Read on Twitter
Today, I dropped into this drug user hate fest meeting held by my MLA, I guess because I'm a curious masochist.
Here are a few of the things I heard (THREAD) https://twitter.com/sam_sullivan/status/1313612101093482499
Here are a few of the things I heard (THREAD) https://twitter.com/sam_sullivan/status/1313612101093482499
This meeting was a who's who of Vancouver's opponents to harm reduction. Michael Geldert, the new chair of @SaferVancouver, Tania (no last name?) also of SV, most of the conservative city counselors, and the now-infamous Nadia Iadisernia, who was busy filling the chat with venom.
(Which isn't surprising. More on Nadia here: https://twitter.com/crackdownpod/status/1301316891051323392)
I joined late, but just in time to hear @sam_sullivan extol the virtues of abstinence as the only effective treatment for addiction: "we know this works better; we should fund this instead."
Except that isn't true. Via Toronto's @camhfoundation, "rates of return to opioid use and overdose risk are high, and because of this, medical experts do not consider withdrawal followed by abstinence to be a treatment for opioid addiction": http://camh.ca/-/media/files/guides-and-publications/making-choice-en.pdf
It may work for some, but abstinence rehab programs have abysmally low success rates. So what works? A multifaceted approach. Housing. Counseling. Harm reduction. Addressing roots of poverty, injustice, inequality. Telling addicts to just "stop using" is not a serious position.
Our approach MUST include harm reduction (such as supervised consumption) and opioid agonist therapy (OAT). Both are things that reduce mortality and improve quality of life.
Later, @sam_sullivan said "Safe injection sites aren't actually safe b/c ppl are injecting street drugs, which are poisoned."
Except there has never been a SINGLE death at any safe injection site anywhere in North America. So what are you talking about, @sam_sullivan?
Except there has never been a SINGLE death at any safe injection site anywhere in North America. So what are you talking about, @sam_sullivan?
If street drugs are so dangerous, why aren't you for safe supply?
It sounds a lot like the position is "We've tried nothing, and we're out of ideas. Could drug users please be courteous and die in some other neighborhood?"
It sounds a lot like the position is "We've tried nothing, and we're out of ideas. Could drug users please be courteous and die in some other neighborhood?"
The deterioration of neighborhood safety (a real issue!) would be a lot easier to have a productive conversation about if it wasn't paired with disdainful messaging that essentially calls on drug users to drop dead.
If you live in Vancouver-False Creek, please do not vote for @sam_sullivan. He isn't bringing any serious solutions to the table. He's clearly only interested in coasting to victory on a wave of regressive, anti-homeless, anti-drug user sentiment.
Finally, your moment of zen: because I don't agree with demonizing drug users, I must be a drug dealer. NIMBY logic at its finest.
