3800 replies to this topic

[Nparker]

I take some comfort in knowing I am not the only one who sees that the current approach to the opioid crisis isn't a long-term solution.

...More injection sites (where there have been no reported deaths) sound good, but if they solved the problem, I don’t think the number of deaths would continue to rise exponentially...We need to help these people create healthy alternatives to the addiction lifestyle, and there are many well-researched methodologies that would ultimately create the long-term changes everyone is looking for.

Ron O’Brien
Retired addiction counsellor

http://www.timescolo...isis-1.23094634

 

...The current approach to the so-called crisis in opioid abuse and overdose has extended far beyond the bounds of the safe-injection sites...The cost...has increased to include the rising human cost in lives lost in addition to the dollars spent and with little obvious progress. Is there not some way in which compulsory long-term therapy could be enforced?

http://www.timescolo...ions-1.23094639

Isn't a popular definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results?

[Nparker]

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose...

[A Girl is No one]

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose...

Adds a grand total of 11 beds... That’ll do it....meanwhile facilities plonked in the heart of residential areas, without buffer zones or treatment, such as central care home, contain higher concentration of the same people. This is seriously maddening....

[Nparker]

A funeral services chain is taking a "scared straight" approach to the fentanyl crisis.

...Alternatives Funeral and Cremation Services has created a fentanyl prevention program ...The owner of the chain, Tyrel Burton, says the company felt it could no longer tolerate those numbers and unlike other programs focusing on harm reduction, it decided to aim at prevention through the use of visual aids that it describes as "powerful, perhaps even controversial." The program includes a poster of grieving family members surrounding a coffin, under a banner reading "Will fentanyl be the reason for your next family get-together?"..."We felt that we had to do something to reach teens and young adults before they become addicted...

https://www.cheknews...tanyl-2-393517/

This isn't going to sit well with the harm reduction (and no other treatment) folks.

[rmpeers]

I do find it very interesting that when there was talk of cracking down on drug dealers - a no-brainer, surely, one point we can all agree on - I saw one of the tent city activists opposing this.

So we shouldn't crack down on the people who are causing the ODs via their product, because it's possible some of the dealers might be "marginalized" too?

Like... no. You sell drugs, deal in death and misery, you deserve to face consequences, no matter what. You'd think that someone who supposedly advocates for the homeless might get this not-too-difficult point.

[Nostalgic Victoria]

A funeral services chain is taking a "scared straight" approach to the fentanyl crisis.

This isn't going to sit well with the harm reduction (and no other treatment) folks.

 

Well, if they don't like it, that's their tough luck.  With all the deaths happening from fentanyl use (even with those using it knowing what has happened to others who used it and what could happen to them), something needs to be done and this is one of those ways.

 

I do find it very interesting that when there was talk of cracking down on drug dealers - a no-brainer, surely, one point we can all agree on - I saw one of the tent city activists opposing this.

So we shouldn't crack down on the people who are causing the ODs via their product, because it's possible some of the dealers might be "marginalized" too?

Like... no. You sell drugs, deal in death and misery, you deserve to face consequences, no matter what. You'd think that someone who supposedly advocates for the homeless might get this not-too-difficult point.

 

If the "tent city" slacktivists oppose cracking down on drug dealers (after all, all they care about is getting high, staying high and where and how they're going to get their next fix), that's reason enough to support the crackdown.

[VicHockeyFan]

 

B.C.'s chief coroner says the agency does not endorse fear-based campaigns to reduce overdose deaths in the province.

An opinion piece, written by Lisa Lapointe and sent to media on Saturday is a response to stories CBC News and the Canadian Press covered on Friday about a B.C. funeral home's anti-overdose campaign.

​Alternatives Funeral and Cremation Services has developed a 45-minute presentation that includes speakers from police victim services and the parent of a child who died from a fentanyl overdose.

