Throughout the past couple of years in Uni, I feel as if I have developed some passion as it were, or some great urge, to be a part of the harm minimisation/reduction practice. Most people would have no idea what I’m talking about, but basically, it involves reducing/minimising harm in relation to drug users. Things like needle exchange programs, opioid replacement therapies etc.
I know that it is a controversial practice, such as giving clean and sterile syringes to injecting drug users. I guess, as a future health professional, as a human being, even as a Christian, I personally have the opinion that, instead of the “zero tolerance” approach, we need to approach it in a more humane way.
I am not a drug user (as in illegal drug user) or have a drug addiction so I obviously dont have first hand experience as to what it’s like to be one. However, I think I know enough to realise that if you have a zero tolerance approach, sometimes it’s just like putting it under the carpet. Ignoring the real problem. Sure, if you take away drugs, they wont have access to it, but they will substitute it with something else. If you lock them up for using it, they’ll still find a way to get drugs and use them. Now, I’m not saying that we should legalise illegal drugs. There are reasons for them being illegal and if they were legal, they would be heavily restricted. For example, I know that some people are given amphetamines for ADHD and there are a whole lot of processes you need to undergo before your doctor can prescribe it and stuff. So yeah…it’s heavily restricted and for medicinal purposes only.
Basically, where I stand on this issue (pro-harm minimisation) is where most people do not tread. I understand people’s concerns such as:
- it will encourage them to take more drugs (well really, they will take drugs no matter what, so we might as well give them a clean syringe so they dont share and get HIV or something. Plus, by doing so, we can also provide them with more information and we can be there if they want information about ceasing or stopping their drug use)
- there will be swarms of drug users in our area (even if there are, they are also human beings and not a form of mutated alien species. It is understandable that people are concerned for their wellbeing, but I doubt many injecting drug users will go and jab you with a syringe. They are more likely to use it on themselves than on other people)
- they will leave dirty syringes on the ground and we’ll step on them (first of all, those who provide needle exchange programs usually would provide a way for drug users to dispose of their syringes usually in the form of a container or something)
Anyway, I guess in the future I would really like to work in this area and be able to help those who are marginalised from our society for having an addiction to drugs. In my eyes, it’s no worse than being addicted to nicotine and alcohol. Strange isn’t it…people don’t think twice about nicotine replacement therapy, but they get all hot and bothered about opioid replacement therapy. People don’t think twice about getting drunk and for some people, it’s almost cool to get drunk, but if they see someone on heroin or marijuana, they start to voice how horrible and sick that is and state that they should be locked up or something. Just because something is legal doesn’t mean it wont harm you nor does it mean that it’s okay to go out and take excessive amounts of it. Alcohol can do a lot more damage than people realise, but I guess I’ll write about that another day.
