You’re talking about the various crack/meth paraphernalia sold in convenience stores, and I get your point. I don’t believe syringes should be sold in convenience stores, though. I believe in clinic-run needle exchange programs.

I’d also note that in a framework of drug regulation rather than drug prohibition, the vendors wouldn’t have to make paraphernalia disguised as “BBQ supplies” – the paraphernalia could be then separated into adults-only stores rather than convenience stores.

You are fooling yourself.

I went to my local convenience store today to pick up a bag of potato chips (I am an addict) and a yerba mate drink (guess what? I am an addict). On their shelves they have tobacco, liquor, pornography, dice, cards, you name it. They also have a fake “barbecue accessories” section with giant butane lighters and brillo pads presumably for smoking rocks… I mean scrubbing your barbecue. At the counter the have blunt wrappers, air freshener in what basically is a test tube, ginseng extract in a smaller test tube, and open glass tubes with novelty trinkets inside.

Take a wild guess at how many people buy a brillo pad, a big butane lighter, and an open glass tube who are not crack addicts.

Now, try taking a wild guess at how many convenience stores would stock syringes right next to the air freshener in a tube? Syringe in a tube? Think about it.

Private charities, while also nice, do not have the funding and reach to deal with what truly is a public health issue. Government-funded doesn’t mean government-run; these could be grants to charities that do needle exchange.

Finally, government doesn’t do everything inefficiently, this is a favorite right-wing talking point, e.g., “they can’t even deliver my mail!” Fact is that government run healthcare (Medicare) works with about 3% costs to overhead, while private healthcare spends 20% on overhead. And the Postal Service, while not technically government-run, does a phenomenal job delivering mail.

Starting today, I am sending all the requests back saying;

A personal word to (whoever has sent the letter:

I’m not sending you guys another penny until I am assured that you will demonstrate a true desire to rethink and CHANGE our failed drug policies, that have only resulted in more arrests AND more drug use.

Our drug policies should be based on science, not politics.

Take a page from the Netherlands, and from states that have legalized medical cannabis, and decriminalized small amount of cannabis for personal use. These are place where illicit drug use has gone down.

Then I sign my name, address and phone number.

Use your own words, but hit them where is hurts: in the pocketbook.

Needles (and the drugs themselves) should be available at drug stores, convenience stores, and any other retailer willing to carry them without the fetters of regulation. Government should back off private charities that attempt to reduce harm by providing needles to addicts. If the government would simply get out of the way instead of trying to manage the minutia of ever social problem we may face, we would all be better off… no funding needed.