.....that we should give out free drug equipment for the possible benefit of education. Actually, we should arrest everyone that shows up and force them into rehab. But obviously, druggies would stop showing up!
I know you said it at least partially tongue-in-cheek, but "why not just arrest them all" does seem to be the basic feeling behind any argument against programs like this.
But, like you just said, it wouldn't work.
For a bunch of reasons- no one would show up if they thought they might be arrested, first of all. Second, if they didn't actually have heroin/whatever on them, it'd be tough to make any charges stick.
So if we did it like that, there's no point in doing it at all. And the problem doesn't get any better.
You were poking fun at liberals with your post, but on both sides, the aim is (or should be, anyway) the same: reduce the number of people who use and are addicted to these drugs.
No one is going to START using drugs simply because they found a place to get a clean needle or pipe. And so if the program doesn't cause anyone to start doing drugs, and DOES help reduce the number of people doing drugs while otherwise mitigating related social ills (by putting people in touch with various orgs for addition, homelessness, support groups, etc), then it's a win for everyone.
Yeah it's not as strong a blow as simply locking up every addict that walks in, but it has the advantage of actually working.
