Kids, swings, parks and needles don’t mix

Zaf says:

09:16am | 22/10/10

“Should the same cash payment be offered out to people with explosive tendencies towards violence, with excessive criminal records or those with a psychological imbalance? Children can experience neglect and abuse in many more ways than just through a parent with an addiction.”

Yes they should.  Children are not a second chance for people to get their lives together, children are people with needs.  And when those needs aren’t met, or met very badly, it’s expensive for society in the long run as well as painful for the people involved.  If you cannot bring your kids up properly you shouldn’t have them.  If you get it together after a sterilisation, then adopt.

Rex says:

10:01am | 22/10/10

The biggest joke of course is the fact that junkies are not given retractable needles. Diabetics get these needles so that if they do happen to fall out of their pocket or what not then the needle is safely retracted back into the syringe. Do the same for the holier than thou needle suppliers and you might find that needle stick injuries decrease dramatically. Oh and BTW, Junkies are generally thieves and the worst kind of “it’s not my fault, i have an addiction” people you can meet. They have no respect for others yet bleeding hearts keep saying we should shown them it????? A dead junkies a good junkie in my eyes.

Mick Newman says:

10:37am | 22/10/10

Damien - I enjoyed your thought provoking article, thank you. More encouraging tthan that though is the sensible and intelligent discussion posted above (first comment excluded). Clearly protecting children is a less divisive issue than others but it is gratifying to see that people can rationalise the merits of charity organisations such as Project Prevention without degenrating into the usual name-calling (oce agin - first comment excluded).

I agree that to target drug users alone is to single out only one section of child-abusing parents but as Alex correctly inferred - it’s a start.

I think the key issue here is “choice”. We could set-up a similar charity here that opened the doors to everyone under the simple premise that anyone willing to go through such a procedure for monetary gain alone is probably not the kind of person we would like to be breeding anyway. But such an elitist statement fails to grasp that for many people living week to week, day to day, even meal to meal; the short term fiscal gain might outweigh the longer term sacrifice. In this insatnce is the choice still theirs or have we, as a society, entrapped them?

I don’t know the answer but I would relish any further discussion on this topic. Market forces (supply and demand) will always prevail when left unchecked so, as responsible people (at least I hope we are) it is our job to determine just how much freedom we’re prepared to give such foces.

P.S. I hope your children were okay about it all.

Matt says:

10:59am | 22/10/10

Wake up you bloody tourist. Live here for 20 years before you make comment on what Australian policy should be. I’m sure if your children pricked themselves with that needle your opinion would be different. Sterilise the lot of them I reckon.

who says:

11:31am | 22/10/10

I bet you would have less sympathy had your children injured themselves.  I have had two needle stick injuries in my life (don’t work in the medical profession) and I can tell you that it is an agonising wait for the blood test results.  I agree with Rex’s comment.

Al says:

11:39am | 22/10/10

What is the issue here?
The people being steralised are doing so BY THEIR OWN CHOICE.
ANYONE can choose to be steralised and go and have the procedure done.
The only real difference is that the ‘addicts’ who choose this are receiving payment when the anyone else who wants it done will HAVE TO PAY FOR IT as it is generaly considered a ‘voulantary surgical procedure’.
Many people choose to have this done and are not addicts, how many women have their tubes tied/cut/burnt and how many men have vasectomies?
The only issue is the financial encouragement, the fact it happens is irrelevant.

n/a says:

11:41am | 22/10/10

unfortunately in australian culture a lot of this things like drinking is normal or smoking cannabis daily.

Annoyed with drug users says:

11:42am | 22/10/10

I have seen what drugs do to a baby born to a drug addict, one of my auntys took drugs while she was pregnant, and I watched my cousin grow up in trouble with the police all the time, he had major behaviour issues, later on he turned to heroin just like his mother, the whole family asked him why go the same path his mother took, his reply was ” while I was growing up I got into trouble because I couldn’t figure out what I wanted, but when I took the drug it was like my body screamed YES, so back off” I agree with the sterilization because babies born to drug addicts often become addicts themselves because while growing up their bodies are craving it, but another side to this is most tax payers don"t know their tax dollars are going to keep drug addicts on the disability support pension. and in my area, Everyday I have to pick up used syringes from my front lawn, but when if you walk past the drains you find even more used syringes there.

