3853 replies to this topic

[aastra]

 

There are no parks in the Comox Valley?

 

Sure, but c'mon, they're really nice parks. You wouldn't want to spoil them. Also, camping in and around downtown Victoria makes perfect sense whereas camping in the Comox area comes off as rather absurd, don't you think?

 

Anyway, the main point here (as always) is that troubled people from small towns all over BC really should be living deep in the heart of Victoria's city proper. Everybody knows that.

[Nparker]

...the main point here (as always) is that troubled people from small towns all over BC the world really should be living deep in the heart of Victoria's city proper. Everybody knows that.

That's better.

[rmpeers]

That's better.

Jesus stop giving them ideas. 😬

[Victoria Watcher]

UPDATE: Incident near Mount Douglas Park ‘strictly medical,’ Saanich police say

Intoxicated person taken into police custody, brought to hospital

 

Emergency crews responded to an incident which police say was “strictly medical” near Mount Douglas Park on the afternoon of July 12.

 

Around 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, several police vehicles and an ambulance were spotted near the Churchill Drive entrance to the park and traffic was impacted in the area.

 

On Monday, Const. Markus Anastasiades, public information officer for the Saanich Police Department, said paramedics on scene called for police to assist with an intoxicated person who was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

 

When officers arrived, the person was uncooperative but was eventually taken into police custody and brought to the hospital and placed in the care of a doctor, Anastasiades said.

 

 

 

 

https://www.vicnews....ich-police-say/

 

it's all kid-gloves all the time now.  wonder if the police will take the same view of drunks in a bar.  or behind the wheel of a car.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 13 July 2020 - 03:51 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

People at risk in Cowichan Valley to get free opioids

 

The pilot project will begin in September and will involve up to 25 people. Patients will be screened and must commit to the program. They have to be willing to go to the Cowichan Valley Wellness and Recovery Centre, an overdose prevention site, where they will be given one to two tablets of hydromorphone up to five times a day. Drugs must be taken under direct supervision.

 

 

“There will be some people who find they can’t commit to the schedule and the way the program is administered,” said Stanwick.

 

https://www.timescol...oids-1.24171205

 

 

 

 

imagine living your life that way.  this is a very sad way to treat addiction.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 16 July 2020 - 05:07 AM.

[Rob Randall]

^I don't know what else we can do. We are still in the dark ages when it comes to treating addictions. Like treating cancer in the 1800s. In too many cases drugs are masking mental trauma that resists other forms of treatment. And the drugs further addle the mind, complicating decision making.

[Nparker]

How about we insist people get REAL addiction treatment? Are alcoholics given free booze to stave off cirrhosis? Are smokers given free tobacco products to combat lung cancer and emphysema? Taxpayer funded opioids are only prolonging the problem if they aren't given on the condition of getting treatment.

[pennymurphy2000]

We could do what Portugal is doing. Rehab or prison. Getting people off drugs is the only real solution. 

Instead of buying hotels and letting people run amok, we could have spent the money on buying houses and running them like the very successful Anawin House. Therapeutic Farms work really well too. 

 

We also need to start being realistic about the really lost souls that are too far gone to be rehabilitated. There are some people who need 24 hour care. 

[spanky123]

 

imagine living your life that way.  this is a very sad way to treat addiction.

 

What about the addicts we are going to create?

 

I wonder if a polling station will be set up next to the homeless centre there as well along with people to vouch for your residence?

Edited by spanky123, 16 July 2020 - 08:04 AM.

[Nparker]

...I wonder if a polling station will be set up next to the homeless centre there as well along with people to vouch for your residence?

Probably not, but if the opioid trial were taking place in the CoV during an election, a polling station would be set up to capture these unbiased votes.

[Victoria Watcher]

anybody surprised?   

 

 

 

B.C. sets monthly record for drug overdose deaths in June

 

The BC Coroners Service reports 175 deaths in June related to illicit drugs, surpassing the previous high of 171 in May. The chief coroner says the COVID-19 pandemic has limited access to harm-reduction services.

 

 

 

the chief coroner should be more honest.  lots of free money has the drugs flowing.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 16 July 2020 - 11:24 AM.

[Nparker]

...the chief coroner should be more honest.  lots of free money has the drugs flowing.

This will NEVER be admitted.

[lanforod]

I really thought the border closures would slow the flow of external drugs into the country a lot. Sure doesn't seem to have.

