There was a time when even the tiniest bit of marijuana could cause serious legal problems for those caught with it in their possession. Curtains were drawn and lights were dimmed as the evil drug was passed from person to person sitting in a circle. Take a hit. Pass it quick.
But all of this is ancient history. Including the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico, 37 states have legalized medical marijuana with minimal objection from anyone. Some states have even legalized it for recreational use. Go have fun.
Clean modern dispensaries offer an array of THC laced edibles, cartridges for vape pens, and ground-up flowering buds for blazing it up as the old-timers, aka Boomers, still prefer doing.
For the ‘told you so’ thousands who’ve done jail time and/or paid enormous fines for enjoying the plant’s finer qualities, the God-created weed has at long last proven to be more beneficial than it is harmful.
Marijuana grows naturally. Heroin is manufactured in dingy well-hidden illegal labs. Marijuana is not addictive. Heroin is upon its very first injection. Marijuana cannot snuff out a life. Heroin can and does. Heroin remains illegal around the globe with zero chance of it ever being legalized. Have their differences been made clear?
Since the production of heroin is not regulated, the end product can contain any number of unnecessary chemical substances to make a batch stretch a little further. Depending on the substances used, they can either enhance the experience so the user has no idea they’re injecting a weaker strain, or they can kill them. Every injection is a toss of the coin.
NYC sanitation crews got tired of moving dead bodies with needles sticking out of their arms from blocking dumpsters in alleyways so the city devised a plan that would please everyone, inclusive of the junkies. What’s fair is fair.
Similar to a BYOB club, the cities’ heroin addicts have their own version. Their clubs are funded with taxpayer dollars and don’t feature live entertainment or humongous dance floors for boogying the night away.
Their clubs are bright and sterile-looking without even a jukebox. Individual rooms offer patrons the privacy not afforded in a typical club jammed full of alcohol-infused patrons attempting to scream over one another.
These are BYOD clubs. Bring your own drugs. Any drug addict can walk in off the street as long as they supply their own illegal drug that they aren’t allowed to possess in the first place.
If the addict can make it through the front door without getting busted first, they’ve reached the coveted neutral zone where the badged enemy has no jurisdiction to arrest them.
Once inside, they’re led to a bright room where clean syringes, alcohol wipes, and other cordialities await their every desire. Trained waitstaffs remain on constant standby to NARCAN patrons back to life should one of them pass out from overdoing it or in case they got ripped-off and shot a dose of poison.
Supporters of NYCs supervised injection sites say they’re safe alternatives. They believe the response is a realistic and humane way to deal with a deadly drug crisis that won’t seem to away. If a drug user is going to use anyway, why not at least give them a safe place where they won’t die?
Critics view the sites as illegal and as contributing to the growing drug problem by normalizing heroin use. The safe spaces encourage users to not seek rehabilitation by removing the risk of infections and possible death from the equation. The city admitted defeat.
Jose Collado, 53, is an addict who calls the safe injection sites “a blessing.” “They always worry about you, and are always taking care of you,” he said. His best buddy, 45-year-old Steve Baez who said he’s had a few close brushes with death, chimed in with, “they make sure you don’t die.”
No mention was made by either of them of ever being offered help to kick the monkey off their backs, of which neither has an interest in doing anyway. And why should they when these new pop-up clubs make it such a pleasure? They might even go out and recruit some new members…
