Rotterdam, Netherlands -- Tucked away in a quiet corner of this Dutch port city, Seniorenpand looks like an ordinary retirement home. Comfortable sofas huddle around a communal television. Puzzles and tattered paperback books fill nearby shelves as aged residents chat about the weather over tea and coffee.
But this retirement home has a twist -- in its bedrooms, residents are getting high on heroin and cocaine.
"I have been using drugs most of my adult life, and I can't stop now," said Gert-Jan, a 62-year-old heroin addict. "Being old doesn't mean your addiction just goes away."
Funded by the city and a semiprivate health foundation, Seniorenpand is the world's first retirement home for junkies, and it won't be the last. Three other Dutch cities -- Amsterdam, Utrecht and The Hague -- are setting up similar homes for aging addicts, and policy-makers in Europe and North America are closely watching the experiment. Later this year, a nursing home in Rotterdam will open a separate wing for addicts.
Since many elderly junkies lack the physical strength to survive on the streets and are unwelcome at traditional retirement homes, they see this 5- year-old program as a godsend.
"If it weren't for this place, I would be dead and buried now," said Gert- Jan, who uses a walker to get around. "This is a real home for me."
Seniorenpand reflects the Dutch policy of treating drug addiction as a disease rather than a crime. Junkies receive free medical care and methadone from the state and can frequent urban "user rooms" that allow hard drugs to be "used hygienically, in a stress-free environment and under the supervision of specialist counselors," according to a 2003 report by the Trimbos Institute, a Utrecht-based health organization.
As a result, drug-related deaths in the Netherlands -- 2.4 per million inhabitants, according to the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction -- are the lowest in Europe. Half of all Dutch heroin and cocaine addicts are over 40, with many in their 60s, according to health experts.
To be sure, Seniorenpand residents are encouraged to consume fewer drugs. But they are free to buy heroin or cocaine on the street. The home's chief aim is to help them live their final years in comfort and dignity. Journalists who interview them are asked not to publish last names.
"We do not deal drugs to residents, but we don't forbid them to use them, either," said Alexander Hogendoorn, the home's manager. "Some people reach a point where their addiction is irreversible, so our goal is to give them some stability and quality of life until the end comes."
Each small, modestly equipped private room has a television and a sink. Outside contractors clean and cook. A medical staff makes regular visits, and a social worker is available 24 hours a day. Even though such services are funded by the state and the semiprivate health foundation, residents pay a modest amount of rent from their monthly social security checks. There is a long waiting list for the facility's seven rooms
SeniorenpandTehuis voor bejaarde junks
Started by
wolvenkind
, Feb 12 2005 07:43 PM
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#1
wolvenkind
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Posted 12 February 2005 - 07:43 PM
'Den uitvreter, dien je in je bed vond liggen met zijn vuile schoenen, als je 's avonds laat thuis kwam. Den uitvreter, die je sigaren oprookte, en van je tabak stopte en je steenkolen verstookte en je kasten nakeek en geld van je leende en je schoenen opdroeg en een jas van je aantrok als-i in den regen naar huis moest. Den uitvreter, die altijd wat liet halen op den naam van een ander; die als een vorst jenever zat te drinken op 't terras 'Hollandais' voor de centen van de lui; die parapluies leende en nooit terugbracht; die een barst stookte in de tweedehandsch kachel van Bavink; die dubbele boorden droeg van zijn broer en de boeken uitleende van Appi, en buitenlansche reizen maakte als-i z'n ouwe heer weer had afgezet, en pakken droeg, die hij nooit betaalde.'
Mr.Toasted- wouldnt it be cool if one day you found out you were actually someone elses imagination.
Mr.Toasted- wouldnt it be cool if one day you found out you were actually someone elses imagination.
#2
mind
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Posted 12 February 2005 - 08:32 PM
Letterlijk, spreekwoordelijk, dubbelzinnig.
>> Regels DHP << (klikbaar)
>> Regels DHP << (klikbaar)
- Geen links naar online RC-vendors/smartshops etc
- Vragen om sources of online dealen is niet toegestaan, in het laatste geval wordt de overtreder ook meteen permanent verbannen.
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