[chemgear]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

That is flat out unacceptable. Shelters are for transit customers to keep out of the elements while waiting for the c-train. They aren't to be used as crack dens. While you might not bat an eye, many others will refuse to take the train or let their children use transit to get to school because of crap like that being common place and accepted. The notion that we need to tolerate that is repugnant.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...rain-1.6483690

So far this year, the crime rate has been 47 per cent higher than the three-year average, from 287 crime occurrences to 422.

On the platform, a group of three men stood around, speaking loudly. One waved a foot-long metal pipe around — "I dare anyone to f--k with me," he told his friends, who laughed.

"It's kind of scary, mostly because of all the drugs and everything that's going on. They sit on the train frequently doing [drugs], even in front of little kids. I don't feel safe, so I'm pretty sure all the families don't feel safe either,"

Marlborough was the craziest station that day: obvious drug use on the platform, those two overdoses and visits by EMS, police and fire crews.

Finally, I caught a train back to Chinook — but things looked a little different. By now it was late afternoon. All three of the enclosed glass shelters were occupied. Two to four people in each platform shelter were using drugs. The shelter by the bus loop was packed full.

Three overdoses in one day for me.

This time we were lucky. The stations were emptier than expected. At one point, three out of the only four people on the Chinook platform were doing drugs or were obviously under the influence.


EDIT:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...-use-1.6503503

First they found a phone number on a bus bench at Banff Trail station in Calgary.

Then — following instructions from that phone call — Vanessa Redmond drove her daughter to Lion's Park Station and let her out. Soon she was watching her adult daughter smoke drugs on the platform, metres away from another mother and her young child.

Calgary is facing an opioid crisis and drug use is now common at stations up and down the line. In addition to the heartache it causes family, friends and those addicted, Calgarians tell CBC it's driving people away from using critical transportation infrastructure.

So why are people choosing transit stations to use?

For Redmond's daughter, it was the easiest place to access what she needed.

All of it creates an unpredictable environment. Transit riders talk about being constantly on edge, carrying their keys to be used as weapons, preparing themselves psychologically before heading out each day.

Calgary residents texting with CBC Calgary have said they drive instead, if possible, or they simply go out less. Some feel trapped on transit.

"I've been riding the train for 20 to 25 years and that's the first time I really felt unsafe," said Kathy Austin, who can't drive herself because she's blind.