Pubdate: Sat, 17 Jun 2000
Source: Age, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2000 David Syme & Co Ltd
Contact:  250 Spencer Street, Melbourne, 3000, Australia
Website: http://www.theage.com.au/
Author: Nadia Okorn

ONE SMALL STEP TOWARDS AN ADDICT'S MIRACLE

It is incredibly sad and painful for me to watch this heated and pointless 
debate over the heroin injection room trials. Heroin addiction is a full 
mind-and-body disease. Its debilitating effects on the individual far 
outweigh the discomfort of non-drug users jolted out of their "lucky 
country" bubble.

Emotional, financial, psychological and physical support need to be made 
available to addicts of all ages. It is a sick joke to think supervised 
injecting clinics glamorise drugs; anyone who has ever known or seen a 
junkie knows that it is about as far from glamor as you get. Open wounds, 
utter despair and a cruel, shaking craving are not "cool" or exciting.

I am a 19-year-old who has experimented with various qualities and 
quantities of hard and soft drugs, and have a history of homelessness, 
depression and anxiety.

My own personal motives to experiment were many and varied, including 
self-sabotage, an ill-defined need to fit in, the glamorisation of the rave 
scene (which is mostly an ecstasy, speed and LSD scene), a love of altered 
consciousness, escapism, peer pressure, a justification for failure in this 
increasingly competitive society, the physically and mentally addictive 
properties of the drugs themselves and - in times of extreme poverty and 
homelessness - an escape from feeling cold and hungry and powerless.

The circumstances of drug addictions are so varied and intense and personal 
that to deny addicts access to specialised services because of statistics 
and generalisations is not only narrow-minded but cruel.

Also, it is ridiculous to think that first-time or casual users could 
"infiltrate" the system. This is an insult to the professional integrity, 
training and experience of social workers and nursing staff. Try faking the 
huge, vicious scars (tracks) on the arms.

Heroin addicts are treated with the same stigma of fear and 
misunderstanding that disabled persons, mental patients, and AIDS victims 
suffered in decades past. Addicts need to be treated as a minority of the 
population suffering a life-threatening disease.

Heroin clinics should not be subject to "success" rates of clear, recovered 
addicts. Their "success" is in preventing cold, ugly, lonely deaths. A 
clean, recovered addict is beyond success; he/she is a living miracle.

Heroin injection clinics are only one part of the miracle process.

Nadia Okonn
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