3845 replies to this topic

[Mike K.]

Oh man. Cap revealed their anonymous source when Our Place challenged their facts. After public outcry the social media posts outing the source have been removed. The source had no idea her anonymity had been compromised, based on what I saw online.

[Barrrister]

Closing the barn door after the horse has fled. 

[Victoria Watcher]

Substance users with serious mental health issues in Nanaimo are expected to get access to so-called complex-care housing under an initiative offering services like addiction medicine, social workers and education on overdose prevention.

Mental Health and Addictions Minister Sheila Malcolmson has announced the project in the Vancouver Island community alongside Mayor Leonard Krog, and she says in a release that the aim is to provide services in existing supportive housing.

https://www.timescol...nanaimo-5741233

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 25 August 2022 - 04:11 PM.

[Nparker]

Substance users with serious mental health issues need to be placed into medical/psychological treatment facilities. They are not capable of making good decisions for themselves. Their addiction will always come first. "Supportive" housing has proven to be a complete failure in helping mentally ill addicts to get better.

[Victoria Watcher]

This apparently is “complex care” housing. I have some hope it makes sense, since Krog was there. But this is to be inside existing housing facilities. I don’t know why we mix drug users with the mentally ill, with the free loaders and criminals.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 25 August 2022 - 04:27 PM.

[Nparker]

We've seen "complex care" housing before. It does nothing to help the mentally ill.

[Victoria Watcher]

“Addiction is what that looked like, it looked like not coming home, going away for days at a time,” she said.

When he got into trouble with the law she was relieved to learn he would be mandated by the courts to attend counselling, until she found out where that counselling would take place.

Victoria’s Youth Forensic Psychiatric program is in the 900-block of Pandora Avenue, the heart of the city’s mental health and addictions crisis. It is an area known for open drug use, trafficking, and sometimes, violence. Yet teens, many of them experiencing addiction, are forced to receive counselling services at the centre, sometimes weekly.


https://www.cheknews...centre-1081795/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 25 August 2022 - 05:44 PM.

[Barrrister]

All the drug counseling services and programs are mostly just jobs for the boys. It has become a fairly large industry that produces almost no results to speak of 

[Victoria Watcher]

Yes, I was going to say that. No measurable positive results.

[LJ]

This apparently is “complex care” housing. I have some hope it makes sense, since Krog was there. But this is to be inside existing housing facilities. I don’t know why we mix drug users with the mentally ill, with the free loaders and criminals.

We need complex care institutions, with locks on the doors.

[Nparker]

We need complex care institutions, with locks on the doors.

Doors that lock from the outside.

[Victoria Watcher]

A Victoria mother is furious that her teenage son was ordered to attend treatment at a youth psychiatric facility on one of the most troubled blocks in downtown Victoria.

 

The woman, who cannot be named because the identity of her son is protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, said the teenager must attend court-ordered appointments at Youth Forensic Psychiatric Services on Quadra Street, across the street from Our Place and on the same corner as the Ministry for Social Development and Poverty Reduction.

 

Her son, now 16, was charged with assault and does not have a criminal record because he was referred for diversion. While he has a history of addiction to methamphetamine, he is now clean, and started treatment at youth forensics six months ago, initially attending once a week.

 

The woman said she and her son were nervous as they walked toward the building for his first appointment. They passed people injecting drugs, smoking crack pipes, and yelling back and forth across the street to each other. They stepped around garbage, clothing, human feces and discarded condoms.

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...ons-den-5742307

[Victoria Watcher]

SoberFest gives festival goers a non-alcohol cultural experience

 

Booze- and drug-free comedy and music festival set for Saturday in Langford

 

 

https://www.timescol...erience-5741132

[AllseeingEye]

SoberFest gives festival goers a non-alcohol cultural experience

 

Booze- and drug-free comedy and music festival set for Saturday in Langford

 

 

https://www.timescol...erience-5741132

 

 

And good for him, great initiative and good luck to this fellow with his own continued recovery because alcohol is by far the most commonly used, easily accessible and socially acceptable drug, bar none.

 

A dozen years ago I made a very conscious decision to go as close to being a teetotaler as one can be without actually cutting out booze altogether. Today I can literally count on one hand, and less, the number of drinks I consume annually. Not because I ever had a 'problem' with alcohol - not even close, at any time in my life - but mainly as I moved from my 40's into my 50's it was a deliberate strategy to be aware of and maintain good health. The link between booze and liver disease as well as degenerative neurological problems and esophageal & throat cancer, has long been known. A recent medical paper from the US showed all those risk factors are even greater than previously thought, especially re the cancer concerns.

 

A few weeks ago I was out with some folks and the subject came up during a meal after I declined, as usual, to drink. Naturally there was a lot of good natured kidding around but eventually it got tedious and irksome. In 2021 - which included one of our infamous Boys Whistler weekends - I had exactly five drinks (3 beers on a very hot day fishing in Campbell River in July and 2 shots of whisky in the fall in Whistler); in 2022 I have consumed exactly zero drinks, which is entirely my choice.

 

It seems however to confound many people who do opt to drink in whatever quantity they find acceptable to them - *that* BTW is their choice. But I don't ever query or tease them in regards. If they choose to down a quart of booze or a bottle of wine each and every night, or even have a single glass of something every day, that is entirely up to them and unless they approach me out of a personal concern with their drinking, I am certainly not ever going to judge or "tease" them. We are all adults and we all make our own choices. Mine just happen work for me. Sadly for too many folks especially those on the street 'choice' turns into addiction. Its nice to read this story about someone who appears well on the way to beating his....

Edited by AllseeingEye, 26 August 2022 - 07:20 AM.

[Mike K.]

I love the 0% Becks and Heinekens. They’re super, and after a long, hard day in the yard or whatever you have a couple of those and it quenches your thirst without the effects of alcohol. I highly recommend them.

[AllseeingEye]

I love the 0% Becks and Heinekens. They’re super, and after a long, hard day in the yard or whatever you have a couple of those and it quenches your thirst without the effects of alcohol. I highly recommend them.

 

Coincidentally the three beers in CR on the fishing trip were in fact Beck's - but the real thing, i.e. German produced and imported. Since it was a very hot day they were consumed with some rapidity and well.....it was early to bed that night .

[Matt R.]

I love the 0% Becks and Heinekens. They’re super, and after a long, hard day in the yard or whatever you have a couple of those and it quenches your thirst without the effects of alcohol. I highly recommend them.

My tolerance for alcohol is at an all time low, chalk it up to getting older I guess. I am also loving the vastly improved non-alc clones out there.. Luminette from Sheringham is great when you want a gin and tonic, and recently I’ve discovered a fantastic 0% grapefruit radler at the grocery store. Indistinguishable from the real deal. Our local Country Grocer has just completed a reno to an aisle, now full of coolers with 0% grown up bevs… this market category is booming.

[lanforod]

What's the best 0% alcohol equivalent to a scotch?

[Nparker]

I must remember to order a zero percent Merlot to accompany my next tofu fillet mignon.

[Mike K.]

What's the best 0% alcohol equivalent to a scotch?

Brake fluid would be my guess.