooked and quit worrying about germs in meat. If it's properly cooked - the rational choice - then there's no risk and if you're stupid enough to eat your steak medium rare, well, you knew the possible consequences. :shrug:
Click to expand...

I'm saying that it's not the responsibility of society at large to mitigate risk for those who participate in risky behaviors, when it's largely symbolic in nature. People do stupid **** and they make bad choices, and it seems to be normally due to emotional factors. It's a chance that people take when they engage in such choices, and it's not the fault of society nor the responsibility of society to mitigate that risk. If you want to live a risk-free life, then the way to do that is to avoid risky behaviors. It's a very simple concept to grasp.
 
lizzie said:
I'm saying that it's not the responsibility of society at large to mitigate risk for those who participate in risky behaviors, when it's largely symbolic in nature. People do stupid **** and they make bad choices, and it seems to be normally due to emotional factors. It's a chance that people take when they engage in such choices, and it's not the fault of society nor the responsibility of society to mitigate that risk. If you want to live a risk-free life, then the way to do that is to avoid risky behaviors. It's a very simple concept to grasp.
Click to expand...

it's the right thing to do, because it costs us a lot of money to care for people with aids. much more than the cost of a syringe.
 
liblady said:
it's the right thing to do, because it costs us a lot of money to care for people with aids. much more than the cost of a syringe.
Click to expand...

It's not about the *right thing to do*. Do you know many needle addicts? I've had friends who died from overdoses. Addicts aren't thinking about what's the reasonable or smart thing to do, or how they can be a "safe" needle-user. They want the fix. Plain and simple. It's the fix that they want over all else in their lives. Addiction over-rides just about any intelligence they have. They are self-destructive to the point that they will readily use whatever is available to help them alter reality and the world as it is. Needle exchange programs may make use collectively feel good about our intentions, but they don't in any way address the very real problem.
 
Do you support the termination of the syringe-exchange program?
Click to expand...

No...not at all. It's basically burying your head in the sand in regards to reality. The eradication of AIDS is important and this is a low cost way to lower it with a high risk population.
 
lizzie said:
It's not about the *right thing to do*. Do you know many needle addicts? I've had friends who died from overdoses. Addicts aren't thinking about what's the reasonable or smart thing to do, or how they can be a "safe" needle-user. They want the fix. Plain and simple. It's the fix that they want over all else in their lives. Addiction over-rides just about any intelligence they have. They are self-destructive to the point that they will readily use whatever is available to help them alter reality and the world as it is. Needle exchange programs may make use collectively feel good about our intentions, but they don't in any way address the very real problem.
Click to expand...

Sure...nobody is making the claim that a needle exchange program reduces drug use. If someone does become clean eventually though...it may lower their chances of getting clean just to find out they have AIDS...
 
lizzie said:
It's not about the *right thing to do*. Do you know many needle addicts? I've had friends who died from overdoses. Addicts aren't thinking about what's the reasonable or smart thing to do, or how they can be a "safe" needle-user. They want the fix. Plain and simple. It's the fix that they want over all else in their lives. Addiction over-rides just about any intelligence they have. They are self-destructive to the point that they will readily use whatever is available to help them alter reality and the world as it is. Needle exchange programs may make use collectively feel good about our intentions, but they don't in any way address the very real problem.
Click to expand...
I agree the exchange program probably won't alter the addiction but it's not meant to do that. It's meant to mitigate public risk of contracting a disease. Where that disease comes from is immaterial - or it should be. It's a public health risk and this is a relatively cheap way to mitigate it, even if it's a small percent. Think about the billions that go into flu vaccines every year. How many actual lives does that save and if they don't die they're not crippled for life so we don't have to support them forever, either, like we do with AIDS.

Or is that what you have in mind as well, cutting all support to deal with HIV? If not then I see little difference between the exchange program and some lab spending thousands of lab-hours a year trying to find drugs to treat victims after the fact.

Edit:
And if they're not thinking about being safe then who, exactly, is using the exchange program? Are you saying no addicts exchange their needles?
 
Last edited:
MoSurveyor said:
I agree the exchange program probably won't alter the addiction but it's not meant to do that. It's meant to mitigate public risk of contracting a disease. Where that disease comes from is immaterial - or it should be. It's a public health risk and this is a relatively cheap way to mitigate it, even if it's a small percent. Think about the billions that go into flu vaccines every year. How many actual lives does that save and if they don't die they're not crippled for life so we don't have to support them forever, either, like we do with AIDS.
Click to expand...

I pay for my syringe when I get a flu shot.
 
MoSurveyor said:
I agree with that. My stepson has it. One drunken evening in a bar shortly after breaking up with his girlfriend is all it took. Yep, that's the kind of, how did you put it earlier?, "activities which facilitate the spread of HIV" that we need to put a stop to! He was young, drunk, and horny - every reason to put him in his place!
Click to expand...

Like it or not, there are some mistakes that once made, can never be unmade. People have to take responsibility for their actions no matter how they try to justify their actions. It sucks, but that's reality.
 
Cephus said:
Like it or not, there are some mistakes that once made, can never be unmade. People have to take responsibility for their actions no matter how they try to justify their actions. It sucks, but that's reality.
Click to expand...
Personal responsibility, yes. If she had gotten pregnant there would have been a responsibility to assume. I have no problem with that at all. But disease?

Are we back to letting any meat into the system because if you're too stupid to adequately cook it and you get sick that's just your tough luck? But we don't do that, do we? Instead we spend millions inspecting meat and meat processing facilities, businesses spend millions to reduce biological contamination, and for what? Because people are too stupid to thoroughly cook their hamburger? No. We do it because "decent folk" are exposed to that danger, not just the gutter trash. Let's be honest, isn't that what it really comes down to?
 
1Perry said:
I pay for my syringe when I get a flu shot.
Click to expand...

And everyone pays when you have a serious medical incident.

Syringe programs reduce the net cost to everyone else in the same way insurance reduces their payment for your medical procedures.

It's fine to be against the program on moral grounds, but in terms of economic, you're a fool to want to shut down a cost saving program.
 
I don't know about other states but here in Ohio it a crime to possess or distribute drug paraphernalia unless it is for a legitimate medical purpose. For instance, people with diabetes that need to take daily insulin injections can buy and possess syringes. So technically the workers at these needle exchange programs are breaking the law.

People share needles simply because of supply and demand. Addicts know that sharing needles is risky but they will do it anyways if they need a fix.

In order to prevent the transmission of disease via needle sharing I think it would make more sense to simply decriminalize paraphernalia and make syringes available over the counter. That way each junkie would buy their own syringes. They wouldn't have to share. It's not like they're prohibitively expensive. Back in the 90's when I was dating a girl who was diabetic she would buy a box of 100 syringes for less than $10 and then she would turn around and sell them to addicts for a dollar a piece. If she's getting a 100% markup then logically that means there is a supply shortage simply because they are illegal.

If you made them available over the counter there wouldn't be an uproar about using taxpayer funds to enable drug abuse because the taxpayers would have nothing to bitch about if they are not funding it. And at the same time drug addicts wouldn't have to share tainted needles. It's a common sense win-win compromise.
 
jamesrage said:
Do you hang out with or "date" ?junkies?
Click to expand...
How do you know the girl you're dating isn't getting barebacked by Jimmy the big dicked junkie when you are not around?
 
Muhammed said:
How do you know the girl you're dating isn't getting barebacked by Jimmy the big dicked junkie when you are not around?
Click to expand...

Because you actually get to know someone over a long period of time before you stick a dick in them. Oh, the difficult concepts in life...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom