I was trying to think of a clever title for this one, but the story in the purest form says it all.
Teens in South Africa are stealing and selling anti-retrovirus drugs and smoking them to get high.
Read the full article here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7768059.stm
Teens grind up the pills, cut them with painkillers or marijuana and then smoke them in order to induce halucinating and tranquilizing effects.
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I don't think I'm alone when I say this, but there's something shitty going on here. AIDS is expensive. Magic Johnson beat it because he has a bajillion dollars (and his name is Magic). International governments and NGO's spent around $10 Billion dollars fighting AIDS in 2007 alone. I'm a little chaffed that there is alot of international effort that focuses on fighting AIDS in
Africa, then the kids drop the ball and roll spliffs out of donated money. Some of these bad apples are stealing needed medicine, some corrupt pharmacists are selling it in secret. The medication requires diligent pill taking schedules. Missing any of these or abusing the drugs can render the treatment null.
Money doesn't finish the job. The world cares, but the infrastructure of these poorer countries sort of return the favor with a "fuck you" by not establishing social workers to teach people about such risks, people to track the distribution of medication, and honest workers that get paid enough to not want to make a selfish cut.
"Higher-level bodies – those at the top of funding chains – need to take a greater responsibility for the actual implementation of money on the ground. There is a great emphasis amongst the international community on raising money for AIDS, but once that money has been allocated, not enough attention seems to be paid to where it goes." (advert.org, regaurding funding allocation in South Africa with information gathered from an article by N. Ndlovu, article here.)
And aside from this, wouldn't this sort of just eat away at your guilt? Do people really want to get high at the expense of someone else's safety or health? It's like buying blood diamonds or cocaine. Seriously think about where your possessions are coming from people. Legal or illegal, everything has some sort of cost.
Maybe it's the rush of doing something totally selfish. Who knows.
It's serious business, I'm sure you know. I'm just bummed that such a great treatment is falling into the hands of delinquint prick kids that don't understand the weight of what gets them off.
Also, watch "Philidelphia". They showed it to us in high school health class to learn about AIDS and why you shouldn't have sex without a condom even if you're Tom Hanks. It's a good movie.
Learn more about AIDS and how you can help here:
Read this on the AIDS situation in South Africa:
Have a good day!
-jc del barco ii
high on life/human/likes when people don't die
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