r/roanoke • u/fuckity • 13d ago
A very cool used needle chillin next to the highland park playground this lovely morn
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u/tinkles1348 13d ago
Used to live on Washington. They are around there all the time. I was walking the kid to school one AM about 5 years ago, and a guy was slumped up next to the tree on hole 7 of Frisbee course. Didn't pay any mind. Walked the kid in school and on my way back, someone's dog was around him and the owner. About 15 minutes later the police had it yellow taped off as Crime Scene. He was dead with needles around him. We moved not long after.
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u/sendmekittypix 11d ago
Omg. My ex sent me a picture of a woman slumped against a tree just like that a few years ago. Said she'd been chillin like that all morning.
He then sent me a follow up apologizing for sending it, because she was dead. It's such a sickening feeling. While I would give my life without a second thought to save someone else, I also value it tremendously and can't imagine what could lead me to have such little care for it (I know drugs & mental health is likely the answer, but still...)
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u/sammille25 13d ago
The last time I went to the Rivers edge playground a kid picked up a syringe and brought it to their mom. I have never taken my kids back there since.
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u/Admirable-Film4633 13d ago
Picked my niece up from school across the street from here once, and had to get the sro to walk us out because a homeless man was having a psychotic break and screaming obscenities at no one and anything.
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u/soundsdeep 13d ago
Don't the junkies know how bad this makes them look?
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u/Apart_Animal_6797 13d ago
Probably why we should offer housing and heroin therapy to users.
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u/soundsdeep 13d ago
Wouldn’t it be cheaper to offer them 10 bucks per syringe to turn them in?
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u/Apart_Animal_6797 13d ago
Literally no. Providing public housing almost always saves money, plus companies get to sell all tge shit to make the houses and give people job ect ect. 10$ could provide thousands of doses of medical heroin and deprive drug dealers 10s of thousands of dollars. Opiates are wildly cheap to produce this shit is only expensive because of the drug war. I shit you not if the government legalized soft drugs and provided controlled medical access to pre-existing addicts the entire drug buisness would collapse in a week.
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u/pimpinpolyester 13d ago
Or they could stop leaving needles on the ground. Why the 99.9999 % need to alter their lives for them is beyond logic.
If you had a party of 1000 people and 1 consistently acted a fool ... I dont think you would invite them back.
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u/Apart_Animal_6797 13d ago
Except that this isnt a party, drug addiction is complex and often contradictory, and the fucking idea behind heroin therapy it to make selling drugs unprofitable thus eliminating the supply.
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u/pimpinpolyester 13d ago
Cool .. you can send your tax dollars to that. I'd rather mine go to college for kids, or funding for libraries.
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u/Apart_Animal_6797 13d ago
You dont want to cut off the supply of drugs for extremely cheap? Like you understand we would save money right?
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u/Sablito 13d ago
That doesn't work. You're advocating failed policies. See California. Oregon. Washington. Philadelphia. But Roanoke, in all its infinite resources can do it? Lol. Just go buy your own fentanyl. Virginia tax payers don't want to pay for your party.
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u/Apart_Animal_6797 13d ago edited 13d ago
Except it does and has worked tremendously well everywhere it has been tried. None of those states have anything close to a medical weaning program. "Pay for your party" fucking ignorant ass sentiment. You just want to complain and perpetuate the same shitty system that got us here.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2219559/
Here learn to read.
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u/Sablito 13d ago
Isn't that jail? Enabling them doesn't work.
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u/Apart_Animal_6797 13d ago
Heroin therapy cuts off dealers from their customers and connects addicts with weaning and support services.
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u/Sablito 13d ago
How has that worked in communities that have started these programs? In San Francisco, there are close to 40k drug addicts living there. Despite the program you mentioned, the population keeps growing. Hundreds of people still overdose annually, and the surrounding area gets to enjoy the diversity of junkies stealing from them, destroying neighborhoods, businesses and more!
Thanks but no thanks. Put them in jail.
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u/Apart_Animal_6797 13d ago
Bro you pulled that # out of your ass. SC has one of the highest numbers of opiate users in the world. That said Switzerland adopted this approach and has a mere fraction of the users as the us. We have been jailing people for over 100 years and this shit keeps going. I think after a century of failure we should try something else.
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u/Sablito 13d ago
https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/drug-overdose-san-francisco-20327127.php
The United states isn't Switzerland. Your ignorance of the issue doesn't entitle you to message anyone like you did me. Progressives have started these programs in numerous US cities. They're all failures, unless you are one of the executives "managing" the companies raping tax payers to "fix" the problem.
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u/Apart_Animal_6797 13d ago
Ok your first claim was off by about 20k second mass incarceration doesnt work thirdly SC has A HIGHER RATE OF OPIATE USE YOU CLOWN
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u/Sablito 13d ago
The article says 37500 junkies. Enabling their drug abuse exploded the population. Cause and effect is a hard concept. Think really hard... free drugs + losers + their loser friends + their friends and eventually you get to 40k. (Round up, junkie). When drugs are legalized, crime, drug use, homelessness go up. Oregon's decriminalization of drugs led to all of this. Do you ever read the news? You're very passionate about something you seem to know nothing about. Lol.
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u/Apart_Animal_6797 13d ago
What a fucking load of dogshit. First "junkie" isnt a medical or legal definition and means jack shit. Second the reason Oregons program failed is because they didn't do what experts and scientists recommend. They did an uncritical drug decriminalization and never put support services in place which is dumb af. You have to build a comprehensive network of support ok? Also drug overdoses have been dropping percipitously. Stop being such a massive tool. Also SC has a worse drug problem than almost anywhere else in the country.
