Support NeoGAF

[shadyspace]

http://www.businessweek.com/article...n-drugs-to-treat-heroin-abuse-as-health-issue

Under policies now in effect or soon to take hold, people caught using or in possession of heroin will be offered the chance to avoid prosecution by enrolling in treatment. Addicts, including some prisoners, will have greater access to synthetic heroin substitutes to help them reduce their dependency on illegal narcotics or kick the habit. A good Samaritan law will shield heroin users from arrest when they call an ambulance to help someone who’s overdosed. The drug naloxone, which can reverse the effects of a heroin or opioid overdose, will be carried by cops, EMTs, and state troopers. It will also be available at pharmacies without a prescription.

Plus this table of states currently employing harm reduction policies:

 

[Mabef]

A good Samaritan law will shield heroin users from arrest when they call an ambulance to help someone who’s overdosed.

I'd assumed this was de facto.

What's that, your friend overdosed? Don't fret! We'll come and arrest them in no time.

 

[TheUsual]

I'd assumed this was de facto.

What's that, your friend overdosed? Don't fret! We'll come and arrest them in no time.

I read it as the person who made the call was doing drugs at the same time and called in for help would be shielded from the law at that moment.

EDIT: No reading comprehension for me today?

 

[Katori]

Surprised to see my home state of Georgia included in that list. Common sense prevails.

 

[maxcriden]

We've got a big drug problem here in VT, so this makes sense to me.

 

[Sheroking]

This isn't status quo everywhere? Really?

 

[commedieu]

This isn't status quo everywhere? Really?

Takes time for people to realize it's not a problem of bootstraps, but addiction.

 

[Seth C]

This isn't status quo everywhere? Really?

Of course not. Otherwise how would all the prisons make money?

 

[mackattk]

A step in the right direction.

 

[Dash27]

Hmm. On the one hand Vermont is a bunch of commies. On the other, the war on drugs thing is dumb. Quite the pickle.

Well this is why we have a republic. Let's see how it works.

 

[Saucycarpdog]

The war on drugs is one of the dumbest policies ever enacted, glad at least one state is reversing the course.

 

[bakerbakes]

So many drugs in VT. Spend my winters up there snowboarding. Eventually I end up at bars, both on the beaten path and off and yup, VT has a drug problem alright.

 

[Jado]

Of course this had to happen when it finally became mainstream knowledge that it's always been white people who abuse the drug in large numbers. When it was considered a "black problem" (an old myth btw), the standard course of treatment was a healthy dose of years in prison. It seems we never treat people humanely until whites are affected.

 

[God Dayumm]

Why don't they make heroin legal and capitalize on it?