FTA:
"The smoking supplies serve two purposes, Dean says. They encourage people to stop injecting, a vector for disease. And they encourage people who are already smoking to come into clinics, where the county can offer fentanyl test strips, Narcan, a fast-acting overdose reversal drug, and other services."
Jesus these people are dumb. The number one reason people choose to shoot up over smoking or avoid clinics is NOT a lack of tinfoil and straws.
Just because a deterrent isn't the "number one reason" doesn't mean that it's a bad deterrent. If this is helping some people that's great. It's not like someone is going to go pick this stuff up having never done the drug before, and even if that did happen then I'm pretty sure the clinic would be working to dissuade them from trying it.
It's getting crazy around here. Saw someone smoking fent or meth on school property this morning. These people don't want help and certainly aren't going to be 'encouraged' to come in for treatment by getting free 'smoking supplies'.
This is great. I hope they add more harm reduction mechanisms for drug users. I would also like to see safe injection sites, safety testing, and even sanctioned sale of doses if it mean less deaths.
All of that depends on the state actually sending out funding as outlined in measure 110 though. Instead they seem to believe that treating people with a disease as criminals is more important than actually getting them the help they need. I hope this program helps counteract that.