[UDeMan]

The drug dealers have never done such great business, hence the run on hottubbs and Porsches as mentioned in other threads.

[Rob Randall]

I really thought the border closures would slow the flow of external drugs into the country a lot. Sure doesn't seem to have.

 

Post office and couriers are busier than ever. I wonder if inspections have slackened and drugs are coming in more that way.

[LJ]

Post office and couriers are busier than ever. I wonder if inspections have slackened and drugs are coming in more that way.

Should be lots of extra border police around with the closed border and minimal air traffic. 

[Victoria Watcher]

On March 26, the province introduced new clinical guidelines after the federal government announced a number of exemptions that would be made under the Controlled Substances Act. The changes would allow doctors, nurses and pharmacists to prescribe a safe supply of medication to people dealing with substance use disorder in support of social distancing in the face of two public health emergencies.

Ranger says that for the most part the hotels being used to provide shelter for members of the homeless community in Victoria have been set up well with witness injection and inhalation services provided, but he worries for the people not connected to a care provider, especially when it comes to getting a prescription for safe supply.

https://www.vicnews....r-of-overdoses/

 

 

an awful lots of problem with the tact and issues covered in this article.  tomorrow i'll take some on.

[On the Level]

It's a little off-topic as it's for Vancouver, but I think it is something worth watching to see what happens. 

 

 

A woman sipping a drink while pushing a stroller, a senior walking with a cane, and several patrons at a McDonald’s scattered with fear as a flare exploded inside a busy Vancouver mall, fired by a man with a long history of violence, severe mental illness and drug addiction who was trying to escape a botched theft.

 

You have two "sides", with one wanting a firm approach to be proposed this fall to Vancouver city council; 

 

 

MacEwan, who works at both St. Paul’s Hospital and the UBC psychiatry department.

 

MacEwan has teamed up with Mike Harcourt, a former B.C. premier and Vancouver mayor, and others,including Ethel Whitty and Jacquie Forbes Roberts, former heads of the city’s homelessness and community services departments, to come up with a plan they will present to Vancouver city hall this fall.

 

“I’ve certified people for having addictions. Some doctors don’t agree with it,” he said.

 

It’s a difficult conversation to have, he says. No one wants to further stigmatize marginalized people, and research has shown those with serious mental illness are far more likely to be the victims of violence than perpetrators.

 

But it is not helpful, he said, to pretend that the needs of this population can be met by simply providing them with a room in social housing. “We have to deal with these people because, yes, they are dangerous.”

 

The other side wants more of the same.....

 

 

Janice Abbott, who oversees several social housing buildings as executive director of Atira Women’s Resource Society, has spoken to MacEwan about his proposals, and agrees there is a group of people in the Downtown Eastside who desperately need more help. But she argues hospitalization is not necessarily the best way to help a person with a severe mental illness.

 

“I agree absolutely that there is a group of folks here who are not getting the services and support they need. Where I diverge is how do you provide that support? And I’m not sure it’s all about psychiatry,” said Abbott

 

While Abbott says she respects MacEwan and his efforts, she believes the solution to these problems lies more with a safe drug supply, guaranteed annual income and ending violence, in addition to providing sufficient housing.

 

“If you don’t address those root causes with improved drug policy, with an improved social safety net, how do we know who really needs to be committed? Because it’s not all about psychiatry, its also about trauma and systemic oppression.”

 

I am not sure I understand what Abbott means when she calls a "safe drug supply" a root cause and not mental illness.

Edited by On the Level, 25 July 2020 - 05:17 PM.

[Nparker]

Replace the words "mental illness" with cancer, heart disease, kidney failure etc. and see if this still makes sense:

"...hospitalization is not necessarily the best way to help a person with a severe mental illness...."

Today's society has almost entirely failed the mentally ill. In a desire to avoid stigma and the problems of the asylums of old, many with mental health problems have been left to fend for themselves through self-medication in the former of illicit drugs. All the "safe supply" in the universe isn't going to make these people well without proper medical intervention. We have to accept this may involve forced hospitalization. The severely mentally ill simply do not have the cognitive clarity to make this decision for themselves.

[Mike K.]

This push for housing is starting to feel like it is predicated upon something else. If we know housing is not the answer, and we know housing is not leading to the cost savings promised, what is really behind this unprecedented surge in government housing? What if this idea of housing first is tethered to something else, like the decommodification of housing? Without supports, supervision and highly customized services a housing first approach is doomed, and yet we keep pursuing it one private property acquisition after another.