Published: November 05, 2007 09:50 am            

Bad Idea of the Year: The San Francisco Shoot’em Up

View From the Bench

Lots of bad ideas come from San Francisco. But the latest trial balloon floated from the Bay City is so astounding, so outrageous, it initially struck me speechless.

While some parts of the nation struggle daily with how to combat the ever-increasing prevalence of serious drug crime, San Francisco seems posed to surrender. City officials propose that local hospitals provide facilities where addicts can inject illegal drugs, usually heroin, under the supervision of medical staff!

At a recent symposium in which officials discussed the idea of providing legalized shooting galleries, some participants emphasized economics. According to ABC News, the city has thousands of overdoses in a single year.

“All that costs the city and county of San Francisco lots of money. More ambulances, more ER staff, more time in the hospital,” said one symposium participant.

From that perspective, maybe this plan does make perfect sense. Instead of having to go get the addicts when they overdose, they’ll already be at the hospital. Eureka!

What could go wrong?

A similar program which already exists in Vancouver provides one possibility. The Vancouver program, reportedly exempt from Canada’s drug laws, reported over 800 overdoses occurring on the premises. Might shooters be more inclined to risk larger doses knowing a nurse is standing by?

Proponents of the San Francisco plan have not worked all the kinks out just yet. Many questions come to my mind.

Will the shooting house be open only to adults, or should juvenile heroin addicts be permitted to use the facility?

Can addicts trade drugs while on site, or maybe sell to others, or will they be limited to mere possession?

After an addict shoots up, can he lay comatose for a few hours, or be free to drive away without interference from hospital staff?

Since the concern is primarily for the addicts’ health, can the city provide “safe” heroin instead of addicts having to rely on street heroin that’s been cut with who knows what?

Can pregnant addicts use the hospital to shoot up? Maybe we can provide fetal monitors to make sure the fetus doesn’t get too whacked while momma is flying high!

What about addicts who are still employed in some field which has public contact, like nurses, doctors, lawyers, judges? After they shoot up, can they just go on about their business? Or do you have to be homeless and unemployed to benefit from this program?

Maybe we aren’t going far enough. Perhaps any addict should be able to utilize hospitals as a free fire zone. Maybe it makes equal sense to allow the inexperienced users to learn their craft under medical supervision. First time free basers, huffers and crystal meth users have to learn somewhere. Why not while under the scrutiny of trained medical professionals?

Make no mistake, the goal of reducing overdoses and exposing addicts to additional treatment opportunities is laudable. Drug abuse costs this nation tens of billions of dollars every year, with some estimates even approach $200 billion annually.

And to be fair to San Francisco, they occasionally give us a great idea. A good example is the creation of the Soft Tissue Infection Center at San Francisco General. Created to assist the medical needs of addicts while reducing the tremendous expense associated with bacteria contamination from the use of dirty needles, the program is enormously successful. In the first year of operation, this program saved city taxpayers $8.8 million while treating nearly 300 addicts each month for horribly painful and disfiguring abscesses and other major tissue infections.

Government efforts to provide compassionate care for the effects of drug addiction should be encouraged. Creating government sponsored shooting galleries, however, crosses the line between helping addicts abstain from illegal drugs and promoting drug abuse.

        

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