The downward spiral of immorality

Last week’s column about safe injection sites caused readers to let me know what they really thought about me … and my mother, God rest her soul. The usual suspects came out with their adorably creative spelling (“You are axually a horribul person”) and their hopes that I never have anyone in my family who suffers from addiction (um … never mind). I take all of it in stride, particularly while I’m still basking in the glow of a Super Bowl win.

I know that there are people out there who are simply incapable of seeing addicts as people who are, in their own way, victimizers and not just victims.

My job is not to convince anyone to agree with me, it’s simply to give you another point of view.

I had no intention of going back to the addiction topic for a second consecutive week, but something happened on Wednesday night that made me rethink my desire to write a column about how Tom Brady is a classless, passive aggressive twinkie (don’t worry, I’ll still write that one before the month is out).

The thing that made me revisit the whole “safe injection site” issue was that stoned maniac staggering up and down Walnut Street near Broad, spouting obscenities at women and commandeering the pavement as if he were a real estate developer and the rest of us had trespassed on his property.

Now, you might suggest that this person was not a drug addict, and simply someone who was off of his meds, but the sickening sweet smell of pot that emanated from his clothing leads me to believe that you would be wrong.

And maybe he was mentally ill, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that he was a clear and present danger to the people who had as much of a right to walk on that pavement as he did.

In fact, they had much more of a right, because they weren’t assaulting anyone with their vile language and their threatening moves.

By this point you might be saying to yourself, Christine really has no compassion, or as some of my favorite readers would write “Christine has no cumpashion.” You would be wrong.

As I noted last week, my priorities in the compassion field run more toward those who are being threatened by violent addicts, whether they be strangers on the street or a desperate family member. The myth that most addicts are non-violent is just that, a myth.

Violence does not need to be physical, with fists and knives and guns. Violence can simply be the shredding of someone’s self-respect, of their sense of security and safety, of their trust, of their hope, of their patience.

Addicts are master manipulators, and know how to make those who love them ignore the reality in front of their eyes, the reality that ends in discarded needles, stolen money, promises broken and, ultimately, death.

That is why I have an abiding disdain for the kind of person who supports safe injection sites.

How dare they put the comfort of an addict before the safety of society?

How dare they try and trick us into believing that those sites will be a safe haven for the afflicted, and will save them from the harsher sentence of the streets?

How dare they make a mockery of families and support systems that fight to get the addict off of the drugs that are killing him, and label their frustration cruel and unproductive?

I looked at that maniac weaving in and out of pedestrians Wednesday night, and called 911 because my first instinct was to stop him from hurting anyone other than himself.

My concern is what society’s concern should be: Triage. In an emergency situation, you try and minimize the harm.

That harm is not to an addict sitting in the glow of a streetlight under a bridge or on a Kensington street. That primary, immediate harm is to the innocent bystander whose sense of security is shattered by a raging man.

Yes, I know that the majority are not physically violent. But even one crazy actor on a public street is one too many.

So sure, find a way to help the addict come back to the world.

But don’t dare sacrifice that world to help him do it. Stand up against those injection sites, and the downward immoral spiral they represent to society.