Fentanyl crisis

Something to think about is the fact that a largish proportion of DTES peeps are out from out of province sent to BC by other provinces social Workers.
Bus and plane tickets for free just to get them of their books.
My oldest sister is social worker in Ontario confirmed this to me as she done it herself per management directives for cost savings.

I'd call a bit of BS on that. Goodness knows Alberta caught a lot of crap for even joking about doing that. That Social Services might help people relocate to where they have supports is more likely.

That a "dump people on the DTES" is a national answer is a bit of an Vangroovy'centric view.

Why not? We're here, ain't we? Must be God's chosen ones.

I know from personal experience this definitely used to happen, and i've read from others claiming to be in the social services that it continues. In my teens/mid 90's i was on the street and stupidly followed some friends to Montreal in the middle of winter. Shit wasn't working out well and the social worker i ended up seeing, didn't want to offer me housing but was only too happy to give me a bus ticket to Ontario. Rinse and repeat, and i was on my way back to BC.

Remember when we shipped em to mission for the Olympics?

Remember when we shipped em to mission for the Olympics?

funny you mention this there was a article in the local MR news about us 1st helping 84 homeless in 2014 and now we are at over 700 homeless in the area . could they be transplants from other areas , makes one wonder .

I'd call a bit of BS on that. Goodness knows Alberta caught a lot of crap for even joking about doing that. That Social Services might help people relocate to where they have supports is more likely.

That a "dump people on the DTES" is a national answer is a bit of an Vangroovy'centric view.

You would be wrong, im originally from Ontario my family is still there . My sister is in fact a social worker has done and still does exactly what I said. Bus tickets etc.
Call BS if you want but's its true. Huge amount of street people are from back east.

Official confirmation of carfentanil in Metro Vancouver:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/carfentanil-confirmed-metro-vancouver-1.3962548

Looks like they finally developed a test for it and have been using it for a few weeks.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/drug-users-share-ideas-to-fix-fentanyl-crisis-1.3949237

some users views and thoughts on the crisis .

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/drug-users-share-ideas-to-fix-fentanyl-crisis-1.3949237

some users views and thoughts on the crisis .

from the article you linked:

She said two things could help improve the situation: access to affordable housing and access to clean, predictable drugs.

this points to what many researchers having been saying; a person's environment plays a key role in their addiction issues.

On a side note, if I take the video if the TED talk into account amd what the newest research does suggest, it is really beyond my understanding that governments no matter where are still clinging to the notion that drugs (apart from alcohol and nicotine in most countries) need to be illegal.

Imagine a situation in which addicts are legally enabled to buy clean and properly dosed/mixed drugs at a pharmacy, under control of a board/panel/agency.

This would result in a few things, I guess, a reduction in (petty) crime being one of these.

I don't know the details around the history but this type of advocacy is calling for a return to The Great Binge. I don't think it was entirely positive, but I'd have to read up on it.

On a side note, if I take the video if the TED talk into account amd what the newest research does suggest, it is really beyond my understanding that governments no matter where are still clinging to the notion that drugs (apart from alcohol and nicotine in most countries) need to be illegal.

Imagine a situation in which addicts are legally enabled to buy clean and properly dosed/mixed drugs at a pharmacy, under control of a board/panel/agency.

This would result in a few things, I guess, a reduction in (petty) crime being one of these.

So if the drugs are legalized, how are they distributed? A user get them for free? So where do they get this money? Welfare? That's a laugh…. Crime all of a sudden stops, doubt it. So we give them somewhere to live, to shoot up or what have you, plus all the programs to hopefully get them off the drugs. Where does this end? What is the goal? Schools have to hold fundraisers constantly for extra funding and all of a sudden the gov't is going to throw down x amount of dollars for this? Lets be realistic.

Drugs legalized, more people become junkies? Less? I just see a viscous cycle. I see a huge revenue with the funds being allocated elsewhere as usual.
Probably one of the hardest problems to deal with and it saddens me. I think these issues have probably been explored but the situation remains the same. I really hope one day there is a remedy but not optimistic.

So if the drugs are legalized, how are they distributed? A user get them for free? So where do they get this money? Welfare? That's a laugh…. Crime all of a sudden stops, doubt it. So we give them somewhere to live, to shoot up or what have you, plus all the programs to hopefully get them off the drugs. Where does this end? What is the goal? Schools have to hold fundraisers constantly for extra funding and all of a sudden the gov't is going to throw down x amount of dollars for this? Lets be realistic.

Drugs legalized, more people become junkies? Less? I just see a viscous cycle. I see a huge revenue with the funds being allocated elsewhere as usual.
Probably one of the hardest problems to deal with and it saddens me. I think these issues have probably been explored but the situation remains the same. I really hope one day there is a remedy but not optimistic.

To be honest, the only thing I know is that the current way of dealing with addiction does not really work.

Educate people, then educate them on how much of a downside there is to these things.

Some people will still choose to self harm, so have it set up that their self harm doesn't harm others in the process.