Former police commissioner Bill Bratton said Sunday on WABC’s “The Cats Roundtable” that New York City supports drug addiction with vending machines that give out free crack pipes and Narcan, an overdose-reversing drug.”
Bratton said, “Instead of trying to get people away from drugs, we have policies now where we have vending machines to encourage them to stay on drugs. We’re going to make it safer for you to use drugs so you can spend the rest of your life not trying to get off drugs but to stay on drugs. What happens when you stay on drugs? You want the next high. You want the next hirer high. You graduate from marijuana. You graduate to heroin. You graduate to the next thing. That’s the problem with addiction. There’s never enough drugs. There’s never enough high.
He continued, “That is effectively that we as a government are started to support . City after city. State after state: this idea that we will sustain your drug habit rather than try to get you off your drug habit. The world has turned upside down.”
Bratton added, “I was just in Italy for two weeks on vacation. I did not smell marijuana for two weeks. Back to New York boom. As soon as you get back to it hits you in the face.”
He concluded, “Kids now 12, 13, 14, 15 can get ahold of of it. It’s so readily available. If we’re selling it illegally in 1,200 shops around the city, do you think they care who’s coming in to buy it? They’re not checking for IDs. It’s a cash business. The city has totally lost control over it. The state has lost control over it.”
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