 

 

 

http://www.cbc.ca/ne...4430508?cmp=rss

 

 

 

[A Girl is No one]

I was thinking the same..
BC (Vancouver and Victoria) are probably the 2 cities that stigmatize drugs THE LEAST (even less than sacrosanct Portugal!) and yet our problems are worse (more ODs etc). Maybe Ms Lapointe should open her eyes instead of regurgitating what the pro-drugs activists are feeding her (these activists have taken over university social sciences).

[Nparker]

The tobacco v. illicit drug double standard is mind boggling.

[VicHockeyFan]

 

Data from the organization’s clinic in Nanaimo suggest that patients are much more likely to stick with their treatment plan if they are supported by a doctor, nurse and social worker, Jensen said.

 

Many clients do not have a family doctor, so come to rely on the clinic for a host of health services, she said.

“People have been so grateful that this service exists in their community. That includes people who have never ever sought help for their addiction,” Jensen said. “It’s making it easier for them.”

 

Langford Mayor Stew Young said his community doesn’t have enough general practitioners, let alone specialized doctors.

 

“Medical services are a bit lacking in the West Shore and Sooke, for sure,” he said, adding that youth outreach and education services are also needed to prevent people from becoming addicted to drugs.

 

http://www.timescolo...ices-1.23111334

 

Hey, there's a voice of reason, right?

Edited by VicHockeyFan, 03 December 2017 - 08:37 AM.

[Nparker]

I fail to understand why prevention, abstinence and recovery from substances that are known killers are such bad messages to put forward. Are these not the ultimate in harms reduction?

[VicHockeyFan]

Dunno.  I know casual recreational drug users that have stopped since the fentanyl scare.  They got the message.

[VicHockeyFan]

 

First of all, can you imagine if a waning label mocked some type of female medical issue or dysfunction?  For example miscarriages an stillbirths?  Holy double standard.

 

Anyway, I've created this campaign..

 

Edited by VicHockeyFan, 03 December 2017 - 01:17 PM.

[David Bratzer]

 

First of all, can you imagine if a waning label mocked some type of female medical issue or dysfunction?  For example miscarriages an stillbirths?  Holy double standard.

 

Anyway, I've created this campaign..

 

Indeed+its+like+these+people+have+never+seen+a+real+_97a35c942482fb0422ad081da9b4a16e.jpg

 

I think the original intent of reducing the stigma associated with people who use illegal drugs was to stop dehumanizing them. There was (and remains) a lot of derogatory language and messaging: junkies, crackheads, kill them all, etc. There is value in that. But now health authorities are refusing to promote abstinence. The pendulum has swung too far in my view.

[VicHockeyFan]

A lot of groups are definitely promoting "treatment", and does most treatment not have as its goal the end of dependency?  So a form of abstinence?  So why can't we use that word?

Edited by VicHockeyFan, 03 December 2017 - 02:25 PM.

[Nparker]

First of all, can you imagine if a waning label mocked some type of female medical issue or dysfunction?  For example miscarriages an stillbirths?  Holy double standard.

I don't think there's much of a double standard when it comes to tobacco warnings.

I do think men get a bit more sensitive when the issue involves their genitalia, so the campaign is right on track.

[VicHockeyFan]

^ I think you missed my point.  As you do appreciate, the men's message ridicules a limp penis.  The female message is not at all similar.

[Nparker]

^ I think you missed my point.  As you do appreciate, the men's message ridicules a limp penis.  The female message is not at all similar.

I didn't miss your point at all. The messages are meant to target what is important to the intended audience. Women are more likely to respond to the potential welfare of their children. Men are more likely to respond to the welfare of their "little fella". If the message for men was "smoking may cause you to be unable to father children" many would simply shrug their shoulders or even give a high-5 to their bros as they lit their next cancer stick.

[Matt R.]

And what's up with eyebrows these days?

 

Matt.

[LJ]

In many US states they do not have low barrier shelters, but that does not stop the poverty pimps from making lots and lots of money off the drug addicts in recovery. In some cases after they have them off drugs and sober they kick them out of the rehab so they can relapse and come back again. 

 

I am not sure if this link will work or not.

 

http://arizonarepubl...newsmemory.com/