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#122036 02/03/04 09:23 AM
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Does this needle you, or is it right on target?

This phrase (originally of Oz provenance?) is a new one on me – any of youze guys heard it used?

http://www.crackcocaineincamden.co.uk/pages/camden/king's cross/argyle walk/shooting gallery.htm



#122037 02/03/04 11:08 AM
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I have heard it used in this context.


#122038 02/03/04 11:22 AM
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Yes, it is used in that context here in the east too.

Giving something a name that is familiar in a different context makes it feel more comfortable, do you think?


#122039 02/03/04 01:19 PM
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From Dickens' Bleak House:
of bare walls, floors, roof-rafters, and skylights, on the front of which, if
it can be said to have any front, is painted GEORGE'S SHOOTING GALLERY, &c. ...
www.literaturepage.com/read/dickens-bleak-house-346.html -


#122040 02/03/04 01:39 PM
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Drug-related language comes into fashion and passes out of fashion with rapidity. On the Left Coast, the use of "shooting gallery" has definitely passed into memory and its use would mark the user (of the term, not the drug) as out of date.



#122041 02/03/04 02:26 PM
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Perhaps awareness of danger of AIDS has made needle swapping less popular.


#122042 02/03/04 02:27 PM
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> its use would mark the user (of the term, not the drug) as out of date

Thanks, Father - perish the thought I should be thought up to date with drug slang


#122043 02/03/04 03:07 PM
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The phrase is still heard on TV shows but is creaky with age!
Perhaps awareness of danger of AIDS has made needle swapping less popular.
Not so, wwh, according to my contacts. The one thing that seems to be useful is needle exchanges. Not popular with many cities but it does cut down on transmission of diseases of all types.
But, sadly, addiction remains addiction.



#122044 02/03/04 07:27 PM
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In the court where I serve, there is no sign of any slowing in the use of injectible mind-altering life-shortening substances. These cases appear literally every day, often in conjunction with theft (shoplifting) or prostitution charges.



#122045 02/04/04 12:30 PM
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Yup. Just the same as where I come from, FS. Friend of mine is a consultant at Wellington Public Hospital and they have a steady stream of drugged-out and physically knackered thieves being brought in by the police for patching up. Since he's in pathology/toxicology he winds up dealing with a lot of them. Not a pretty sight, he thinks.


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