LETTER
Dealing with street drugs
Drug addiction seems the topic of the day. One afternoon, I listened to a program talking to addicts about their difficulty in accessing drug treatment in Ontario. That evening, TV news reported the number of fentanyl deaths in B.C. has reached new levels in 2016. This problem exists across the country, acutely so in B.C. Drug dealers are apparently lacing substances into their street drugs ten to one hundred times more powerful than fentanyl. (I don't understand why they risk killing off their clientele!)
Given the widespread knowledge of drugs and their effects - from brain damage to death - why do people get involved with them? After 35 years in the social services, my observational, unscientific conclusions are these (in no order): 1) Peer pressure; 2) Self-experimentation, just for fun; 3) "Drugs will make me more creative - like rock stars.” 4) "I know they cause problems for others, but not for me. I'm tough!"; 5) Very troubled people trying to escape (temporarily) their situation; and 6) Extremely troubled people trying to commit suicide.
My other conclusions: 1) No one who is addicted to drugs wants to be; 2) There aren't enough resources for those who want to quit; 3) While waiting for rehabilitation, the addiction has to be maintained through whatever means - selling possessions, stealing (or other illegal activities); 4) Illicit drugs are available everywhere, and for (relatively) low cost!
This summer, while in Vancouver, I drove down East Hastings Street. It is full of small- to middle-size businesses that seem to be thriving. That is, until the two blocks surrounding "Incite" - the supervised drug injection site, the only one in North America [another has been authorized for Vancouver and two for Toronto]. The object seems to be to keep addicts alive - and hope they will get treatment. This area of East Hastings is a shambles - graffiti, garbage strewn about, people lying on the sidewalk, many pushing shopping carts with their life's possessions. It is a sight that makes you want to weep! Once past this neighbourhood, the street resumes its "normal" business appearance.
A 2014 Huffington Post headline declared "After 40-Year Fight, Illicit Drug Use At An All-Time High". The National Institute on Drug Abuse reported that "due to opioid drug use, there has been a 3.4 fold increase in total deaths" from 2001 to 2014. It is imperative that all levels of government provide more resources - financial, housing, rehabilitation - to try to stop the tidal wave of drug addiction. If nothing is done to this end, illicit drugs will continue to destroy the lives of individuals and their families.
Steve d'Eça
Aylmer
