Quote:
Originally Posted by opendoor
That's not my understanding based on the data I've seen. There was a cohort study among drug users in Vancouver, and police drug seizure rates in 2019-2021 were essentially identical to what they were a decade before. So I don't think there was a simple pandemic-related policy change that has led to the increasing public drug use we've seen, particularly since it's something that has been building over the last decade or so.
Drugs are used more in public now for 2 real reasons:
1) Housing crisis means fewer private spaces are available for people on the margins of society.
2) Increased toxicity of drugs has led people with addictions to use more around other people (including the public) in order to increase their safety.
And while it is absolutely a problem that needs to be addressed, some of the hysterics also need to be put within the context of a long-term reduction in crime and violence that we're seeing. Property crime in Vancouver is down 25% compared to 20 years ago and violent crime is down 50%, and both are currently at their lowest level since probably the 1950s. Yet by the way some people talk, you'd think cities are crime-ridden hellholes that aren't safe for people to walk around in.
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We've seen this in the U.S. though, too. The actual stats don't matter when put up against people's own anecdotal experience or what they see on the news.
People are dumb.