http://www.politico.com/magazine/st...governors-118379.html?ml=m_t1_2h#.VWfxyM5ShUQ Seriously, was this written in the 90's and only now published. Admittedly I only read the first couple of paragraphs before I had to stop. I come from RURAL Oklahoma. I understood by 8th grade ( at least) how bad Aids was, and how it was transmitted.
It seems the health administrators in the red states didn't learn in the 90s, and are now paying the price of their conservatism. Thanks for sharing.
Opposition to needle exchange funding is yet another one of those right-wing policies aimed at punishing "those people over there" for their perceived moral failings ... that suddenly seems a lot less appealing when people you actually know have to deal with the consequences
Wow. The fifth paragraph of the article says it all: So this outbreak is linked to just plain stupidity. Stupidity on the part of the policymakers, who let their misguided moral and religious beliefs turn a blind eye to the problem in the first place. Stupidity on the part of the victims, who frankly should have known better. I don't care how poor or jobless or uneducated you are, there is no excuse in 2015 for sharing or using dirty needles. None.
You are jobless and inject prescription painkillers? Hop on the Darwin train bitch! I will will personally give you a "hot dose" so you die on the spot and not give it a second thought. Maybe it's because I'm white (so sue me!) - but I have ZERO pity on anyone white who behaves in such a manner. Fuck me running - you can't find anyone to sell you weed? You suck! Fuck all you white trash morons.
Yeah, even Limbaugh knows you don't inject the stuff. Oh, and you pay one of your aides to buy it for you...
Maybe i'm tired or maybe it's lost in translation, but you'll need to explain to me why/where/what the skin colour angle is you are coming at here. Looks on the surface just more racism.
That's easy for us to say, but if you're an addict in a place without needle exchange, where do you get that clean needle? I don't blame the addict for deciding the risk is less significant than the need for a fix. I blame a political process that ignores reality.
Because one main reason given for abusing hard drugs is your life is so fucked up and disouraging and unfair etc.etc. and you need an escape from your horrible reality. And if you are white (in many cases not all) you most likely have a slight advantage (over the course of your lifetime) over minorities living in dangerous inner city neighborhoods. So basically I'm thinking you have less of an "excuse/reason" for needing to use dirty needles for your addiction.
I have an idea - it sounds crazy but it just might work: why doesn't some enterprising upstart start selling discount needles to the poor rural Okies?
In many, many red states just possessing a needle will get you arrested and it is illegal to exchange them or distribute them to people without a license and even then can only be given to people with a prescription. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Needle_exchange_programme Those laws sound sort of good if you don't pay attention to the consequences but they also pretty much guarantee the junkies use dirty needles and that disease runs rampant.
I went to Vegas last month and all the clubs had amnesty boxes for drugs, as all the places I went to did thorough searches. Couldn't hospitals set something like that up, like the Safe Haven laws in place for babies?
Jesus Oklahoma! Talk about the left hand not knowing what the right is doing. Hey, why not make it a law that you can't wear a condom unless it's put on by a licensed physician? Wait...a licensed taxidermist! That sounds pretty pointless and counter-productive!
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-...utbreak-leads-to-reversal-on-needle-exchanges They have finally started needle exchange programs, something public health officials have been urging them to do for years, but which conservatives have opposed for years.
