I hate to admit it, but Canada did something right

It seems that in Vancouver they have a clinic for drug users to go and shoot up.

Most drugs are worthless.  They cost money that people cannot spare.  They wreck your body, mind and in most cases families and relationships.  As does drinking,  gambling, and other allowable vices.  The governments pick and choose which ones are legal or worse yet to which point they are illegal.

I am ignoring how legal prescribed drugs are probably worse than some of the illegal recreational drugs.

The clinic allows users to use fresh needles and supplies when shooting up.  Nurses are on hand to help them if something goes wrong.  Almost 500 overdoses last year and not one death,  that is pretty damn good in my opinion.  I would imagine a lot of those people would have died.  I wonder if any of those junkies decided the OD was a wake up call.  Probably not many,  but I am naive enough to think maybe a few did.

Two activities have been around and are not going away,  getting high and fucking.  Ten years ago I would not have supported this sort of clinic, but now I do.  It fits with my idea of if you cannot beat it,  figure out a way to make it work better.  In this case needles are kept in a controlled environment;  they are not thrown away in public places and they are not shared.  This helps to control the spread of disease.  It does not control the problem of drugs,  but it does help to control part of the problems drugs can cause for other people.  I have seen plenty of used syringes just laying around on the street or in the dirt,  one jab from it can mean a lifetime of shit for someone.

I praise the people in Canada that made this happen and I hope the court cases against this place fail.  I hope governments come up with some intelligent drug laws, but I am pretty sure the liquor and “legit” drug companies will help keep things the way they are.

James Cameron is full of shit

I just read this blurb on yahoo!  It is about Fox wanting some of the Tree Hugging out of Avatar.  I cannot blame them,  it was a bit over the top at points (like from the 2 minute mark to the 3.5 hour mark or how ever fucking long that movie was).

Anyway I will not get into the self righteous bullshit Cameron says,  but there is one part that struck me as funny.

James Cameron’s environmental concerns can be attributed to being a parent of three young children and the fact he would like them to have a world to grow up in. “I think there’s a way to live and raise your kids with a set of values that teaches them the importance of hard work, the importance of respecting other people and the importance of respecting nature. And that it’s not this consumer society where you buy something and then throw it away when you get the next new thing, filling up huge landfills with plastic and electronics.”

Filling up landfills with plastic and electronics… how many copies of Terminator and his other movies are in landfills?  That is his past though,  I am sure he has learned his lesson and is going to keep plastic and other crap with a limited lifespan out of landfills.

Avatar Toy

This toy and it’s box were, I am sure,  made from recycled materials in a factory that is as green as Kermit The Frog.  I am also sure they were not made and shipped to the US in huge fossil fuel burning ships.  Furthermore I assume they were made to never break so that kids would not need to throw them away.  I looked and could not find anything about them being anything other than typical toys online.  I will check the store the next time I am there,  but I do not expect to be surprised.

I am also sure Avatar will only be made available as a digital download, and not on DVD, Blu-Ray or any other plastic format that will end up in the landfill at some point.  But they are already talking about cut scenes and things on those formats, so dammit I guess those will one day ruin the planet also.

Cameron needs money.  His kids need ponies and I am sure his 20 ex wives take a good bit of income away from him.