3849 replies to this topic

[Jackerbie]

If the number of addicts stayed the same then a 40% increase in deaths among a static number of individuals is something.

If on the other hand BC welcomed more addicts into the province (e.g. the population of addicts increased by a greater rate than the 40% increase in deaths) then the metric is simply keeping up with population increase.

With dubious point in time reporting and so many underreported and undocumented anonymous people in parks and elsewhere, I would argue BC's addict population increased by a greater rate than the increase in overdose deaths among them.

What do the PIT counts have to do with this? 56% of overdose deaths this year have been inside the person's home (and that does not include the 30% of deaths that happen in shelters, SROs, hotels, etc.)

[On the Level]

56% of overdose deaths this year have been inside the person's home 

 

Oh great....now we will have SPotts trying to save lives by getting people out of homes and into BHP

[pontcanna]

‘I feel like we all failed her’: Grade 6 Saanich girl dies of suspected drug overdose

May 4, 2021

Three weeks ago Adriana Londono received the worst phone call a parent could imagine — her 12-year-old daughter was dead.

“I just ran to the bathroom and cried and screamed, it was probably the worst moment of my whole life,” Londono said.

 

Allayah Thomas, who went by Ally, started experimenting with drugs last fall at just 11 years old. 

 

“She grew up too fast and I’m really sorry for that, I feel very guilty that I wasn’t there to help her or that I wasn’t the best mentor or the best mom,” Londono said.

 

More: https://www.cheknews...verdose-778642/

 

 

[A Girl is No one]

OMG... so sad....

[Victoria Watcher]

that's something.

 

if only the message to "use with a friend" or "try a test hit first" would get through to these kids.

 

or if only we could somehow reduce the stigma.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 04 May 2021 - 06:21 PM.

[max.bravo]

I just don’t understand. I guess we need to destigmatize drug use further- and among younger users, and also ensure a free, clean supply of heroin and meth for these kids. Surely that would’ve prevented this tragedy.

[Sparky]

^ Have you seen what happens to heroin and meth addicts?

Without negative stigma and with a clean supply, they won’t die today, but they will die tomorrow....in much greater numbers.

[kitty surprise]

"Allayah Thomas, who went by Ally, started experimenting with drugs last fall at just 11 years old."

As someone who has for my whole life been in the orbit of addiction and mental health watching helplessly as friends and family descended into that hell, I have only one thing to say, and it comes as no comfort for the grieving family: don't do drugs. Ever.

[Victoria Watcher]

with a mother like this did the kid have much chance?

 

 

 

Mother Adriana Londono said on the day she died, Allayah and her 15-year-old friend went to downtown Victoria “to buy downs, heroin, which is fentanyl these days, and then did it and went home.”

 

They returned to the friend’s home in Langford, where the friend’s father thought Allayah seemed groggy. Allayah said she had consumed alcohol, was tired and went to bed. “She did not wake up.”

 

Had she told him they had consumed drugs, he likely could have saved her, said Londono. “But kids are scared to tell their parents they’ve done drugs.”

 

Since November, Allayah had ended up at Victoria General Hospital three times for overdoses, her mother said, once staying for a week for psychiatric help. “I think she was crying for help.”

 

Allayah grew up too fast, said her mother. Influenced in part by social media, she began wearing makeup and dressing older and became interested in boys, said Londono. She started smoking cigarettes and marijuana, then it was a quick transition to hard drugs, including meth and heroin at 11. She also began cutting herself like her mother had when she was the same age and her father left, Londono said.

 

Londono had left the home of her mother and stepfather — where she lived with Allayah and her other children, age 11, and two — in November at the request of the Ministry of Children and Family Development, after Londono attempted suicide because of a break-up and ended up in hospital.

 

“We were all living together in a big home and we were all happy,” said Londono, who said she has mental-health and substance-use challenges and has herself overdosed nine times due to the tainted drug supply. “That’s how lethal it is.”

 

https://www.timescol...y-is-1.24315659

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 06 May 2021 - 08:08 AM.

[Barrrister]

I do not even know where to begin with commenting on this.

[Rob Randall]

I am told acid is the current popular drug at a certain Langford middle school, due to its cheapness and easy availability and that kids as young as 11 are being drawn into the "bad crowd" due to peer pressure. 

[max.bravo]

^^Reading the mother's comments...

[The mother] has herself overdosed nine times due to the tainted drug supply. “That’s how lethal it is.”

 

 

...I think I just got a glimpse into the mindset of these users.

 

They want drug use to be risk-free. They think it should be their right-- to obtain and use hard drugs without risking their health or safety. Isn't that the implied assumption in her statement?

[kitty surprise]

^^Reading the mother's comments...

 

...I think I just got a glimpse into the mindset of these users.

 

They want drug use to be risk-free. They think it should be their right-- to obtain and use hard drugs without risking their health or safety. Isn't that the implied assumption in her statement?

 

Yep. They expect a safe and plentiful fix. They ignore the facts like, drugs come from drug dealers who add deadly crap to make more money. 

 

I just don't understand why people can't say no to drugs. Just don't do them. Ever.

[max.bravo]

Yep. They expect a safe and plentiful fix. They ignore the facts like, drugs come from drug dealers who add deadly crap to make more money. 

 

I just don't understand why people can't say no to drugs. Just don't do them. Ever.

People use drugs because the emotional pain of living is too much to bear. For addicts it's often drug-of-choice, or suicide. I'm not justifying drug use; but that's why people do it.

[rmpeers]

^ Have you seen what happens to heroin and meth addicts?

Without negative stigma and with a clean supply, they won’t die today, but they will die tomorrow....in much greater numbers.

Isn't it fair, to some extent, to stigmatize behaviour that either kills people or causes them to kill others? I haven't seen bus stop ads that say "Father. Brother. Softball coach. Smoker." or "Sister. Volunteer. Drunk driver." Why aren't we destigmatizing other things?

[Greg]

^^Reading the mother's comments...

 

...I think I just got a glimpse into the mindset of these users.

 

They want drug use to be risk-free. They think it should be their right-- to obtain and use hard drugs without risking their health or safety. Isn't that the implied assumption in her statement?

 

I get what you're saying, and I don't disagree with it entirely, but at the same time I note that when I go out to get a beer at a patio this afternoon, I do appreciate the high degree of confidence I have that it won't by cut with any unexpected and fatal substances.

[Victoria Watcher]

that’s a false equivalent.

[Greg]

that’s a false equivalent.

 

To an extent, for sure. But it's also an illustration of why alcohol is legal and regulated. The fact that people shouldn't take drugs, and the fact that drugs are illegal, shouldn't equate to "it's OK if drugs are tainted with poison."  Maybe we should be prosecuting people who sell poisoned drugs with manslaughter. 

[Nparker]

...Maybe we should be prosecuting people who sell poisoned drugs with manslaughter. 

I'd be OK with that.

[max.bravo]

Dont forget: Addicts seek out the ‘good stuff’ with fentanyl in it. There are lots of things the poverty industry narrative doesn’t tell you.