I fear people's biases around needle exchanges and safe-injection sites are leading them to overlook the benefits. These facilities provide information on addiction, counselling, clean equipment and staff to treat wounds, abscesses and infections. There is even peer support, opiate-replacement therapy and withdrawal management. Right now there are 45 cities around the world with 85 injection sites. Every one says we wish we'd done it sooner and had more. In a letter earlier this year Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan said, "to date the impressive research findings that have been published demonstrate that (the site) not only provides a significant opportunity to generate knowledge, it also appears to be an important protective factor in the lives of those individuals that use the facility." [continues 52 words]
Meth Ordinance Goes Into Effect On Saturday, Crow Wing County's battle against methamphetamine was waged on a new front. With the dawn of a new year, a county-wide ordinance went into effect mandating drugs used to make meth, called precursor drugs, be displayed and offered for sale behind a checkout counter, within a pharmacy or other controlled counter where the public is not permitted. Violation of the ordinance is a misdemeanor crime. The meth precursors are drugs or products containing as its major active ingredient ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, phenylpropanolamine, or any of their salts or optical isomers. Products include Sudafed, Pharmacist Value Suphedrine, Mini-Thins, Max-Alert, and other diet pills or alert tablets often sold on the counters of convenience stores with any number of other chemicals, according to Crow Wing County's MethWatch Web site. [continues 434 words]
Matthew Wolmutt knows a thing or two about the war on drugs and he doesn't like the way it's being fought. For nine years, Wolmutt's life revolved around drugs and alcohol. He first tried liquor when he was 11. At 12, he started using marijuana. At 16, came cocaine and methamphetamine. "At most, there were 10 days I was clean," said Wolmutt, 23, a Brainerd area native. "The rest of the time I was high. Every aspect of my life revolved around getting speed, meth, whatever you want to call it." [continues 696 words]
The drug war was a lost cause to begin with. The reason is not necessarily the incompetence of our drug-fighting forces, nor any special evasiveness of the drug lords, but the human element. The essence of human spirit compromised the effort before it even started. By nature, people are greedy, power-hungry and easily manipulated. For those that are corrupt, dealing with such people is a way of life; that's how they make a killing. The people sent to crack down on the drug trafficking are not incorruptible. [continues 167 words]
