Quote:
Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin
Here's a better, and more realistic option: just take harm reduction seriously. Things like drug purity testing kits should be easily and readily available (especially at higher-risk places like nightclubs, music festivals, and schools), instead of being an admission of guilt of breaking the law and encouraging drug use.
Better yet would be to just legalize & regulate all drugs. I don't see that happening any time soon though.
Either way, pushing abstinence as the only solution - whether it's trying to solve risky drug use, teen pregnancy, or anything else - is never a very effective strategy. People like to do fun things, and they're going to do them whether it's safe or not.
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Yeah, more widespread drug testing is a good idea, I wasn't thinking about it while I wrote it. Especially if they were made cheaper so that everyone could have one, it could solve a lot of problems.
I'm on the fence about full legalization of all drugs, though I do see merit in it.
My point is, that at this very moment, I just wish that current casual drug users refrained for a while, at least while this crisis is ongoing. I have no problem with people doing drugs overall, as long as they know what they're doing. Just at this very moment, it's not so great seeing obituaries on facebook once a week. I like to smoke cigarettes every now and then. It's fun. If I saw that people around me were dying from it, I would give that fun up until it was deemed safe again. I by no means expect people to refrain from doing risky things because they're enjoyable. Just when the risk is so great and so high at the moment, I think abstinence is a fairly sensible ask for those that have it as an option. Just until drug testing becomes more widespread or we have proof fentanyl is cut off, for instance.