9 people overdosed on Fentanyl in Vancouver yesterday

[DuffMan]

ugh, do not google pictures of krokidil victims, mistake I made awhile ago trying to explain it to someone.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

It's not an easy problem to fix, no matter who is in power.

Yes but there are certain things that quite obviously exacerbate the situation, such as electing and re-electing politicians who continue to cut funding to mental health programs and facilities.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Blaster86

Blaming Vancouver isn't right. It was the BC Liberals cutting back programs and closing facilities that pushed all these people that need help and need to be looked after into the streets.

That Vancouver is raising property tax to deal with a problem that the Provincial government should be handling or helping to handle is very telling.

Hmm...don't agree with this at all. The downtown eastside is hardly a new problem. You talk about it like throwing more money at the problem would automatically fix it.

And if you're referring to the riverview hospital, yes the final stages of closure occurred under the Liberal government, but the decision to close it was made in 1990, and they started closing entire wings under the NDP leadership of the 1990s.

[Yamer]

Originally Posted by DuffMan

ugh, do not google pictures of krokidil victims, mistake I made awhile ago trying to explain it to someone.

Jesus mother####ing Christ. How is this stuff a thing?!

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Yamer

Jesus mother####ing Christ. How is this stuff a thing?!

There's a pretty good vice documentary on it. Apparently, the stuff is so good and so cheap that users are willing to put up with the low purity, which is largely responsible for the skin/flesh rotting.

[Blaster86]

Originally Posted by blankall

Hmm...don't agree with this at all. The downtown eastside is hardly a new problem. You talk about it like throwing more money at the problem would automatically fix it.

And if you're referring to the riverview hospital, yes the final stages of closure occurred under the Liberal government, but the decision to close it was made in 1990, and they started closing entire wings under the NDP leadership of the 1990s.

Not new, but has been infinitely worse since around 2001/2002. And while Riverview and the lack of a facility like Riverview continues to be a problem, one of the first acts by the BC Liberals was to cut funding towards social programs targeting people susceptible. There was suddenly less access to help for people with mental issues in the DTES and less funding for those programs that continued to stick around. Shelters were being closed, hospital programs were being ended.

All the while the BC Liberals were acting as though everything was fine and the DTES did not exist, much the same way the Mayor's office had when Gordon Campbell was there.

[TSXCman]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I still think that if your caught selling that sh%t its an attempted murder charge right away. Everyone including these dealers and the people making it knows its deadly.

I'm all for throwing resources at this as well. but I think this has to be attacked on both sides.

This.

I lost my younger cousin this year to this crap.

[killer_carlson]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Yes but there are certain things that quite obviously exacerbate the situation, such as electing and re-electing politicians who continue to cut funding to mental health programs and facilities.

There are 3 posts in this thread trying to turn it into a political debate. All belong to you.

There are other threads where you can argue politics. Stop trying to turn every thread into a Harper bashing session.

[Aleks]

Originally Posted by blankall

Sadly, I don't think this is really anything out of the ordinary. The only thing unusual here is that 9 people actually died. There are teams of paramedics in downtown Vancouver who are working around the clock with specially designed kits to revive people who have ODed on Fentanyl. The city is even increasing property taxes by .5% to deal with the issue.

I'm not really sure how you can deal with the issue. You have a cheaper, more easily accessible, and insanely strong alternative to heroin out there now. Vancouver has failed miserably at curbing people from doing drugs or treating mental health issues. The best they can offer is safe injection sites. That's hardly going to help when addicts are actively seeking out Fentanyl, as they want the strongest stuff possible.

There are no specially designed kits. We've been carrying Narcan for decades courtesy of other prescription opioids and heroin.....ours are just the manual "draw your own dose" variety like all of our drugs!

[Aleks]

Originally Posted by blankall

There's a pretty good vice documentary on it. Apparently, the stuff is so good and so cheap that users are willing to put up with the low purity, which is largely responsible for the skin/flesh rotting.

Vice did a good doc on it actually

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

There are 3 posts in this thread trying to turn it into a political debate. All belong to you.

There are other threads where you can argue politics. Stop trying to turn every thread into a Harper bashing session.

Do you care to refute any of the points or were you just going for the ad hominem driveby? For the record, I wasn't just referring to Harper in that post.

[Blaster86]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

There are 3 posts in this thread trying to turn it into a political debate. All belong to you.

There are other threads where you can argue politics. Stop trying to turn every thread into a Harper bashing session.

Whether he is or is not trying to turn this into a political thread is irrelevant. He is 100% correct in this case and it is incredibly important that people talk about it. The BC Liberals actions, or inaction in some cases, was a very large part of what lead to the current circumstances. And now the city is being forced to fight what is clearly an issue for the Province while the Provincial government sits on its hands. And like other very Vancouver specific issues it will get ignored until it is a problem that threatens the BC Liberals bid for reelection.

[Ozy_Flame]

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/up-to-1...ours-1.3206980

Number up to 14, although that was OD's across BC.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Blaster86

Whether he is or is not trying to turn this into a political thread is irrelevant. He is 100% correct in this case and it is incredibly important that people talk about it. The BC Liberals actions, or inaction in some cases, was a very large part of what lead to the current circumstances. And now the city is being forced to fight what is clearly an issue for the Province while the Provincial government sits on its hands. And like other very Vancouver specific issues it will get ignored until it is a problem that threatens the BC Liberals bid for reelection.

Not to mention you can't just ignore the policy decisions and the adversarial nature of the Conservatives towards safe injection sites as a big part of this issue. This doesn't just fall on Harper, but when you spend a decade treating addicts as criminals and denying them the resources they need, there will inevitably be fallout.

I'm not turning this into a political issue. It always has been, but it's been one that's been successfully swept under the rug for a very long time.

[Northendzone]

So where does the fentanyl epidemic rank in terms of other issues?

I mean, surely the folks that take it know that you can die from it?

[calgaryblood]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

So where does the fentanyl epidemic rank in terms of other issues?

I mean, surely the folks that take it know that you can die from it?

People smoke cigarettes and know they can die from it as well. This isn't anything new, people will risk their health and life for their highs.

[Red Ice Player]

Originally Posted by calgaryblood

People smoke cigarettes and know they can die from it as well. This isn't anything new, people will risk their health and life for their highs.

Yeah. The two scenarios are completely equivalent, aside from the fact that taking a drag off a cigarette won't kill you within the hour.

[driveway]

I think the point is that, pretty much by definition, people are irrational in regards to their addictions, whatever they are.

[Blaster86]

Originally Posted by driveway

I think the point is that, pretty much by definition, people are irrational in regards to their addictions, whatever they are.

Smoking is "acceptable", there is no stigma behind it so there is no reason to feel shame or hide it. It is out in the open and with that, that means there are countless "quit smoking" helps out there. From patches, to books, to folk tales. This stuff isn't even over the counter in some cases. You can literally walk to Safeway and buy it. Cigarettes are also not something that you see a class divide with. How many of these fentanyl deaths have been affluent or even middle class people? I will guess that it hasn't been too many if any at all.

Comparing the severity of addiction and the difficulty in quitting between cigarettes and heroin is disingenuous. Quitting smoking requires you to make a decision and show some will power. Quitting heroin and certain other hard drugs usually requires you to change your entire life for the better and usually requires help. Professional medical help.

These two things are just not the same.

[Northendzone]

To me, if you stop the flow of fentanyl, then how many weeks until the next drug fills it's spot. From what I understand carpentry all which is some massive multiple stronger is ready the fill the void