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A comment on Nineteen people a week overdose in Richmond, dozens are dying, hundreds revived. Parent comment

Re:Nineteen people a week overdose in Richmond, dozens are d... by dragontamer on Wednesday November 08, 2017 @05:57PM (#15657944)
Its not a cop's job. Its a social worker's job.

I do recognize that cops are just "trying to help", and that no one cares about social workers. Cops are in an advantaged position in the USA because they are relatively well respected by most mainstream members of the population. So the fact that they want to help is good.

But Cops aren't given the right training to deal with medical problems or other problems (ie: Fire hazards. In theory, cops could be the ones to inspect Fire Hazards in buildings, but realistically, its better for Firemen to do it).

There are lots of social work jobs in America. A big problem, a seriously big one... is that we expect Cops to do any job. Erm... no. Have drug specialists deal with the drug problem. Cops really shouldn't shoulder the burden of everything in the country.

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Cops should focus on the distribution of drugs. Not on the users of the drugs. The users need treatment, mental treatment that cops do not have the abilities to give.

These drug abusers need nurses and social workers to check up on them every few hours. Not cops.

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Re:Nineteen people a week overdose in Richmond, dozens are d... by chiefalchemist on Wednesday November 08, 2017 @06:31PM (#15658199)
As we have it now law enforcement is just that. And they are also the frontline to anything downstream (e.g., social worker). We're not really set up to respond to this in a way other than a legal one.

We should have figured this out years ago. This won't be the last article we see like this.

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Re:Nineteen people a week overdose in Richmond, dozens are d... by porfirium on Wednesday November 08, 2017 @06:20PM (#15658108)
Drug users usually turn violent and can be a hazard to themselves or others. Somebody trained to deal with such situations is required. This is, a cop.
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Re:Nineteen people a week overdose in Richmond, dozens are d... by dragontamer on Wednesday November 08, 2017 @07:15PM (#15658515)
As do people who are infected with Rabies. Or rare forms of violent schizophrenia. Indeed, violent offenders are often not users of drugs, but from my understanding: the cutthroat underground distributors.

Which is why cops should continue to focus on the violent distributors of drugs. But social workers and hospital workers should step up their responsibility and start treating drug abusers better.

Or perhaps, more programs need to be made so that hospital workers / social workers are paid to fix this drug problem.

Hint: throwing drug USERS in jail, where they only get more underground connections and better learn to become a criminal, will start a cycle where they have to end up in jail again. Jail is just about the worst place you can put a person.

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Re:Nineteen people a week overdose in Richmond, dozens are d... by jstarfish on Wednesday November 08, 2017 @07:24PM (#15658576)
> Hint: throwing drug USERS in jail, where they only get more underground connections and better learn to become a criminal, will start a cycle where they have to end up in jail again

What is: the most profitable outcome you can hope for when your prison system is privately owned?

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Re:Nineteen people a week overdose in Richmond, dozens are d... by icebraining on Wednesday November 08, 2017 @08:21PM (#15658895)
The US prison system is not privately owned. Less than 20% of prisoners are in private jails.
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Re:Nineteen people a week overdose in Richmond, dozens are d... by Diederich on Wednesday November 08, 2017 @07:51PM (#15658735)
> Drug users usually turn violent

Citation needed.

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Re:Nineteen people a week overdose in Richmond, dozens are d... by DanBC on Thursday November 09, 2017 @04:25AM (#15661017)
It's well known that drug dependency is a relatively good predictor of violent behaviour. People think severe mental illness predicts violent behaviour, but substance misuse is far better predictor.

Watch the video here: https://twitter.com/ProfLAppleby/status/917838820682489858?s...

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Re:Nineteen people a week overdose in Richmond, dozens are d... by Diederich on Thursday November 09, 2017 @08:18AM (#15662087)
Both videos threw errors in playback.

The initial claim was 'usually turn violent', compared to your 'relatively good predictor of violent behaviour'.

I've known quite a few people with drug dependency problems and very, very few of them were violent.

So, citation still needed.

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