Elly says:

12:06pm | 22/10/10

My Husband and I are working parents, and the day we received call from Nana to say she had taken our Son to the local park and he had picked up a syringe underneath the srubbery, and stabb himself was the most diffuclt things to hear.

My son was 1 year old!!!

Then having to take my child to the local hospital to be screened, but then having being told for the next 12 months he would needed to be screened every quarter for things such as AIDS, Hep A,B,C etc was awful..

At first was I upset etc but I then just become angry and resentful against drug users…

We all need to protect kids, whether it be from their own parents to the users themselves…

Luckily my son was cleared and was way too young to remember it!!!

Andrew says:

12:45pm | 22/10/10

Imagine if we take away all the variables in life.

Someone as suggested may have a hard upbringing… They might use that as motivation to change the world or get themselves a life that is better than they were acustomed to growing up. Motivation is powerful and we see hard knock stories all the time!

I agree that injecting rooms are the safest way but the urge drug takers have is stronger than the will taking them to injecting rooms.

Bring it on..... says:

12:46pm | 22/10/10

You need a licence to drive, but not to have kids. These poor kids of drug addicts, their lives are doomed from the beginning. Why not let them choose to be sterilised - it’s not like the Government is forcing them to.

Tanya says:

12:55pm | 22/10/10

I oscillate between compassion and disgust for drug addicts - compassion because they are environmental victims and disgust because despite their decripit states, they can still manage (or at least attempt to), fleece somebody or something, which includes squandering welfare money on their habits at the expense of their children.

But regardless, I’m glad Project Prevention is not in control of any state!

DJ says:

01:00pm | 22/10/10

This type of discovery can be stopped over night. It will also protect our firefighters who regularly have to clean used syringes out the fire hydrants before they are able to use them. Make needle exchanges exactly as they are called, EXCHANGES. Make the druggies return the used ones before they are given clean ones, simple. Dont just hand them out willy nilly to every drug addled goose in the state, for them to leave every where and possible infect innocent children and workers. If it exposes the druggy to the possibility of reusing needles and using the needles of others so be it, that is their choice, and the lesser of two evils. It is not the choice of the innocent child or the worker who suffers a needle stick injury and possible exposure to infectious diseases because a druggy just drops the needle when they are finished with it. That is a price that is to high for any community to pay to protect a druggy, when the matter could be easily and readilly prevented by making needle exchange place just exchange needles.

jim french says:

04:56pm | 22/10/10

Good God!  It is obvious that most of the people making comment here have never met a druggie.  They are by far the biggest group of useless, thieving, lying, selfish pack of scum you will have the misfortune to meet.  This includes hemp users and alcoholics.  They should all have a look in a mirror to see what a failure and loser looks like.  Stop kidding yourselves.

spec says:

07:21pm | 22/10/10

Well, here in Australia we PAY the JUNKIES to have KIDS….and the more kids they have…....the more we pay them….....go figure..

Robert Smith says:

09:41am | 23/10/10

Is it me or is anyone missing the point…. the children in this case where the ones put in danger.  Even druggies know not to leave needles lying around.

Leaving needles where kids can get to them = manslaughter charges

nothing more, nothing less *Its time to stop these bleeding heart left wing morons and stop making excuses for people.

Andrew says:

12:46am | 24/10/10

The most mature approach to malefactors of all stripes is to realise that they are still people and act on that basis. Those who want a simple solution to the problem take the coward’s way out, perform a little mental gymnastics, and decide that they are “not one of us”, and that we can therefore do as we wish with them ... just like Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot ... and so ad infinitum. Unfortunately for them, behaviour of this kind makes them the same as their victims, a truth they will perform yet more mental gymnastics to deny.

