ONE THOUSAND FEET

ONE THOUSAND FEET
by Kimmarie Rojas


JOE: The Addict
JUDGE: The Regulator and Lawmaker
JURY: The Peers

JOE:
“For one thousand feet, they spread the plague
With rules and tools and laws that are vague.
The fall to death is quick and steep
With no help within one thousand feet.”

JUDGE:
“An imperfect destiny is what’s in the rig,
And it may be too late for you to renege,
But within that space the Reaper is home,
where death is by alphabet, HCV, HIV,
     Auto Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

JURY:
“A light to those who rightly believe
That harm reduction can relieve
Disease and death through a simple exchange
From dirty to clean and the count is the same.
For twenty one years the federal laws stayed
To ban program funding of needle exchange,
And yes they will lift it, but in the fine print it
     Reads “make them stay at one thousand feet!”

JUDGE“One thousand feet? That’s not so far -
Just like the porn shop or biker bar!
Not near the school nor near the park,
Away from our youth, over there in the dark!
They don’t need to see a line over there
Of junkies who need to sharpen their ware.”

JURY:
“Though some disagree say that one thousand feet
Is an impossible restriction on a metro street.
A divided nation, no one can agree
Demagogues and demi-gods, elected imperfectly
Our leaders and rulers have their own destiny,
     of judgment and justice, imperfectly."

JOE:
“For one thousand feet, they spread the plague
With rules and tools and laws that are vague.
For one thousand feet, a sick addict must crawl
In order to safely alleviate withdrawal.”

JURY:"Progress moves slow and the War is long,
And after One Hundred years it’s been proved wrong
Again and again, that more harm than good
Comes from laws of what shouldn’t
      and laws of what should."

A compromise please of one thousand feet,
As these are our laws, imperfectly.

© 2009 Kimmarie Rojas

Please go to:
http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0419.html
to learn more about the Senate bill regarding SEP’s and Harm Reduction.