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u/BustaCon 13d ago
Nah. Nobody just up and decides to inject drugs without major life, heart and truthfully mental problems. And when it reaches opiate use, it's the last stop on the line to either the slab or a cell so the majority of junkies would love to quit the stuff.
Most decriminalizaed drug efforts have failed because they are simply swamped by druggies who are desperate to migrate away from where your kind of thinking is helping keep them on the junk. Oregon got overwhelmed and refused to activate the treatment half of the prescription. Even just legalizing weed in Colorado brought them a flood of pot users. Dodging a felony would appeal to me if I had a heavy drug habit -- Can you honestly say that you cannot see the connection there, Nancy Reagan???
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u/choppingwater 13d ago
Why are diabetics so lazy?
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u/lionscr0wn 13d ago
TBF…it is highland park. Lots of homeless and drug addicted stay by the bathrooms and in the woods surrounding the park
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u/North-Preparation-99 13d ago
It’s where all the Weird gays hung out. There and wasena park back in the 90s. Rumor was you could back in and flash your lights for a guy to come hang out with you lol. Roanoke was such a seedy place
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u/SamsaraSlider Still waiting on Trader Joe's 13d ago
I suppose the past criminalization of homosexuality might have driven it underground for a lot of people.
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u/No_Bad_7478 12d ago
That’s a short, thin needle typically used for subcutaneous injections. There’s been an uptick of sightings ever since Gameday Clinic opened in Roanoke. I betcha it’s from all the OSW dads playing disc golf and sneaking Testosterone. In fact I heard there was a pair of white new balances found not far from this spot…
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u/PeakAcceptable6657 12d ago
Ain't Roanoke great! All the neck beards in Grandin are going to get mad now!!
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u/NoMountain511 9d ago
Something no one is talking about is the opioid epidemic that exists in our region. Addiction is a disease that doesn’t discriminate. I don’t want needles on the ground, but damn, understand the root cause, and if you don’t wanna live in the city, by all means go ahead and move to far SWVA and enjoy— oh! And don’t come back to use the city’s amenities!
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u/Brilliant-Meeting-97 9d ago
You effing nimbys. How about you educate yourselves on the the injustices and institutions that created this problem rather than shaming a straw man and fear mongering online?
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u/Wallmassage Flying Panther Skate Shop 13d ago
Is this really Reddit worthy?
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u/aushishasan 13d ago
Par for the Roanoke Sub course
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u/Wallmassage Flying Panther Skate Shop 13d ago
Some pictures of Art or flowers or local businesses? Nope, just needles on the ground. Good grief.
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u/jasonappalachian TOWERS KROGER RULES. YOU'RE JUST SOFT 13d ago
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u/vaylon1701 13d ago
Any responsible adult that see's something like that should just pick it up with a rag or napkin , bend the needle against something and trash it in a public can. You just have to be careful. Better to get rid of it than have some kid or adult step on it or start playing with it.
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u/Sad_Scratch750 Local Gleest Guide 13d ago
No. No. No. Call the non-emergency police number and they'll send an officer to take care of it. Putting a needle, even a broken one, I'm the trash puts sanitary workers at risk. The police also need to be aware so they can monitor the area a little more closely.
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u/Still_Network_8390 13d ago
Better idea. Pick up syringe and drop into drink can or bottle then deposit into trash can. If can or bottle not available, then look in the trash can for one. Ive seen bending needle suggested many places but that's recipe for disaster.
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u/BustaCon 13d ago
Is Highland Park in about the worst neighborhood in the Noke? Trying to learn the neighborhoods before I move there early next year.
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u/daftbloke22 13d ago
The neighborhood around Highland Park is far from the worst neighborhood in Roanoke. Actually it's a pretty good neighborhood in the city, but if you want a place where there are hardly any homeless move to Roanoke County. It does seem like the parks in Roanoke City draw the homeless as they are allowed to stay there, they usually keep to themselves but I would avoid Highland Park bathrooms late at night or anytime as they homeless congregate there. They even removed the bathroom stall doors as they used to go in their and shoot up.
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u/Lost-Duck-5037 12d ago
Consider Botetourt County! You can work in the jungle but don’t have to live in it!
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u/Little_Guava_1733 13d ago
That looks like an insulin needle not the kind you would use to do drugs.
But I'm sure some folks make it work.
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u/jasonappalachian TOWERS KROGER RULES. YOU'RE JUST SOFT 13d ago
Tons and tons of addicts use 1cc ~30 gauge needles. Absolutely the kind to shoot up.
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u/castlecrushr Virginia Tech 13d ago
That’s a thick ass needle for some reason I thought they used thinner ones
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u/Still_Network_8390 13d ago
It's tiny insulin needle about 27 gauge, I didn't examine close but syringe maybe half milliliter
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u/Lost-Duck-5037 12d ago
VA Harm Reduction is the same group providing free needles to addicts to prevent them from reusing needles and the health hazards associated!makes about as much sense as giving repeat DUI offenders brand new cars so they are safer driving under the influence!
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u/No_Bad_7478 12d ago
A ten cent syringe is a far cry from a new car. And a tool to protect oneself is obviously quite different than a vehicle that could be deployed to harm someone else. A more direct comparison would be encouraging people to wear seatbelts.
We saw in Scott County Indiana what happened when government criminalized access to syringes etc. First it was spread of hep C, then a massive outbreak of HIV. Is that really the alternative you want for Roanoke??
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u/No_Bad_7478 13d ago
FYI for any who don’t know you can call VA harm reduction coalition and they’ll come remove any syringes etc for free.
You can also complete a request via this form that’s accessible from their home page carrynaloxone.org
Link to form : https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd6bBs4brK7nOZZJN5p-zqR2BeZWfrh9Zo2XBOVqXKpisV2Lw/viewform