Kind of a dick move, but I'd be fine with chipping in via tax dollars and sending these junkies on a three-week cruise. They'd have fun, and we'd all get a break from their shenanigans for a while. No drugs out at sea, so they could dry out for a bit.
Not sure how serious this is, but the Seattle doc makes an excellent point about junkies "drying out". When they're in jail or prison for a few months with no drugs, they do dry out. But without any sort of program in place to keep them clean, once they get out they start doing the same amount of drugs they did before getting arrested. But their body just isn't capable of handling that amount after being clean for awhile and they OD, taxing EMS services even further
The program Rhode Island put in place is more expensive up front, but saves a lot of money in the long run as well as human lives. It really should be the gold standard that every state and province puts in place to battle the opioid epidemic
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The 63-year-old manager of Parkside Place — a 10-storey commercial building visible from Calgary’s only safe consumption site at the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre — starts every morning by picking up discarded needles around, and often inside, the building and by cleaning up accompanying human feces or vomit on a regular basis.
During the course of doing his job securing the building he manages, he’s had his wrist broken, been bear sprayed, received months-long medical treatments after getting pricked by discarded needles and had property stolen. Additionally, one of his two little dogs named Tony was kicked so hard and far by a startled, angry addict, Nomeland had to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the Brussels Griffon until he could get his beloved near-dead pet to a vet — where it was determined all of the pooch’s right-side ribs were broken in the assault, costing him $1,200 in bills.
“Our property values have gone down and our condo fees have gone up because of all the extra security and cleanup we have to pay for,” adds Nomeland.
The report states “many residents who appeared before the Review Committee in Calgary were senior citizens who either lived in one of the nearby condominiums or the nearby seniors’ residence.” One elderly woman said, “We are prisoners in our homes.”
“Aren’t we part of the community?” asks Lucky, 32, who since we last met has started using methamphetamine as well as fentanyl and has stopped taking part in a pilot program — Injectable Opioid Agonist Therapy (IOAT) — where she received free hydromorphone three times a day under the supervision of medical professionals to help wean her off of street drugs.
Just like last time, Lucky then pulls out some tin foil, unwraps it and lights up some fentanyl, which she shares with her friend Stephanie.
“This place has helped me,” insists Lucky. While she prefers to smoke fentanyl rather than inject it, she knows should she overdose outside — and she has — help is just steps away.
“Aren’t we part of the community?” asks Lucky, 32, who since we last met has started using methamphetamine as well as fentanyl and has stopped taking part in a pilot program — Injectable Opioid Agonist Therapy (IOAT) — where she received free hydromorphone three times a day under the supervision of medical professionals to help wean her off of street drugs.
Generally being part of a community means not being a net-negative to the overall quality of life of people within that community.
This entire report is worth a watch, but jump to 44:00 for your particular question. Rhode Island did just that, and it seems to be working far better than safe injection sites
Thanks for posting this.
My one question on the Rhode Island program would be does it perform better than non-prison based drug replacement therapy’s.
The idea though of spending dollars that are spent on prison on a free inpatient rehabilitation with housing provided is a good one.
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My one question on the Rhode Island program would be does it perform better than non-prison based drug replacement therapy’s.
This is merely a guess on my part, but I'd imagine if the non-prison based version doesn't have a means of enforcing strict compliance (you don't get to leave / opt-out just because you want to), then it would perform worse on that basis alone.
Deviaant said "You can't force confinement of a person, and that's what intensive treatment would look like" but I would posit that a prison based treatment program is more or less exactly that. And that's probably why it's so successful.
This is merely a guess on my part, but I'd imagine if the non-prison based version doesn't have a means of enforcing strict compliance (you don't get to leave / opt-out just because you want to), then it would perform worse on that basis alone.
Deviaant said "You can't force confinement of a person, and that's what intensive treatment would look like" but I would posit that a prison based treatment program is more or less exactly that. And that's probably why it's so successful.
A prison based treatment program isn't quite forced confinement though. The individual is already confined then goes to the treatment program. The non-prison based one might work, but you have to find a way for the individuals to really want to comply in the first place such as those who found benefits of the program in prison per the documentary.
If I were to suggest an idea that is in between the two, it might be along the lines of...
If an individual ODs twice that they need resuscitation by medical professionals (ie: A known regular), IMO it could be grounds for a fine with mandatory court appearance to explain why they were using an illicit drug. The individual risks arrest if they don't show up in court. This could possibly bypass the forcible confinement argument by merely enforcing existing laws?
This also pulls known individuals off the streets to reduce strain on law enforcement and medical professionals.
Court wise, we're looking at a situation that's more akin to a serious speeding ticket with mandatory court appearance. The individual could choose the following:
1) Pay the fine. This is likely not possible for the habitual user.
2) Have the fine waived by entering kind of a super low risk prison running a 14/30 day program similar to the Codac one in the documentary (dunno how long something like this really needs). This is the option that is likely chosen due to financial reasons and it would be something much more akin to something like a SCS facility that individuals would not leave.
