This heroin site from our friends down-under features 8-STEP CPR for overdose victims
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Wis. Police Take Over Website to ...continued
We want to make sure that people out there know that even though they're
sitting in their offices, there is a great risk of being found out," Van
Hollen said. "We're trying to make sure that the Internet doesn't get used
for inappropriate purposes."
But some experts questioned the effectiveness of the strategy.
"There's just no evidence at all that the government is having any
significant impact on the drug market," said Tim Lynch, director of the
Cato Institute's Project on Criminal Justice. "For this particular
operation, it's not going to have much impact beyond those handful of
customers. There's plenty more where they came from."
"If they can generate some media coverage of this operation, the idea
behind it is they'll get people to think twice before purchasing things
online," added Lynch. "It might have some very short-term impact, but
overall, I don't see it having any sort of an impact in the black market
in narcotics."
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City Revitalizations Challenge Drug Programs
Large cities that are revitalizing formerly rundown areas to entice
middle- and upper-class residents to move in are also making it more
difficult for drug programs.
While gentrification has increased property values and improved police
protection, it has also caused problems for AIDS-prevention efforts
targeting drug users, such as needle-exchange programs.
At CitiWide Harm Reduction in the Bronx, N.Y., Daliah Heller, who directs
an AIDS-prevention program, said revitalization has brought less tolerance
for drug programs; police officers are stricter with addicted individuals,
moving them to distant neighborhoods far away from caseworkers.
In 1992, a New York state law allowed needle-exchange programs. CitiWide
Harm Reduction is one of nine established in New York City. It is also the
largest and most successful such program in the country. But AIDS
prevention advocates said they have had to deal with apprehensive
neighborhoods, slow-moving bureaucracies, and hostile police officers. For
instance, police officers harass CitiWide clients even though they show an
ID card that proves that they are registered participants of a
state-sanctioned program.
According to advocates, the fear of being arrested is contributing to a
rise in AIDS among blacks and Latinos. These minority groups are more
likely than whites to be stopped by police and searched.
Another factor that is preventing an even greater decline in the spread of
the disease is the refusal of the U.S. Congress to allow syringe programs
to receive federal funds.|||
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