𝐌𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐨?

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𝐌𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐨?
"what if that homeless person you gave money to spends it on alcohol ???😱" first of all alcohol withdrawal kills people and if theyre not in a safe place to detox (unlikely if they dont have a fucking home) this is literally harm reduction. second of all if they are not in danger of withdrawal thats fine too because im not a little baby bitch who thinks people have to earn the right to have a fucking drink by passing the "must be this tall housed to ride" test. third of all i would have spent it on alcohol also. so now what.
the problem with addiction is not that it's pleasurable. it's not "having too much fun" disease. it's not even a requirement for addiction that you have fun at any point in the process at all and to be honest it is incredibly common that no pleasure is gained from substance use. imagining that addiction is about pleasure does two things: 1) demonises feeling good (there is nothing wrong with wanting to be happy/comfortable/etc), and 2) frames addicts as people who Like Having Fun Too Much. it's simply not useful to frame things this way as well as just fundamentally not being true
the fact that AA/NA, an abstinence-only, deeply religious, non evidence supported model based off writings from the 1930s, is seen as the first, only, and mandatory form of treatment for problematic/dangerous drug use is insane and ridiculous and i hate it and i hate how normalized and institutionalized AA is. people have to choose between AA or jail, AA or not having custody of their kids, AA or not getting welfare it's embarassing that the war on drugs and drug use has gone on this long with so much evidence against it
I know i’m functionally a gay DARE officer at this point but I do in fact feel some sort of way about Cocaine being back in vogue. Surely I sound like a square + narc and I’ll concede ok do whatever you want, nobody can materially stop another person from using drugs if they really want to 🤷🏻 I don’t really care that it’s hip to do party drugs, moreso I want to articulate a general level of caution and concern that I never see a sidecar of harm reduction and safe using practices along with the commonplace clips of people straight up snorting coke I’ve seen for “brat summer!!!1!!”
You 🫵 are not immune to ingesting fentanyl or any number of other additives. Do you think drugs at the gay club are different than the drugs people are taking under bridges and in gutters? I promise they’re not! So if you want to use drugs and continue being alive, do your part to be safe. Protecting yourself protects others and your community.
Do not accept drugs from strangers. Test your drugs with fentanyl test strips. Carry narcan and know how to administer it. Never use alone. Have an exit strategy if you’re using drugs in a public space. Know the contact information for your local harm reduction groups, overdose emergency hotline, and if you need/want it, addiction treatment orgs. This is all the bare minimum for community care if you intend to be out in the world using drugs. Mainly I encourage you all to be buzzkills if it means you don’t have to die of an accidental overdose. Overdose is the leading cause of death for Americans under 40. I have a whole lot of social workers in my network and however bad you think the synthetic opioid crisis is, it’s worse. The war stories I’ve heard from my people on the ground are… The shit of nightmares. Don’t let it be you or anybody you love.
If you live in the state of Georgia, DM me for a longer list of resources.
Fentanyl information (harm reduction.org)
Get Narcan
How to use fentanyl test strips
Call 311 to find out where to get Narcan in your community at no cost to you