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Posted By: maverick Shooting gallery - 02/03/04 09:23 AM
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


Posted By: consuelo Re: Shooting gallery - 02/03/04 11:08 AM
I have heard it used in this context.

Posted By: dxb Re: Shooting gallery - 02/03/04 11:22 AM
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?

Posted By: wwh Re: Shooting gallery - 02/03/04 01:19 PM
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 -

Posted By: Father Steve Re: Shooting gallery - 02/03/04 01:39 PM
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of "shooting gallery" has definitely passed into memory and its use would mark the user (of the term, not the drug) as out of date.


Posted By: wwh Re: Shooting gallery - 02/03/04 02:26 PM
Perhaps awareness of danger of AIDS has made needle swapping less popular.

Posted By: maverick Re: Shooting gallery - 02/03/04 02:27 PM
> its use would mark the user (of the term, not the drug) as out of date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

Posted By: wow Re: Shooting gallery - 02/03/04 03:07 PM
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.


Posted By: Father Steve Re: Shooting gallery - 02/03/04 07:27 PM
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.


Posted By: Capfka Re: Shooting gallery - 02/04/04 12:30 PM
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.

Posted By: lapsus linguae Re: Shooting gallery - 02/04/04 11:52 PM
the term is in common use here in Oz. Infact there is a government sanctioned "shooting gallery" in the Sydney suburb of Kings Cross. The controvertial "galley" was set up about 2 years ago despite howls of protest from local residents and business. The gallery provides a "safe" haven for addicts with a supply of clean needles and emmergency help in the advent of an overdose. Sources claim a massive reduction in deaths through overdoses and reduction in rates of intravenious infections.

Posted By: belMarduk Re: Shooting gallery - 02/05/04 02:26 AM
And the government pays for that does it? Hm.

Posted By: Faldage Re: Shooting gallery - 02/05/04 02:59 AM
the government pays

Parbly cheaper than paying for the consequences of not having it.

Posted By: lapsus linguae Re: Shooting gallery - 02/05/04 11:55 PM
Yes, the shooting gallery is run and funded by the government. I think their premise being that the addicts and the public are better off if these activities are carried out in a controled environment. No needle sharing, needles disposed in a proper manner, emmergency help available in event of OD's etc. I believe it's a sensible step but no one wants one in their *back yard*

Posted By: dxb Re: Shooting gallery - 02/06/04 07:08 AM
A pilot scheme like the one you describe was proposed a year or so back for either Glasgow or Edinburgh but so far no move has been made. Public disquiet at the concept has been blamed for the lack of action. There have been needle exchange schemes, with public funding, in major cities here for some years.

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