posted
In my paper last weekend, there was an article. There is a group in California called C.R.A.C.K. They basically pay drug addicts (proving you're a drug addict from court papers, rehab papers, or police records)$200 cash to put them on a semi-permanent birth control, usually through a shot. Although some of the people who go and get this use the money to buy more drugs, many use the money for diapers, food, bottles, etc for their babies. What started off the program were the amount of drug users who didn't use condoms or forgot who ended up pregnant and having kids. One woman, who has adopted 6 children from the same drug user (all 6 children had heroin and marijauna in their systems at birth) thought it was a great idea, what do you think?
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Posts: 1339 | From: Las Vegas, NV, USA | Registered: Jul 2000
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posted
Why don't we just make drugs legal? I don't advise drug taking of any variety (including nicotine and the most dangerous drug, alcohol) but the War on Drugs is a total failure. It makes criminals of those who need cash to feed their habits. It encourages needle sharing as a way to keep down expenses.
The only organization that really benefits from the War on Drugs is the Mafia. And it has made organized crime a wealthy and potent political and economic force.
------------------ "A free society is a place where it's safe to be unpopular."
posted
I think giving out condoms is a great idea but most often when soemone is using drugs (and I am including alcohol in my statement) judgement when it comes to STD prevention and prevention of pregnancy goes out the window. In theory offering semi permanent birth control makes more sense but it doesn't tackle any STD issues.
It is all so troubling!
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posted
Not only does it not address STD issues (no small oversight, that), it's dangerously close to being semi-involuntary temporary sterilization for "the lower class."
This could go somewhere bad, methinks. Especially with the people who AREN'T the drug users, the ones very far removed from these situations, and even the adoptive mother o' crack babies making the decisions.
This seems like coercion to me.
------------------ ~lemming, Scarleteen Advocate
want to know the inner lemming? read her diary at http://innerlemming.diaryland.com/. "Is love like the sweet, bitter taste of marmalade on burnt toast?"
How about taking money from drug users? The province of Ontario plans to introduce mandatory drug testing for welfare recipients. It's sad to see the Ontario government trying to take the dignity away from groups who are least able to defend themselves.
On the topic at hand, I think that this is a sad idea. It isn't the place of any group in society to tell others to have children or not to have children.
posted
interesting point at the end, dzuunmod. i agree that one's reproductive rights are one's own. but still, i feel bad for the children who have to suffer because their drug addicted parents can't or won't raise them properly.
if the drug addicts voluntarily show up to get contraceptive treatment, i don't see a problem. i do, however, cannot accept involuntary sterilization of people regardless of illness or mental capacity.
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Posts: 12677 | From: Los Angeles, CA ... somewhere off the 10 | Registered: Jul 2000
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posted
Regarding the involuntary sterilization of the mentally incompetent, it's not a cut and dried arguement.
What is your duty as a parent if you have a mentally handicapped adult child? I have a friend raising her Down's Syndrome son. This isn't a kid, he's 35 years old. With modern medication he could live to be 70. She has cancer and must make arrangements for his care after she is gone. With him, he has never manifestly shown any sexual urges so he is unlikely to impregnate someone.
But what if the child had been female? Females don't need to be interested to get pregnant. It happens to them in institutions and group homes. As a parent, what are your obligations to an adult mentally handicapped child? Do you want her to concieve and undergo a pregnancy she can't understand? Do you want her to give birth to a child she cannot keep because she is incapable of rearing it?
These are questions parents face when they must cope with a mentally incompetent adult child. I don't think that a blanket statement that involuntary sterilization is immoral and shouldn't be done is sufficient. What alternatives are available to protect these children?
In Canada the advocates of sterilization of mentally incompetent children are not outsiders, they are the parents themselves.
------------------ "A free society is a place where it's safe to be unpopular."
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