The NSW Users & AIDS Association

Is the “War on Drugs” really over? Of course not. People who use drugs are still stigmatised, are still sent to prison by the thousands, are still forced into poverty and abject lifestyles not because of the effects of any drugs per say, but because drugs remain illegal despite a large percentage of the population who take them. Countries like the US are still fighting “narco-wars” in places like Mexico and Afghanistan and corruption among police and others employed to eradicate drugs remains rampant.

One of the realities facing people who inject drugs is that you need to carry a lot of equipment. For many drug users this poses logistical problems, such as where to get equipment, how to get rid of it and how to manage the law when carrying injecting equipment. The advantages for always having new equipment are well known to many users – prevention of blood-borne viruses, healthy vein care, and so on. However there are also benefits to users for disposing of equipment in a proper way, and with a bit of information users need not fear the law and the police nearly as much as they might think.

You could tell it was pay week because Dave and Charlene were at it again. Charlene was screaming at the top of her lungs and Dave was trying not to listen. “I shouted you last week you ungrateful prick,” Charlene said, “and you promised me you’d pay me back today.” Dave jumped straight in and replied, “Yeah, but you got your nine hundred bucks from Kevin Rudd last week and ya didn’t tell me about that, did ya?” On and on it went until they almost ended up in fisticuffs.