Ken says:

06:17am | 24/10/10

Damien - I have a sister, 39 years old - herion addict, ice , weed and anything she can get her hands on, steals from her elderley mother, abuses her and is also a prostitute (and a low rent one at that) who carries HCV and whatever else. She has 5 children to four different men and not one of them live with her. Tell me why Damien she still has the right to give birth - In my opinion she should have been forcibly sterilised years ago, but you my friend need to wake up and stop writing uninformed dribble like this. Finally, injecting rooms are not the solution either.

Jenni says:

10:38am | 24/10/10

Damien says, “the somewhat controversial injection room in Sydneys King Cross shows that the broader community has developed a greater understanding of the complexities associated with addictions”... This is one optimistic conclusion to draw from the information. There are others. For example, the existence of a drug injecting room in ONE notorious area of of Sydney could be a sign of defeat. We tried to clean up the streets in a seedy part of town, failed to do so, thus are settling for a practice of harm minimisation. Accordingly, this is not act act suggesting an understanding of the drug user plight, but a health measure reflecting a reluctant concession that intolerance in practise is not an effective way to respond to drug use.

Lo says:

11:10am | 24/10/10

Your comment:So Damian it is of more concern to you and you state that in your piece that drug addicts have more rights than your own children? Let me clarify using your own commentary. It is more worrying that addicts are paid to be sterilized without force than your children getting a needle prick that could signify their deaths? What one has to do with the other is beyond me and I found your column very unformed. However the rights of children will always outweigh the rights of addicts in my world and may I add these operations are reversible.

Arios says:

11:38am | 24/10/10

Harden up Damien. You can’t have it both ways.

Either way, someone has to cop some harshness, because the world isn’t perfect. You have to be harsh to be kind.

So you can either be harsh to the vast majority of good, hard working families and ordinary people. Or you can take a stance and be harsh to the weak/unfortunate/stupid/whatever-you-want-to-think ones who abuse drugs and then leave the syringes in your child’s play area.

It’s a no brainer. And if you want to be lefty-liberal overly kind, you will be left with those same junkies which you feel sorry for, continuing the cycle.

You have to be harsh to be kind.

Stop junkies reproducing. It’s a fantastic idea. No it might not solve every instance of kids being mistreated by violent/psycho parents who don’t abuse drugs, but is definitely a large portion of the overall problem. You have to remember when you say “Should the same cash payment be offered out to people with explosive tendencies towards violence, with excessive criminal records or those with a psychological imbalance?”, that most people in these categories got there due to drug and/or alcohol abuse. People *usually* aren’t born complete psychos and the numbers prove that the majority of mental cases in Australia stem from drug taking.

Otherwise move to Japan like me and shuddap your whinging.

Mrs M says:

12:28pm | 24/10/10

Has anyone ever considered making illicit drugs available and free for addicts that also contain a high level contraceptive, effectively “sterilizing”  the users for the duration of their addiction, while still giving them the opportunity to turn themselves around and become parents when sober?The same could be done with with alcohol and even cigarettes.

Chrissy says:

04:56pm | 24/10/10

Ask a junkie’s 12 year old kid, crying because there is no food in the house and who is ostracised from school for never having the right uniform or proper shoes and no lunch whether they prefered not to be born and they would say yes.  A miserable existance where everything, including their innocence and childhood, is sacrificed for the junkie parents next fix.  Sterilisation should be offered for free to junkies, not just methadone.

John says:

08:06pm | 24/10/10

I’d be sterilizing them at the end of a long rope around their neck, thats what they deserve.

