Why do we still think that drug use is a law-enforcement issue? Making drugs illegal does nothing to stop people from using them, says public health expert Mark Tyndall. So, what might work? Tyndall shares community-based research that shows how harm-reduction strategies, like safe-injection sites, are working to address the drug overdose crisis.
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Drug – killer or helper? :-0
Hoàng Kim Việt Nicotine also helps with ADHD, but the costs outweigh the benefits
Depends on what drug and who’s taking it.
Hoàng Kim Việt It depends on what you are talking about. There are lots of drugs, some are safe and benefitial, some are really dangerous and addictive, some are legal, some illegal, some drugs are accepted in our society and some are demonized. It’s very complex
Hoàng Kim Việt it killed my dad
Never been so early. Also this was an amazing vid.
drugs are a real drag, amiright fellas?
What is happening in the comment section? I guess the upload-time…
The Idea is great, but i think that we (expecially children) also need better education in drugs (maybe wrong grammar, what i mean is that people should know what they are doing before they do it).
mhtinla it’s not that drugs are not available. It’s just how society works. You can’t compare the two. Poor countries don’t have drug problems because necessity comes before luxury. The US is a first world country, and with that comes first world problems. We have the extra income and the extra time to enjoy life without totally be consumed with having to worry how we are going to eat our next meal. The trade off is that some people choose to use that spare income and time to abuse drugs. Look the issue is complicated and if it had an easy answer, we wouldn’t be here . It’s easy to say just get rid of the drugs.. it’s like saying to stop crime we just have to get rid of the criminals… or we just have to educate people about crimes to prevent them… it’s not a simple issue.
mhtinla what about all the poor people in North Korea that do meth?
mhtinla like hypothetically you are correct. If we eradicated all drugs we wouldn’t have a drug problem. The thing is that it’s not a practical solution.
John Arnold They meant to get addicted to math, but leader Kim can’t spell. What can I say?
William Alfaro One more piece of info about smallpox and rinderpest — the virus is still there. It’s just under tight control in the laboratory. That’s what should be done to drugs, not widely available to the point of excessiveness.
Who pays for the safe-injection sites, the clean needles, and most importantly, the drugs?
You are quoting a source that’s clearly biased. Besides, we are talking about drug addiction, not addiction in general. For example, I’m addicted to helping others. That’s not a disease. By the way HIV and drug addiction are two separate things. Only a portion of HIV patients are drug users.
You are supposed to investigate the information, not the source of it.
Can you read? I have proved the information is wrong by using the example of addiction to helping others is not a disease.
Your proof is invalid because there is no such thing as “addiction to helping others”. Addiction has physical and diagnosable effects on the nervous system and leads to (diagnosable) epigenetic and heritable changes. “Helping others” does not.
And you are clearly _not_ helping anybody with that stance.
mhtinla you can say thats its their fault but saying that its not a disease is stupid
What about for crackheads?
This kind of harm reduction is aimed at injected drugs, because whatever the drug is, the risk is substantially higher when injected.
Not just injected drugs. He wants to decriminalize drugs all together.
mhtinla He is not advocating for decriminalization all together, he is advocating for a way to stop overdoses (because you can’t be sure how strong something is on the street, because their is no standard, but in a controlled setting there is), a proven first step to help someone begin treatment, and all of the other reasons that he says.
#LegalizeAllDrugs
There won’t be any progress with the for-profit prison lobby being as strong as it is. Decriminalizing drug users and focusing on therapy would directly cut their income considering that the largest part of inmates are serving time for drug related crimes.
+ pharma as well
I’m addicted to spending money. Please give me money to spend so I don’t rob banks.
Spending money can’t kill you of an overdose. And it wont make you homeless since clearly you have money to spend. “Addiction” is a well-defined medical condition, don’t expect your words to carry any meaning when making up nonexistent “addictions”.
They dont give them money and you already have safe spaces to spend money just as they want to make safe spaces for them to take drugs
You’re worth your weight in gold and diamonds Mark Tyndall !!
Don’t do drugs
mhtinla lmfao shows how much you know!
Justin Hofmann LOL Did Trump tell you that?
domhamai LOL shows how much you don’t know
mhtinla that’s really your response? Ok so you’re just a troll. That makes me feel better 😉
I got sick and my doctor gave me drugs, but because of your advice I’ve decided not to take them. I’ve also given up coffee because of your bold antidrug stance as it too contains a drug caffeine. Thank you, Susan for that sage advice.