Even if the individual goes back to using it at least addresses the enforcement concerns of the community by temporarily pulling these individuals off the streets at least for a specific time period. By using the ticket method it also allows for enforcement without going full on criminal charges for these populations, many of which are vulnerable.
You possibly could even make it so that the SCS site at Chumir can be accessed only by individuals who have done the 14/30 day program. The 14/30 day program could also be used to collect data on the frequent users in a manner that hasn't necessarily been done before. Those that do the program might even be more inclined to stay at the SCS as opposed to running off to the surrounding community to consume?
Maybe with something like this, the Chumir SCS will function a lot closer as many imagined it would and it would also be a lot more harmonious with the surrounding communities?
If you don't treat the circumstances that lead and keep an addict in their addiction, poverty, lack of education, lack of work then it matters not where or how you treat people, as soon as they get back to whichever slum property they eke an existence out in, with no work, little hope and a dealer they have known for years knocking on the door offering a temporary release from the crappy reality of life then they are just going to say 'eff it' and go back to using
Treat the root cause and all this goes away. The housing first mandate homeless shelters have is stupid and the definition of passing the buck.
Anybody else notice the major uptick in panhandling at red lights? I'm in the ne and yeah I'm not in an affluent area of the city but to ship the "homeless" out to one area is stupid. Darn near every intersection in my area has a rotating shift of aggressive panhandlers.
Sort out the root issues and most are mental health and a lot of the issues we see today go away. Forced confinement is not the answer, odds are they will just use again because we have not addressed the root issues.
I say we should not fund homeless shelters that follow housing first, it's just passing the buck, it's not a solution. It's a way for these shelters to pat themselves on the back and say hey look at how many people we housed we are doing great. Now give us more money.
Calgary police conducted an undercover operation in Calgary’s sole supervised consumption site to investigate internal drug trafficking, Postmedia has learned.
“First, a worker from the site was arrested for dealing drugs,” said Kitz. “Second, undercover police officers from the Calgary Police Service were able to purchase drugs at the facility – the money transaction happened on the street and the drugs were given inside the site.”
She deferred further questions to the police saying they would be “happy to provide further details” on both incidents.
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Treat the root cause and all this goes away. The housing first mandate homeless shelters have is stupid and the definition of passing the buck.
Anybody else notice the major uptick in panhandling at red lights? I'm in the ne and yeah I'm not in an affluent area of the city but to ship the "homeless" out to one area is stupid. Darn near every intersection in my area has a rotating shift of aggressive panhandlers.
Sort out the root issues and most are mental health and a lot of the issues we see today go away. Forced confinement is not the answer, odds are they will just use again because we have not addressed the root issues.
I say we should not fund homeless shelters that follow housing first, it's just passing the buck, it's not a solution. It's a way for these shelters to pat themselves on the back and say hey look at how many people we housed we are doing great. Now give us more money.
But treatment needs to be imposed, not optional. If someone already has mental health or substance abuse issues and is non-compliant with voluntary programs, we need to address the non-compliance. If you break the law, you get arrested and sent to prison, but inside that prison system we need to have a program to rehabilitate you. We need a program to fix root cause, and we need a way to enforce compliance.
I remember talking about the function of the justice system with regards to restitution vs rehabilitation back in high school. I don't think either are getting handled terribly well.
I've been wondering if Covid 19 will completely decimate homeless populations. I wouldn't be surprised if there are a lot of immuno suppressed individuals in homeless populations.
I've been wondering if Covid 19 will completely decimate homeless populations. I wouldn't be surprised if there are a lot of immuno suppressed individuals in homeless populations.
This was discussed on the news last night, services for the homeless are definitely down, and not only because of social distancing has reduced the number of available beds. Also there are less people whether voluntary or paid who are away from working with the homeless and the addicted due to self imposed isolation.
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This was discussed on the news last night, services for the homeless are definitely down, and not only because of social distancing has reduced the number of available beds. Also there are less people whether voluntary or paid who are away from working with the homeless and the addicted due to self imposed isolation.
I didn't catch any info about that yesterday. I've just been mulling it over the last few days. It definitely makes sense though. Those that are quite vulnerable are suddenly even more vulnerable.
It will be interesting when they start housing folks in hotel's. I know it was a popular program, hotels were lined up wanting to be a part of this. I believe it starts today.
The price of street drugs is rocketing as well with the border closures, which means more desperate people doing far more desperate things to get money
The price of street drugs is rocketing as well with the border closures, which means more desperate people doing far more desperate things to get money
Clearly.
Quote:
Calgary police said a man was left with minor injuries after three comic books, worth a total of $50,000, were stolen from him in the southeast part of the city.
At 8 p.m. on March 11, the victim was leaving Alpha Comics when two men grabbed him from behind, took the briefcase with the comic books inside and threw the victim to the ground, police said.
According to police, the stolen comic books are:
Fantastic Four #1 with a CGC number of 2074628001 and grade of 6.5
Fantastic Four #2 with a CGC number of 2041541001 and grade of 5.5
Fantastic Four #13 with a CGC number of 204154003 and grade of 4.5
