Back alleys

[[File:Annarbor_alley.JPG|right|thumb|165px|Back alleys generally are not sterilized]]{{Sociology}}
'''Back alleys''' are filthy, narrow roads which run through the middle of city blocks behind businesses, where deliveries are made and garbage trucks pick up their trash. The term ''back alley'' may also be used in a metaphorical sense to describe a place where people go to obtain things that are either illegal or otherwise prohibited as a result of [[moral panic]].

The back alley provides a wealth of services, and many people survive using them.

==Abortion==
{{main|Abortion}}
Before 1973 and after 2022 in the US, abortion procedures were provided in the metaphorical back alley, leading to the terms ''back alley abortion'' and ''backstreet abortion''. The lack of a legal abortions alternative drove people to seek medical assistance from unregulated and often poorly trained practitioners.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20070319191847/http://www.efc.org.uk/Foryoungpeople/Factsaboutabortion/Unsafeabortion Education for Choice's explanation of illegal abortion practices]</ref>  In 2010, in the [[United States]], the [[Republican]]-controlled [[United States House of Representatives|House]] declared through its policies and attempted legislation that the country desired a return to the [[good old days]] of the Back Alley.  Sadly, the [[United States Senate|Senate]] felt that hospitals and doctors' offices would somehow provide better care at a better price.

==Medical supplies==
The illegality of [[drug]]s, such as [[marijuana]], leads people to purchase their supplies from the back alley pharmacy. Some sufferers of chronic conditions report that marijuana improves their quality of life,<ref>[http://www.drugpolicy.org/marijuana/medical/ Drug Policy Alliance Network: Medical Marijuana]</ref> but the availability of ''medical marijuana'' is limited, and opposed by the [[right wing]] ({{wpl|Dianne Feinstein|as}} {{wpl|Jerry Brown|well}} {{wpl|Barbara Boxer|as}} {{wpl|Maggie Hassan|many}} {{wpl|John Hickenlooper|left}}-{{wpl|Martin O'Malley|wing}}) elements who worry that marijuana is a [[Gateway drug theory|gateway drug]], thus leading cancer patients to graduate to [[heroin]], and perhaps join motorcycle gangs. There are no statistics to support this, but it's reasonable to assume that [[California]] and many other states are currently being overrun by roaming gangs of multiple sclerosis sufferers. In [[Texas]], where marijuana is illegal, motorcycle clubs are known to have lovely little Sunday shindigs after church.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/18/us/texas-biker-gang-brawl-shooting/ Officers warned about more bikers possibly heading to Texas after brawl] By Eliott C. McLaughlin & Holly Yan (Updated 11:49 AM ET, Wed May 20, 2015) ''CNN''.</ref>

==Dating services==
Legal and social prohibitions on [[homosexuality]] lead some to seek love and sex in the back alley (pun 
not
 totally intended). Right-wing social commentators, such as [[Sean Hannity]], view overt homosexuality as a threat to traditional [[marriage]]. Unfortunately the citizens of [[Massachusetts]] and several other states have conspired against Hannity and the [[wingnut]] brigade by experiencing a drop in [[divorce]] rates&mdash;despite the legalization of [[same-sex marriage]].<ref>[http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2009/09/20/after-legalized-same-sex-marriages-massachusetts-divorce-drops/ Marriage somehow survives the introduction of same-sex marriage]</ref>

''Heterosexual'' prostitution also occurs in the (usually metaphorical) back alley, of course.
==References==
{{reflist}}

[[category:Drugs]]

Categories: Drugs