- http://www.harmreduction.org …
First time looking at this website after reading an article about Harm Reduction in a current Contributor article (the Nashville homeless paper). I have literally been shocked by this whole thing.
The idea that we can create “safe space” for something so destructive as drug use is ridiculous. At its core it’s back to the whole “give our teenagers condoms” bit… except some would argue perhaps it’s a step further.
After looking at the website for only 10 minutes so far it has peaked on the topic of equality over and over again. I understand that they are presenting the difference when it comes to the kind of medical attention a lot of those “different” or “lower class” people receive. Therefore basically saying that upper class folks have the opportunity to essentially shoot up in safety, while there are thousands of poor folks who don’t get that “privilege.”
To me it’s as if we’ve lost all faith when we’ve resigned to something as horrid as this. Yes, I agree that the repercussions of “unclean” drug use are extreme and disastrous, but aren’t the repercussions of “clean” drug use just as damaging? People continually decide to jump out of airplanes and so we try to be there at the door to hand them parachutes each time they jump? Do we throw mattresses on the ground so as to ease their hard fall?
So what then, do we have no hope to speak of for tomorrow!? Hope says, “please sir, please, stop jumping… down there is only pain and a life filled with sorrow and a false reality… come with me, there is something to live for!” And so you say “haven’t we tried this before?” Yes, of course we have! And have people found hope? Yes in fact they have! But do we continue to see HIV, Hepatitis C, and overdosing? Sadly, yes we do. So what then? The fact is there will always be suffering and pain in the world. There will always brokenness around us. But most of all, there will always be hope and there will always be a better life. If we find ourselves running around trying to reduce the size and consequences of our harmful actions we will always be throwing pillows under falling children and never helping them to grow. Do I believe having clean needles as opposed to dirty ones are good? Yes, I do. But do I believe there is more hope than that and that there are better ways? I most certainly do. If you really want to start dreaming about doing some good in the world in relation to harm reduction, make a friend who really needs a friend. Most people in life who are homeless or who are at the “bottom of the chain” are there because they have little to no social connections. Imagine if you had no friend or family to turn to, no one who cared about you? Who would you be? Where would you be? What would you be doing? It’s when we can begin to give of ourselves, jump in and grab somebody who really needs us instead of handing them a band-aid through a glass window, that hopefully we will not only begin a process of healing but also begin a real healing relationship. And just maybe in the midst of it all learn a little more of what life is about ourselves.
I understand that these are real people with real problems. That you can’t just ‘step right out’ of an addiction (unless of course God’s hand is directly at work to do so). I do think there should be organizations to help people reduce the harm they do to themselves through drug use! But we simply can’t treat it all as if it’s “okay.” Recovery should never just be an option but the goal. Just as I was recently on the Harm Reduction webpage a video link appeared called “After Party videos,” as I clicked I was taken to these videos that we’re titled with names like Ecstasy or Marijuana telling me to “Hit it right” and use a condom. So basically I’ve got the Harm Reduction Coalition straight up telling me that it’s all good if I’m getting ready to shoot up my stuff at the after party just as long as I’ve got my clean needles. Am I supposed to believe that this is about changing lives, really?
Lives become changed when we are willing to give our own lives for others to find theirs, not when we show them how to party safely. Until then we may just be covering a wound instead of healing it. Those who are wounded need people like you and me, people who are also wounded from relationships and brokenness caused by this fallen world. They need us to come beside them and declare that there is life beyond the brokenness and that we are in this thing together. Our lives, amidst the hurt and pain, are meant to be a vessels of hope for those around us. So then, we must get beyond wallowing in our own pain while trying to stick bandages on others and learn how to use our fragile lives and it’s scars to help mend our brothers and sisters and speak a word of hope.
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