Fuck I hate Poilievre. Fuck him do hard.
I happen to have 2 centers in my neighborhood and they help local residents. Shutting them down will result in people using drugs in parks where kids play. Is that better???
this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2024
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The problem, at least from the perspective of people in the communities, is they're seeing people use drugs (and do all the things that people on drugs do, like theft, littering, leaving paraphenalia around, problematic behaviour, etc) anyway.
Source: personal experience. I live in a small Ontario city with a big drug problem. The SCS, while it helps with deaths due to drug use, doesn't appear help with the problems around drug use, especially for people who aren't addicts or people who care about addicts.
What they aren't understanding, is that the drug problem, as experienced by people who aren't addicts, doesn't really change as a result of safe-use sites. It stays the same, or at least get worse immediately around the area. The problem advocates have is that they don't (or won't) understand that people--and this hurts to hear--don't care if addicts die. They actually see that as a bonus: it means one less addict engaging in antisocial behaviour.
Governments really need to step up spending on the things that actually fix the problem of addiction from the perspective of people who are not addicts. This means large, comprehensive mental health facilties that are well-staffed. It means housing-first supports so they aren't using in parks. It means giving drugs away to addicts for free, so that they don't commit crimes. And--and this one hurts for advocates--it means involuntary incarceration for people who can't or won't benefit from the first three.
The problem, for governments, is that this is expensive, both monetarily and politically. It means spending a lot of money on people and buildings, which means taxes for the rich for things that benefit the poor. It means looking like jackbooted thugs when you arrest and detain people, which hurts their image among progressives, and it means giving addicts supports, housing and, honestly, free drugs, which pisses off conservatives. From the perspective of a politician, it's all-pain-no-gain. Except, y'know, solving the problem.
What does happen is that we do the cheap and easy part: decriminalization without supports (for Liberals) and tough talk without action (for Conservatives). Neither really helps much, unless you're rich, because the problems of drug addiction don't affect the rich.
The worst part is, the money is there. It's just in the hands of the top 1% and large corporations. If we taxed that group properly, we could actually finance a lot of these programs.
We could probably finance them now and it would probably be cheaper than the current emergency services, clean up, and courts costs.
Yes, won't someone please think of the suffering people who have to be aware of addicts. It sucks that we have to pander to uneducated masses with a maimed sense of empathy to get healthcare when you belong to an unpopular class of people.
That's what politicians should be doing, and it's certainly what advocates need to do, instead of tone-policing people who could be allies.
I've spent too much time around people who are addicts who got uppity about potential allies who referred to "safe injection sites" instead of "safe-use" or "safe-consumption. Like, that doesn't help your cause, all it does is push people away. I had one particularly smarmy person say she didn't care about how much the local SCS was helping the community because it wasn't for the community.
Like, how is that attitude in any way helpful?
Getting support for programs means building consensus, and all the progress that's been made is at risk of retrenching because we're failing to address the concerns of people in the community who aren't addicts, but at affected by the fallout from addiction. We're seeing this now as programs get cancelled because, frankly, we're not doing the hard and expensive part that's needed to support everyone.
The other post above puts it really succinctly: when you've lost the support of other homeless people, you have a serious problem.
I mean you don't sound like an ally.
No, you don't get it, if we stop considering them, they don't exist. /s
Usually they decriminalize because that is easy and then they don't follow up with the increased support services.
Then it's all shocked Pikachu when nothing changes or it gets worse.
This looks like more of that.
Legalize, regulate, tax.
Spend the extra money on actual solutions like free rehab beds available the second someone is ready for it, and a massive safety net for every person who makes it through that hell.
Everything else is political nonsense.
The problem is harm reduction and/or decriminalization initiatives are only the first step (and unfortunately oftentimes the only step taken) needed to ease the drug cris. The follwing steps, often much harder, are oten left aside: Hiring (with appropriate pay) and training professionals to actually work with the people that attend these sites, financing housing-fiest programs, offering job orientation and trainings, etc, etc. You know, all the things you need to actually STOP using? Instead of just using safely.
Why would I stop using, if my choice is sleep on the street sober, or sleep on the street and maybe don't wake up and be done with this shit?
I don't have a big issue with supervised consumption sites, but they are treating the symptom not the problem. The actual solution is helping these people build up the desire to have a life again, which involves giving them a place to stay so they can actually get a job and a bank account. But that's incompatible with commodified housing.