I realize that this is all just politics and that perhaps some of the people involved don't actually feel the way that they are pretending to, but this outrage over drug addicts being provided with needle exchanges and safe places to inject illegal drugs is not something I disagree with. I don't like that it is paid for with tax dollars but other than that, I don't really see a problem with it.
Look, these people are going to use drugs regardless: This is the very nature of addiction. I had a family member that we had all but given up on because he kept returning to drugs - mostly meth and heroin - no matter what we tried to do for the guy. It really sinks its claws into some people and attempt to force them to stop by making things like needles unavailable to them is only going to mean that they use dirty ones over and over again, it's not like a heroin addict is going to be like "well shit, I can't find a clean needle so I guess I'll just stop using heroin!"
Even thought it is conservatives who are crying about this, I am not going to agree with them just because I too am conservative. I think this is actually a really great idea and wish we would take it a step further. I wish that we would legalize drugs and instead of spending billions a year on the senseless and unsuccessful "war on drugs" that we should instead be putting that money into actually helping these people. By "help" I do not mean "put them in jail" either.
For anyone out there that believes that giving clean supplies for people who are addicted to drugs is a bad thing, I wonder if you have ever been close to someone that was or is an addict. These people will stop at nothing to get a fix and if that means re-using the same needles over and over in a dirty environment, that's exactly what they are going to do.
Some states have gone so far as to make needle exchange programs illegal and if you look at the map you'll see that all of those states are red states. I hate to bag on my own people but I really think they have gotten this one wrong. If you are going to have an opposition to it I think the opposition should be one of not wanting tax money to pay for it. Then I would agree with the notion. But the idea that these sorts of programs are encouraging drug use is just ill-informed. I would imagine that their opinion would change if they would simply look at the bigger picture and realize that addiction can happen to anyone and when it does, there is very little that can be done to stop it. My family member eventually quit and is now clean for many years and this was accomplished by having the help of his family and community, not because he couldn't find drugs or needles anymore.
In my mind this should not only be legal, it should be more widespread and encouraged. However, it should be funded by charitable, private organizations, not the government. In the meantime I would love it if politicians would stop using this as a method of attacking their political enemies. This is not a good look and I believe it just makes them seem heartless and a bit stupid when they do so.