Vicb7 says:

10:18pm | 24/10/10

Several points seem to be at play here. 1. All needles need to be traced back to the owner and the owner investigated and prosecuted. 2.  Repeat offender loose their rights .  3. They do not have to right to destroy other peoples lives including those innocent children they potentially could bring into the world. I support sterilisation for hardcore junkies. Castration for high risk child offenders. I hate the lenient view judges have that a child will recover/forget and these animals receive short sentences as they can be correct.  All children have a right to choose their own path and enjoy life. I have no moral issues ensuring these animals delt with appropriately . Addiction is not a disease its a choice ; cancer is a disease.

rayne says:

01:09am | 25/10/10

I noticed you didn’t print my comment. Truth hurts, doesn’t it? freedom of speech as long as it doesn’t offend you? I stand by my comments. Anyone agreeing with this article is a supporter of child abuse.

not Sue says:

08:32pm | 25/10/10

Thought provoking (and just generally provocative, ha!) article, Damien. Well done.
Personally. I’ve seen both sides of the addiction coin and have no time for junkies whilst they are in the grip of their addiction. They’d sell their grandmother (or their kids ) for a fix . I’ve been punched in the face after saving a junkie’s life with Narcan and called an “f-ing bitch” by the same darling because he had to score again. NEVER trust a junkie.
However, I agree that they are people like the rest of us and if they get clean, they deserve the chance to live a normal life and that means porocreating. The minute we begin deciding who has the right to be a parent or not, we head down Godwin’s slope towards totalitarianism. no matter how sound the reasoning. China’s “one child policy” makes perfect sense in controlling a burgeoning population, but when co-erced abortions are the means of enforcement, we cross a line that lessens all of our huminity.

Questions of child protection are complex, however, the government already has a mandate to remove children from abusive homes, if they deeem it necessary. I know the system is flawed and underfunded/undermanned and that suffering occurs, but as a person who was removed from her parents at birth, the suffering of separation is life-long.

As for junkies leaving needles in parks, have you ever seen what they are like when the rush hits? To ask them to dispose of needles carefully when blissed out is unrealistic. Injecting rooms make sense for that very reason. Both the junkie and the public are protected. It’s a pity that the use of hard drugs can’t be humanely treated as a health issue rather than a legal one. The ‘war on drugs” was lost millenia agao. Humans like to alter their consciousness with substances, and prohibition doesn’t work, it’s that simple.

Akansha says:

03:57pm | 10/03/12

Well, I hate to make your headache even worse, but there’s also the pseact that our Federal and all of our state prison systems are bursting at the seams with inmates, nearly all of those state prison budgets are hurting, and not only is this creating a dangerous situation for inmates and state corrections employees alike, but there’s the fact our tax dollars.  are going to house the inmates (I should clarify housing and board only - contrary to what is generally popular belief, a bed and bedding, a minimal amount of clothing and one pair of shoes generally, and meals which are often made from food that comes in boxes marked “not fit for human consumption” is ALL our tax dollars go for - anything else, the inmates’ families generally shoulder the brunt of the cost. But that’s a whole other rant.)Now, with all that in mind, here’s what a good many of those inmates are locked up for:1)  Drug-related crime (sales/etc), and many of those marijuana-related.2)  Crimes that would likely have never occurred if the inmate wasn’t an alcoholic or drug addict.With the exception of a very few systems, substance abuse treatment in the state prison systems is a joke.  The folks that are not doing life sentences get sent back out on the street eventually and, more often than not, in worse shape than they were in with their substance abuse to begin with, because it’s generally easier to get drugs in prison than it is on the street.If they released the inmates who are incarcerated for marijuana-related crime ALONE - that would take some of the stress off the pressure cooker that is our collective U.S. prison system, and save lots of money.But even if that would never happen, if they would funnel some of the cash spent on the War on Drugs into REAL substance abuse treatment in the system - or send some lesser criminals to REAL treatment centers instead of locking them up to rot behind bars with little help for their problem - not only would some of these folks get back on the street and not go back to their drinking and drugging, and often criminal, ways, but it’d just save money all around in inmates not getting stuck in the system for extreme lengths of time for things like marijuana crime; people getting paroled earlier after having had real and thorough substance abuse treatment; overcrowding problems being solved which would result in less tax dollars spent as well; etc., etc. Obviously, I could just go on and on about this, but there are just so many better - and logical - solutions than the effort and money that’s been put into the War on Drugs.  So very many.  It’s a shame that those who have the power to change things never can seem to see them.