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1

Bush who?

That 20 percent deadender?

Nah, let's just ignore what he "wants".

The cokehead alkie will just have to deal with reality instead?

Posted by Will in Seattle | June 15, 2007 3:28 PM
2

this week in drugs always gets my blood pressure up--a while back, it would have been called "this week in the world is flat". i guess there's never a shortage irrational idiots pushing policies contradicted by all known empirical evidence. but the "potty mouth" pun saved the day. thanks, dom!

Posted by so frustrating | June 15, 2007 4:14 PM
3

re Texas becoming the last state to allow needle exchange...ahhh if only this were true.

At least six states still do not have legal needle exchange programs (FL, ID, KS, SC, SD, and TN). There are also several other states that do not have state sanctioned programs (notably MA and PA), but do have programs in a few cities.

The status of needle exchange around the country is a fairly complicated and not easily reduced to a one-liner.

The myth of Texas being the last holdout was started oddly enough by the Newspaper of Record: The NYT. In its coverage of the fight to get exchange in NJ the Times referred to NJ and Texas as the last holdouts and kept using this reference, despite being repeatedly told this was not true.

Posted by gnossos | June 15, 2007 4:15 PM
4

Oh jeez, resurrecting the mandatory-minimum-tough-on-crime schtick? Bush continues to boggle my mind...how full of shit can one man possibly be? Don't you think being that full of shit would cause a normal person to explode or something? Must be proof of intelligent design - only a vengeful God could create someone like that.

Posted by Hernandez | June 15, 2007 4:20 PM
5

and just for the sake comparison. There are currently just over 200 syringe exchange programs in the US (many of them quite small, illegal, and underground). And huge areas of the country have little to no legal syringe access. This for a population of 300 million.

Australia and its population of 20.9 million has at least double the number of programs as the US. As far as I can tell, almost every town and hamlet in the country has legal syringe access.

Posted by gnossos | June 15, 2007 4:26 PM
6

Hey, Gnossos @3. Thanks for the correction. I've asked one of my needle-exchange expert colleagues for the insider scoop. If it turns out the article's wrong I'll do a post about it.

SF @2. Thanks for props. I'm vying for the title of Domilla the Pun.

Posted by Dominic Holden | June 15, 2007 5:08 PM

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