Puerto Rico Must Be A Lovely Place

From "The Latin Americanist" Blog:

A group called Community Initiative, providing Puerto Rico’s only needle exchange program, is testing a new idea. Drug users will now be able to insert a special card into a vending machine outside of the Community Initiative’s office after the program’s functioning daylight hours. This vending machine program is being implemented to stop the spread of diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis C, common illnesses associated with intravenous drug users, and to target the population of younger drug users who might be reluctant to ask for clean syringes. The packets will contain items such as condoms, syringes, cookers, cotton filters, gauze and sterile water.

Online Sources: Associated Press, The Body: The Complete HIV/Aids Resource

...or an extremely forward thinking place. At least they're a place that cares about the well being of all of its citizens, even the junkies, and thinks of drug addicts as human beings enough to consider their medical needs. i think that's a good thing, actually. it's a lot better then "if they want to do that to themselves, then they should just fucking die," which is a sentiment you hear a lot... or at least it's something i've heard a million times in the United States. I don't think that that many people really believe that anybody ever gets better from hard core drug addiction, even if they know somebody that got off drugs. they think that that's different somehow, and that you were never sleeping outside and begging for dope money or in and out of jail or whatever other superfun places.

PS: As for the picture i posted, all i did was google "puerto rico drugs" and this popped up. i didn't SCOUR THE INTERNETS looking for brown people in a hovel shooting up to fit my subject matter, ok?