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Originally Posted by rubecube
People are absolutely pushing back on safe supply. There's a not insignificant segment of the population who are like corporatejay. They basically view addicts as subhuman and not worth keeping alive with taxpayer dollars.
And again, people are using out in the open because they don't have housing and there are a lack of supervised consumption sites. Where else are they supposed to use?
Okay, but even reducing overdose deaths by 10-20% is worthwhile, isn't it?
How do you not see that this indicates much larger addiction and mental health issues among those types of users? Those aren't the Gregs of the world.
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I don't view drug addicts as sub-human. I also don't think giving them more drugs is the solution.
What proof do you have that safe supply reduces deaths? We've seen deaths grow significantly the last few years (almost triple since 2019). During that time BC has legalize personal use/possession and provides about 5,000 people a year with safe supply. I'm not seeing the results.
The biggest issue is that the whole safe supply program relies on the fact that people care about their own health more than getting as high as possible. If you give someone safe supply, what's to stop them from getting more drugs afterwards. What about the people who sell the safe supply drugs and use that money to buy cheaper and stronger drugs.
With Fentanyl being readily available, the whole safe supply thing kind of goes out the window. People aren't looking for a safe supply of pure heroin anymore. They are looking for an ultra deadly drug that is many times more powerful than heroin.
Safe supply could work for somewhat functional addicts who are using heroin, or lesser opiates, long term but not looking to spiral into the depth of fentanyl. I'm not sure how big of a group those people are. That group would also seem somewhat amenable to actual treatment.
The current policy, overall, has created a culture of drug use in the DTES. Any actions that add to that culture or could suck more people into it should be reconsidered.