Crack-Rock Steady

I have been looking for a) something else to write about here, and b) always looking for ways to get me off my “clash of civilizations” hobby-horse. Lo and behold, something of a very local and yet widespread problem comes my way.

The idea of “safe injection sites” and needle exchanges for drug addicts is fairly common in western countries, albeit not without controversy. I am personally not well disposed to people stupid enough to get themselves mixed up in addictive drugs (it’s not like they haven’t heard about meth or heroin, for examples), but this whole warm-and-fuzzy approach has gone definably too far, and at least some politicians will stand up and say so.

In this case, I speak of the minor shit-storm than has been kicked up in Ottawa about cancelling (the fact that it existed is another matter) the practice of handing out “safe crack kits” to crack users. The point has been made by the local police that drug paraphernalia is illegal, thus the fact that Ottawa city council is distributing such sends an interesting message. The story I’ve linked to is late in the day on this issue (this has been going on for a week or more at this point), but it distils it nicely. In fact, this particular bit from it got my attention:

It's a move health activists are warning could repeat itself in other jurisdictions as city councils move away from harm-reduction philosophies toward a more American-style law-and-order justice.

Curse the scourge of law-and-order justice! What will come next, Rule of Law? The Horror!

While I’m at it, what exactly does something like a “harm-reduction strategy” mean? My interpretation from the context seems to be that it enables people to break the law and/or mess themselves up without interference from our judicial system. The fact that there is even a debate about ending this (again, why did it start?) points to the deification of “victimhood” which afflicts us.

Certain people have a fast and loose interpretation of what makes someone a victim, but for the record I’ll state that I have no time for those who are the architects of their own misfortune. This encompasses groups as diverse as the above-mentioned (self-made) drug addicts and the Arabs in what was formerly known as Palestine, now mostly Israel. The latter group and their delusion that the Israelis have been at fault for their current situation causes a lot of trouble throughout the world. The same mentality that makes a crack-pipe exchange program look like a good idea enables that whole Palestine thing to drag itself out interminably.

My prediction is that the crack stuff exchange projects will continue to be recognized as having gone too far and be (quietly or otherwise) canned. However, the cult of the victim marches on; witness the successful $635M lawsuit against the makers of OxyContin by those who feel “misled” about the addictive qualities of this opiate painkiller. There may have been merit to part of it if people were assured that it wasn’t addictive. That is hard to explain but plausible, though to me the doctors who prescribed it should be held responsible for mis-prescribing it and/or failing to warn those ignorant of the general nature of opiate drugs.

The part that gets me, is people testifying that the drug company is responsible for they or others abusing it and messing themselves up, terminally or otherwise. Again, the laws seem to not be able to enforce sensible behaviour, which is hardly surprising or we wouldn’t need the laws. The fact that victims of their own stupidity continue to be able to successfully (in the US at least) litigate for huge damages proves that we have more crack-kit type debates to come. At least I hope there is a debate, and it isn’t just foisted on us again.