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Non-Tech : Illegal Drugs and the War Against: Potential Profits? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Turboe who wrote (9)	4/24/1998 3:58:00 PM
From: LoLoLoLita	Respond to of 40

Thanks for the links. I want to assure anyone thinking of posting here that any information pertinent to the War on Drug Users or the Drug Economy is welcomed. The two, while seeming to be opposites, are really one and the same. David

To: Turboe who wrote (9)	4/26/1998 9:46:00 PM
From: LoLoLoLita	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 40

I think that there is very poor understanding among the public of the issues regarding needle exchange programs. First, has anyone here ever tried to go into a pharmacy and buy some disposable hypodermic syringes? I have, and it was an extremely disturbing experience. With all the hype in the media about the need to limit AIDS and other blood-communicable diseases, it seemed logical that syringes should be made readily available. In Albuquerque, NM, this was most definitely not the case when I went in to the local Walgreen's to make a purchase last January. The young girl at the pharmacy dept. in the back of the store became quite nervous when I told her I wanted to buy a pack of 29-gauge disposable syringes. She went to the back of some shelves and seemed to be rummaging around, but then she came back and told me they didn't have any. When I pressed her to look again, saying it was a common item, and that my mother needed it to take her insulin shots, the girl, maybe a student, brought over the pharmacist. The pharmacist told me that they don't sell needles unless you have an insulin prescription. She also told me, in a loud voice, that the size I had asked for was NOT for insulin shots. This was astounding! That a medical professional would try to embarrass a legitimate customer. Later on I told a friend about this experience, and he went to the store and got exactly the same response. Then he went to a small pharmacy, and began the conversation by saying that he was an art student, and that he needed to buy some disposable syringes for a conceptual art piece. Two packs of ten needles (20 total) were sold to him for the whopping sum of $5.00 plus tax. The point of my story is that the vast majority of heroin addicts can well afford to purchase brand-new syringes, but that our society, very hypocritically, calls out the danger, but discourages the most rational solution.