Thank you for this passionate and concise discourse. I am also grateful to Canada for showing us another way. Doing something over and over again even when it doesn’t work but expecting a different result… isn’t that the definition of insanity? I do, however, confess to a distrust in pharmaceutical intervention as that industry seems to put money before people, effectively creating a ‘better’ or ‘safer’ addiction? If it is designed to ease the pain of detox, I am all for it but when it is used without an intention for eventual freedom from all drugs I am suspicious. Adding a practice like yoga to the treatment side of addiction has proven to repair the brain. A yoga practice also addresses the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of drug addiction. As you noted, there is nearly always a story and as Bessel Von der Kulk reports in his book, The Body Keeps the Score – well, the body keeps the score! Thank you again for keeping the disenfranchised part of our consciousness.
If you truly think Yoga can treat drug addiction and the underlying psychological problems causing it you’re wrong. A healthy lifestyle can improve the well being, but it won’t repair the brain and psyche.
I don’t care Many studies have shown that it helps, it cannot reverse all of the effects, but it does help enough to be a useful treatment.
https://americanaddictioncenters.org/therapy-treatment/yoga
In my brevity, I may have misrepresented my ideas. I consider yoga to be an adjunct – not treatment. The link I’ve added here says it better than I could.
My curiosity tends to lean in the direction of what supports potential. Alternative or adjunct practices give people the opportunity to feel and intervene on their own behalf when habit patterns or emotional overwhelm or craving show up. It is most definitely NOT treatment. Intervention through personal practice. No easy task here. Change is uncomfortable at least. At best, it’s an f’in wall whose depth you can not see and whose height is lost in the clouds. Compassion gets us closer.
Prescription addiction is equally harmful as illicit drug addiction, but far more overlooked!
H i P B A H A What’s your source?
H i P B A H A Do you know about how OxyContin pushed doctors to prescribe more to their patients than necessary, to make them get addicted, and how its effects on the brain were similar to that of street drugs. In America it is also far too common for doctors to give patients a slightly higher dose on opioids than needed, or if not that then they give a prescription when it is not needed (via a patient lying, or other alternatives not being explored.) Doctors are trying to fix this, and recommend other treatments besides drugs in certain cases, but it is still a major problem.
Jack Ricks Twenty-two years of personal experience and an indefatigable thirst for knowledge on all subjects I find of interest.
#Lectiophile
Ella Kanefsky No, I didn’t know of that specific fact. However, I know of similar stories wherein prescribers are equally responsible for drug pushing as the stereotypical drug dealer.
H i P B A H A that ain’t a source, bro. I don’t even disagree with most of what youre saying, but that is not a valid source. You need to source your individual claims.
Also, opiates are fairly innocuous. As long as you arent taking them for extended periods of time and you aren’t taking gigantic doses, they’re fairly safe. The biggest danger of street opiates is them being cut with more powerful drugs.
The stupid thing is that schools told us that marijuana is the “gateway drug” to harder substances. In truth, the prescriptions provided by doctors is what mainly leads people to those hard substances.
Birgitte Andersen I agree. There are a lot of doctors that will overprescribe opioids while other drugs like benzodiazepines and amphetamines can be misused and overprescribed as well.
Here in the U.S. the so called “War on Drugs” is an abysmal failure. This is why I see some progress – for example where I live all first responder vehicles have Naloxone to stop overdoses. And I’d love to see the focus on drugs change from a law enforcement issue to a public health issue. That would change everything. And I wouldn’t want to be a police officer because I can see drugs being completely legal and safe and autonomous vehicles that never break the law. So you don’t need as many police at that point.
And the trauma – most people in my family that used drugs were either physically abused as kids or grew up in the extreme suburbs.
Thank you for this amazing talk. Incredibly heartwarming like Dr Gabor Mate.
Fantastic message. Stop Shaming addicts. Judging, demonising and criticising people in pain increases the stigma and self hatred which is driving the need to numb out.
Addicts are awesome!!
Smell the self hatred!
This is one of those very thought provoking talks, that should be advertised by the government, so everybody would be aware of what really goes on in the world. Big Pharma creates these painkillers and the people get addicted to them and when the supply is cut off, they look elsewhere to kill the pain. Fortunately cannabis is being legalized and that substance has proven itself to be a superior painkiller among other benefits. It is common knowledge, that the big pharmaceutical companies make billions on the suffering of the most vulnerable among us. They are reputed to reward MD`s for prescribing their brands. In my book this is corruption, which is costing the taxpayers a fortune. I can`t help but think of Lord Acton`s quote: “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. And all powerful men are almost always bad men”. And in this respect women are not much different,
People say oh you’re wasting money on drug users. No, providing things like clean needle exchanges helps prevent the transmission of diseases like Hep C and HIV. By preventing users from getting it, you’re saving tons of money in the long run that would be for hospital costs and treatments for these diseases.