05/04/2024
Why is assisting people to reduce the harm they may be causing to themselves, (NOT because they are bad people, but because there a so few options for so many) such a political and heated concept?
Recently the distribution of sterile injecting equipment has been taken away from a huge number of people dependent on heroin/op**tes/meth in areas in Cape Town. People are reusing and sharing single-use insulin syringes. The needles are blunt, blocked and broken and the subsequent damage to their bodies and the risk to their lives is beyond what some of us could imagine. This isn't the first ban, this is the third. Unpublished data from the KZN ban a few years back showed a spike in HIV and hepatitis C infections over that period. Many lives are also lost to infections and septicemia.
I fail to understand how a ban solves anything. However, as I fight against injustice I realise more and more that the lives of some are more valuable than the lives of others.
Reconsider the way you approach people who use drugs. Rock bottom can mean death. Stop waiting for someone to reach rock bottom -there is nothing we can do for someone who has died.
Andrea S. (Sector lead for the People Who Use Drugs n WC)
