- Drug Addictions
It seems counterintuitive that maybe the best way to curb the spike of drug addiction is to give the most addicted, free prescriptions of heroin. Now by no stretch of the imagination does this insist on making the drug free or legal to the regular population, but to help facilitate the process of which the drug is consumed. Cities across Europe and Vancouver thought of the idea to create areas where addicts could use heroin. Insite in Vancouver is an area where only 26 approved users who are of the most addicted, are allowed to come and use heroin. The addicts there receive the tools they need to do the drug meanwhile are under constant supervision from nurses and medical professionals incase something ought to go wrong. Believe it or not, the addicts also receive free prescriptions for some of the best cut heroin on the planet.
This idea stemmed from experiments when heroin alternatives were used as a replacement for the real thing, that ultimately failed. The idea of giving hopeless addicts free heroin is that it keeps them off of the street, committing violent crimes to feed the addiction. Addicts either get free heroin from the city or they burglarize vehicles and rob the innocent to get the drugs they crave. It could be considered blackmail but if they are only harming themselves, that in itself is a small win. The article quotes “…let’s provide you with heroin so you are the least dangerous drug addict you can possibly be.”
Programs across Europe have successfully helped hopeless addicts by keeping them off of the street, which is where Vancouver got the idea. Critics of the Insite program think the city is giving up on the addicts and hiding behind the excuse of the term “hopelessly addicted,” in a way to attempt to justify killing them.
2. Armored Planes
It seems counterintuitive that the best way to armor a war plane, may be to put armor where bullets did not hit. When a plane is struck by gunfire and riddled with bullet holes, it may either crash due to the damage or safely make it back to the air base. If it crashes, then so be it, the plane wasn’t able to handle the apparent extreme damage. But if the plane is able to make it back to the airbase and land safely, that aircraft needs to be examined. When looking at the plane, and all of the holes due to the barrage of gun fire it took, the first thought may be to put armor on it and concentrate the armor where the holes are. But according to Hungarian-born mathematician Abraham Wald, he stated it would be counter productive to armor the plane where it was hit, yet armor the plane where it was not hit.
The plane was able to return safely with the damage, but the ones that do not return must of received damage in different places. One might think just to armor the entire plane but planes cannot be too heavy or else they will lose things such as maneuverability and speed, so adding weight in places they don’t need too it paramount. The weight of the armor alone needed to defend against an anti aircraft weapon would already be extremely heavy. Cutting weight means cutting cost and cutting cost would make this already wild idea, an economically friendly one as well. By armoring aircrafts and increasing the likelihood of them returning, means the government will not have to shell out the billions of dollars that it already does for a new plane every time one of the crafts come under heavy fire.
3. Multi vitamins
It seems counterintuitive that multi vitamins do more harm than good when consumed. A seemingly honest and ever growing 28 billion dollar a year industry such as the vitamin industry could be robbing those trying to better themselves blind. Nearly one third in all Americans regularly take a multi vitamin although it may not be worth it.
A 2009 study, published in “Archives of Internal Medicine,” and a 2011 study proved that taking a multi on a daily basis does not necessarily ward off any disease that the billion dollar industry claims it does. Another study proves that typical multi users are more likely to receive their quota of vitamins through their normal food intake than those who do not take a multi. When someone gets their normal vitamin intake from their diet, and adds a multi to their day, it could push them over their recommended limits of each vitamin, causing harm instead of good. Different types of diseases one could be exposed too when consuming too many vitamins is when too much iron is taken, it could result in an increased risk of heart disease. Pregnant women who also use a multi containing vitamin A could very well boost the chance of birth defects.
Much to the dismay of the manufactures, politicians are joining the fight of mandating an honest label on supplements warning of health risks that have been proven scientifically. Current labeling is not as it seems. An outside agency conducted a test on 60 common multivitamins and found that they are plagued with faulty info. For example, one label on a certain gummy multi vitamin for children exceeded the upper daily limits of vitamin A and zinc, which could prove harmful, as well as an adult multi which was double the recommended dosage of vitamin A. Doctors suggest to healthy eaters to stop worrying about multi vitamins while picky eaters should remain conscious and think about taking a multi to round out their diets.
Counterintuitive 