"needle exchanges are enabling!!" would you rather someone reuse a needle and get a life-threatening infection? would you rather the needle break off in their arm? would you rather them go into excruciating withdrawals because they can't shoot up?
"those are the consequences! if they don't want that to happen, they should stop!" so you'd rather them suffer even more than they already have. how much suffering is enough? what happens if they die before ever stopping? do you even care?
you can't control what other people do. but as a society, we can provide people with resources that give them a fucking fighting chance. they do not have to suffer more. they don't have to die.
supervised injection sites, between the sterility and narcan access, have achieved something incredible. years without any overdose deaths from drug use. people go there and shoot up meth, heroin, fent, etc. and they don't die.
you wanna know what happens instead? many people there improve. they use less. they abstain from some or even all substances. they don't get deadly infections. they don't lose their limbs. all because they're not alone and have professionals supervising them.
and even the people whose substance use doesn't change - they're still alive! they're still fucking alive! and they deserve to be! sober or not, no one deserves to die from addiction.
if you think otherwise, that's a problem with you. plain and simple.
never even read bullshit liked this before...
as an addict, I'd rather we massively encourage people to get their fucking shit together and get their life back on track, because "just living" isn't good enough for a human being. just surviving isn't good enough.
people make choices. addiction is a direct consequence of one more often than it isn't. the worst you can do for an addict is keep preaching "it's not your fault, we'll keep you safe", cause all it does is ensures they never crawl out of the pit. but hey at least you get to feel fucking good about how kind you are
"as a depressed person, i'd rather we massively encourage people to get their fucking shit together and get their life back on track, because "just living" isn't good enough for a human being. just surviving isn't good enough. people make choices. depression is a direct consequence of one more often than it isn't. the worst you can do for a depressed person is keep preaching "it's not your fault, we'll keep you safe" cause all it does is ensures they never crawl out of the pit. but hey at least you get to feel fucking good about how kind you are" this is what you sound like. usually when this is the approach taken, people don't feel supported, people aren't encouraged to meet the goals they set for themselves because they're not "good enough," and then people die from lack of harm reduction resources. this isn't about me being a kind person. this is about speaking up for people like myself. people who have been harmed by abstinence-based recovery models. most people don't find rehab helpful in the long run, and many spend years in and out. like at what point are people going to stop blaming the individual for the "help" not working for them? maybe there's something wrong with the "help" they're receiving? or not receiving? sure, for some, abstinence is the best thing, and they should be encouraged towards it if that's what they want. but what works for one person doesnt work for someone else. stop punching down.
this is why tumblr never sat right with me as a social media. yall put the bar underground and pat yourselves on the back for not tripping over it
existence is exhausting, so existing itself is an achievement. on your worst days? yeah, sure. but on regular basis? it's stagnation.
everyone's brave, everyone's valid, and no one's ever moving. just not my kind of mentality I guess
Kinda thing someone who never actually looked into the effectiveness of these measures would say.
