-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
HIV epidemic in Indiana county after Governor Pence opposes needle-exchange program
- Thread starter thefro
- Start date
- Status
Circle Jerk
Member
Understood but any moron not ruled by bullshit would know that that isn't a sensible way to govern in the first place.
Fenderputty
Banned
You jest, but we treat addiction in this country like a crime. A serious one at that. It's probably the least humane way to deal with the issue. Yet we still have people saying things like, "my tax dollars should go to locking these people up" because they're too short sighted and reactionary to see past their own nose.
That's kinda true, but at the same time many states have what's called drug court where instead of incarceration you complete a program similar to what you suggest.
umop_3pisdn
Member
maybe if we ignore the problem it will go away.
davepoobond
you can't put a price on sparks
Or let all the drug users get HIV and then they'll all go away that way
Taxes are better spent on HIV treatment than cheap needles, ahyup
kamineko
Does his best thinking in the flying car
I couldn't agree more. The US response to drug addiction is especially baffling, considering the insane costs of the primary response (incarceration). Setting all the human issues aside, which are very real, our enthusiasm for imprisonment is fiscally irresponsible. It makes no sense.
PhoenixDark
Banned
Only because his ignorance led to a public health outbreak. I give him no credit for putting out a fire that could have been prevented in the first place.
Switch Back 9
a lot of my threads involve me fucking up somehow. Perhaps I'm a moron?
Indiana sounds like a backwards cesspool between this and the religious freedom bill.
ElectricBlanketFire
Member
jamesinclair
Banned
Had he been arrested on 74 counts of manslaughter?
Rural areas are overrepresented in the US Government, slows progress down enormously.
It's a unpleasant concept in principle, but you actually save money and lives in the long run doing it. Preventative care is usually the cheapest and most efficient measure for health.
Not really disagreeing with you but at the same time as I mentioned in a previous post states (perhaps all of them) have separate program for drug offenses which entails rehab,no jail time, and in in the states that aren't backwards... a clean record.
Such an incredibly short-sighted and nonsensical outlook.
Fenderputty
Banned
You can go to the NADCP site and they openly admit they only get a fraction of the people in the system. The system need to be expanded and money that currently goes to fighting the pushers should be funneled to the root of the problem and fund these rehab programs instead.
OrbitalBeard
Member
He was a congressman for 12 years.
speculawyer
Member
I'm so fucking sick of ideology over pragmatism.
Do what works.
Do what works.
Lmao figures
PanicFreak
Member
I see what he did there.
JJDinomite
Banned
Can't people just buy their own needles? Amazon has some nice deals
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
Wait, was this opposition a recent thing? It says it started in January the outbreak so unless it was a recent change, I'm not seeing the connection.
Velcro Fly
Member
It's even worse when you live in the Chicago suburb part and have nothing in common with 95% of the rest of the state but still get lumped in with them anyway.
My fear is that Pence isn't going to get the results he wants immediately since I'm sure there are those with HIV already that won't be saved by a clean needle and that instead of keeping at it and working first to treat a symptom and then later on go after the problem, he'll just want to flood the area with a drug busting task force or some shit and it will be awful.
I'll admit I wanted to treat the drug problem first and that approach is probably not the best. I'd rather see him keep up with the needle exchange program to go after the short term problem and then down the line try to turn people away from drugs.
Thaedolus
Member
Was opposed to the program > outbreak begins > changes mind.
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
Hmm, that's not logical. Was it a recent change that didn't allow this? Because if not, they're not linked.
davepoobond
you can't put a price on sparks
How would any other sequence of events make more sense?
He opposed it before he reversed his decision
He reversed his decision after the breakout.
The breakout did not happen before he opposed it, because it was before this year that he opposed it and the breakout happened this year.
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
When did he start opposing it then? That's literally what I'm asking. I don't see it in the article
Skiptastic
Member
Well, fault him for his past, but it sounds like Pence is doing that now. So better late than never? He could have doubled down on the dumb here.
Tragic situation. Hopefully it gets resolved with all due haste.
davepoobond
you can't put a price on sparks
It's a state law, I can't find any info on when it was passed or even what law bans it.
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
Then the thread title is bullshit, it didn't cause this outbreak to occur.
davepoobond
you can't put a price on sparks
Don't be so sure. Here's a local news outlet that has more info about the law:
http://wlfi.com/2015/03/26/indiana-allows-needle-exchange-program-to-stem-hiv-outbreak/
Its his policy. He was governor since 2013.
http://wishtv.com/2015/03/26/pence-declares-public-health-emergency-amid-hiv-outbreak/
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
That still doesn't prove the thread title isn't bullshit. This still doesn't prove he started it either like you keep suggesting.
davepoobond
you can't put a price on sparks
1. Governor Pence has a long-standing opposition to needle-exchange program.
2. HIV Outbreak Occurs after #1.
I don't know what is bullshit about the thread title. I don't think anyone is saying Mike Pence is going around sticking people with HIV needles, but its not like his policy helped curtail the outbreak since we know that needle-exchange programs tamp down outbreaks.
its like being opposed to getting a flu shot, you get the flu, then blame it not on you getting the flu shot but the fact that it would have happened anyway.
there are things you can do to prevent things like this, and if you don't do it you are being irresponsible, or at least you shouldn't be surprised it happened.
in this case, he's the gatekeeper to preventing people from doing a needle exchange program which resulted in 70+ people getting HIV.
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
He became governor in 2013. Unless he changed the status quo to his beliefs it's not possible for him to cause it.
davepoobond
you can't put a price on sparks
I think the point is that he didnt help PREVENT it
"Data-supported research" doesn't even come in to this shit. It's just plain common sense.
Fenderputty
Banned
So you think Pence flip flops on a previous hardline stance because that stance wasn't causing problems?
Fenderputty
Banned
Is this a serious post? I seriously can't tell anymore.
davepoobond
you can't put a price on sparks
HIV might be a little more important since it can affect more than just drug addicts...
of course, telling people to kill themselves and/or spread HIV sounds like great alternatives to handing out clean needles in exchange for dirty HIV-laced needles.
John Kowalski
Banned
because and affect
Not serious about the bullet. But can't we find a better solution than giving them needles?
Fenderputty
Banned
Such as?
I knew this was coming. Take all their needles maybe?
I don't see how you can be pissed at the Governor though. Two wrongs don't make a right. Just doesn't sound right to me.
davepoobond
you can't put a price on sparks
Do you suggest stopping and frisking a whole state for their rogue needles?
- Status
Similar threads
- Locked