There could be the exact same problems with the exact same approach to handling this issue?
And in the exact same neighbourhood, too.
Posted 20 January 2017 - 09:49 AM
There could be the exact same problems with the exact same approach to handling this issue?
And in the exact same neighbourhood, too.
Posted 20 January 2017 - 10:27 AM
Some good points in TC editorial today:
http://www.timescolo...drugs-1.8043380
"We should avoid a casual attitude toward consumption of illicit drugs or a fatalistic belief that it's inevitable."
Posted 17 July 2017 - 01:24 PM
I wonder why tobacco smokers didn't take this tact when the "war on cigarettes" turned them into pariahs:
..."It's hard to describe how hated drug users are and how disregarded their lives were," [Livingston] says of the years when 27 per cent of injection drug users in the impoverished neighbourhood became infected..."People need to demand, and say, 'I am getting safe drugs from you. I have an opioid use disorder, it's a diagnosable illness, I'm in need of medical care and I'm guaranteed that medical care. To not give it to me is discrimination...
http://www.timescolo...licy-1.21179741
Substitute "tobacco" for "opioid" and see how much sympathy that get you these days. Why are lethal street drugs considered "sacred"? Has destigmatizing illicit drug use actually made anyone's life better or has it lead to the crisis we face today?
Posted 17 July 2017 - 03:23 PM
Tobacco use didn't decline until it was stigmatized.
Posted 17 July 2017 - 03:26 PM
Tobacco use didn't decline until it was stigmatized.
Exactly.
Posted 06 December 2017 - 05:32 PM
Vancouver police seeking $700K for specialized safe drug-handling facility
Posted 28 December 2017 - 03:28 PM
Tobacco use didn't decline until it was stigmatized.
While this is true, tobacco use also had a long history of aggrandisement(?) from media in the form of romanticising it (humphrey bogart, etc.) Tobacco companies also routinely advertised with some really pernicious and sneaky advertising. In any case, I suspect tobacco use is also still much greater than drug use nowadays. Stigmatizing illicit drug use further will only serve to push people further into the cracks of society.
I don't like it one bit. I don't want people shooting up on the streets. I don't want their needles anywhere near where I am walking, however, sending them to jail is a worse solution. That's my tax dollars to lock someone up and that doesn't solve anything. Once they're back out they're shooting up again.
Literally the only rational way to solve this is to help these people either get off of this junk or give them a space somewhere so they can use without putting the society at large at risk - jail is not an answer. I see a lot of tweakers downtown and it makes me sad to see them - what could they have done with their life? Maybe they could do something else still? There's something wrong with them and we're not helping them. I'm sure as hell not going to - I don't have the tools nor the patience, unfortunately, but I'm willing to let someone else do it for me - who better than the government who also provides health care?
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