This Is Why: Poignant Words from Off the Streets Discussion Board

OK...as an X-IV drug user, I wil tell you first hand that we need to have clean needles available. Personally, I cannot count how many times I have shared works, just to not be sick!!! And that is someting I said I would NEVER, EVER do...as we all know, addiction is a disease of progression, and we will do whatever it takes to secure our fix. I recall picking up discarded works from the side of the street, and in gutters...horrible...I am grateful to have 2 years free of heroin now! I know to be cautious, all I have regained that was once lost could be lost again faster than one could ever imagine...we will not stop drug use all together...but we can provide the equipment needed to ensure drug use that will not spread the diseases of HIV and HEP C. I was active for 10 years and I did contract HEP C...by the grace of the Goddess (in which I choose to believe)...I am HIV negative...How this happened, I can only say that I was pulled from a life of degredation and pain...and I will be grateful for everyday that I have here on Earth...SOBER and CLEAN... I firmly support making needle kits available to help ensure public safety. I am not supporting drug use, but...an addict will stop at nothing to get what they need at that moment in time...why can't we make it just a little safer? Thanks for listening... 

(from Off the Streets Facebook Discussion Board, November 2009)

Cost of Addiction is Staggering: "Solutions" Don't Make Sense

New CASA Report Finds Federal, State and Local Governments Spend Almost Half a Trillion Dollars a Year on Substance Abuse and Addiction

From Join Together - Substance abuse and addiction cost federal, state and local governments at least $467.7 billion in 2005, according to Shoveling Up II: The Impact of Substance Abuse on Federal, State and Local Budgets, a new 287-page report released today by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University.

The CASA report found that of $373.9 billion in federal and state spending, 95.6 percent ($357.4 billion) went to shovel up the consequences and human wreckage of substance abuse and addiction; only 1.9 percent went to prevention and treatment, 0.4 percent to research, 1.4 percent to taxation and regulation, and 0.7 percent to interdiction.

*Only 1.9% to prevention and treatment?! It just doesn't make sense! And even worse, those in the prevention field know that of that meager 1.9%, verrry little is left for prevention .... waay little. I really wish I had that statistic at my fingertips actually.

The report, based on three years of research and analysis, is the first ever to assess the costs of tobacco, alcohol and illegal and prescription drug abuse to all levels of government. The report found that the largest amount of federal and state government spending on the burden of substance abuse and addiction -- $207.2 billion, or 58 percent -- was for health care (74.1 percent of the federal burden).

*When I read a report like this, it makes me even more certain that a syringe exchange program is a necessary tool. SEPs should always be considered in the conversation of effective, efficient options for dealing with the impact of substance abuse and addiction. Especially in specific areas of the country. We are desperate here for this kind of social service and until more people know it, believe it and act on it, the impact will worsen every day.

For the complete story and to be linked to the CASA report, visit Join Together here.

**** Note: Join Together is a good resource for up to date information on a variety of drug and alcohol topics. Their sources come from all over and offer a wide variety of research portals.