If you’ve been an atheist for longer than five minutes you’ve probably heard the one about the stereotypical self-destructive atheist who after years of being an all around jackass finds himself* in a situation that is life-threatening. Despite being a cold-hearted machine that runs on pure reason said atheist decides that Jesus really does love him and the two of them walk off into the sunset holding hands.
So it should really come as no surprise that the deputy director of the White House Office on National Drug Control Policy opposes the use of Narcan by non-medical personnel on the grounds that easy access to a life saving device will fail to scare the shit out of heroin addicts:
“Sometimes having an overdose, being in an emergency room, having that contact with a health care professional is enough to make a person snap into the reality of the situation and snap into having someone give them services,” Madras says.
This is faith at it’s finest, not bad science. In fact the science seems to say that such access is good. But, then that would defeat faith’s cousin – punishment. Socially condemned people need to be punished in some manner to get them to “snap” into compliance with the majority. So what if they end up dead as a result of the punishment? It’s a great deterrent to the others who are thinking about being non-compliant.
