Take a lesson from Europe
12/6/19 17:07![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kiaa posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
talkpoliticsI know, I know, that sounds like blasphemy to an American. But still. The US death rate from narcotics, painkillers and other addictive drugs is about 10 times higher than Europe's. While the relevant measures are actually much tighter in America. Why is that, you may wonder? There must be something different about Europe's approach to the problem, right?
Take Germany for example. You could see cafes where drug addicts converge, they have a coffee or a snack, then they go to a special backdoor room to have their fix - and no one persecutes them for that. No one reports them to the police. Because these special locales are mong the few safe (and regulated) places in the country where drug addicts could freely go and take heroin, cocaine or amphetamines.
It is this normalcy that might be the reason that the spreading of drug addicts across Europe is generally waning. This year's report by the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction that the death rate by overdose has only slightly increased in 2018 (8,200 incidents), which is a 300 increase compared to the previous year. But meanwhile, the use of heorin has dropped. The spread of HIV has decreased by 40% for the last decade.
The EMCDDA also reports that marijuana is the most widespread drug, and the cocaine use has increased. Most fatalities are due to opiate overdose, heroin being the top reason in that respect. Fentanyl and Oxycodone, which have brought a severe opioid crisis in the US, are still not as popular in Europe. The opioids that are used as painkillers can lead to dangerous addictions, as the situation in the US shows.
As for America itself, about 70,000 people have died there of Oxycodone and Fentanyl overdose for 2017. While their use is still very limited in Europe, that could chance if the EU does not closely monitor the drug situation.
Once the HIV virus reached New York in the 80s, the local drug policies had to be urgently reconsidered. The incrimination of drug use, as well as the forceful sending of drug addicts to hospitals, did not yield the intended result. Those who wanted drugs were still able to use them secretly, but now with much worse hygienic conditions. Then a new idea was born in Europe, to create special spots for safe injections.
At the peak of the HIV epidemic, Switzerland introduced several main priorities: prevention, therapy, damage control, and suppression. In the early 90s, Switzerland had the highest HIV rates in West Europe. So, despite the fierce public outcry, the local authorities in Zurich allowed the use of drugs in one of the city's central parks, creating "tolerance spaces".
In the so called Needle Park, the drug addicts got the right to inject themselves with sterile, safe syringes. This did bring some negative effects though, Zurich became a focus point for drug addicts from all across Switzerland, even abroad. Well over 1000 drug addicts used to visit the park at the HIV/AIDS peak. So the state authorities and the police stopped this practice in 1992. But the notion that drug addicts do need safe and clean places has brought the first protected drug spots in modern times.
As for the rest of Europe, most EU countries are now following the Swiss example in some form or another. Legislations across Europe have started introducing measures to decriminalize drug use. They used to pursue a very different strategy before, similar to the current US one, one of incrimination and prosecution.
The US authorities mostly rely on jail time for drug dealers and drug addicts alike, which is filling the prisons with them, only moving the problem from the streets into the prisons. The only ones who are happy from this situation are the managers and owners of private jails.
Paradoxically, physicians in the US have much bigger freedom to prescribe opioids like Oxycodone compared to their European counterparts (Oxycodone is the most widely prescribed opioid in the US) - and that may have a lot to do with the interests of the pharmaceutical lobby than people's health.
So you see what happens when private interests trump public health in the pyramid of societal needs and priorities. In case you wondered where America's huge drug problem comes from, there's your hint.
Take Germany for example. You could see cafes where drug addicts converge, they have a coffee or a snack, then they go to a special backdoor room to have their fix - and no one persecutes them for that. No one reports them to the police. Because these special locales are mong the few safe (and regulated) places in the country where drug addicts could freely go and take heroin, cocaine or amphetamines.
It is this normalcy that might be the reason that the spreading of drug addicts across Europe is generally waning. This year's report by the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction that the death rate by overdose has only slightly increased in 2018 (8,200 incidents), which is a 300 increase compared to the previous year. But meanwhile, the use of heorin has dropped. The spread of HIV has decreased by 40% for the last decade.
The EMCDDA also reports that marijuana is the most widespread drug, and the cocaine use has increased. Most fatalities are due to opiate overdose, heroin being the top reason in that respect. Fentanyl and Oxycodone, which have brought a severe opioid crisis in the US, are still not as popular in Europe. The opioids that are used as painkillers can lead to dangerous addictions, as the situation in the US shows.
As for America itself, about 70,000 people have died there of Oxycodone and Fentanyl overdose for 2017. While their use is still very limited in Europe, that could chance if the EU does not closely monitor the drug situation.
Once the HIV virus reached New York in the 80s, the local drug policies had to be urgently reconsidered. The incrimination of drug use, as well as the forceful sending of drug addicts to hospitals, did not yield the intended result. Those who wanted drugs were still able to use them secretly, but now with much worse hygienic conditions. Then a new idea was born in Europe, to create special spots for safe injections.
At the peak of the HIV epidemic, Switzerland introduced several main priorities: prevention, therapy, damage control, and suppression. In the early 90s, Switzerland had the highest HIV rates in West Europe. So, despite the fierce public outcry, the local authorities in Zurich allowed the use of drugs in one of the city's central parks, creating "tolerance spaces".
In the so called Needle Park, the drug addicts got the right to inject themselves with sterile, safe syringes. This did bring some negative effects though, Zurich became a focus point for drug addicts from all across Switzerland, even abroad. Well over 1000 drug addicts used to visit the park at the HIV/AIDS peak. So the state authorities and the police stopped this practice in 1992. But the notion that drug addicts do need safe and clean places has brought the first protected drug spots in modern times.
As for the rest of Europe, most EU countries are now following the Swiss example in some form or another. Legislations across Europe have started introducing measures to decriminalize drug use. They used to pursue a very different strategy before, similar to the current US one, one of incrimination and prosecution.
The US authorities mostly rely on jail time for drug dealers and drug addicts alike, which is filling the prisons with them, only moving the problem from the streets into the prisons. The only ones who are happy from this situation are the managers and owners of private jails.
Paradoxically, physicians in the US have much bigger freedom to prescribe opioids like Oxycodone compared to their European counterparts (Oxycodone is the most widely prescribed opioid in the US) - and that may have a lot to do with the interests of the pharmaceutical lobby than people's health.
So you see what happens when private interests trump public health in the pyramid of societal needs and priorities. In case you wondered where America's huge drug problem comes from, there's your hint.
(no subject)
Date: 13/6/19 07:57 (UTC)Well, except in Niddastraße, Frankfurt, where the footpath seems to be a preferred "al fresco" shooting gallery. :)
(no subject)
Date: 15/6/19 07:02 (UTC)Mirror images? Or just two sides of a same coin?
But it is true that, in abstract, both are competing for the average addict's dollar.