BC Lags Behind Other Provinces in Life Satisfaction

[blankall]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

I am not saying it won't work, I am saying it's results will be different, in the same way drug policy applied to Vancouver will have different results in Kerrisdale or Kits than it does on the DTES, what drives people to drugs and keeps them using is pain, a history of abuse and neglect, lack of opportunity and (ironically) social acceptance amongst your peer group.

If you have grown up in a native community with a history of generational abuse and poverty and drug and alcohol abuse, residential schools etc your level of pain and your utter lack of opportunity is ten twenty times that of middle class white folks in Portugal or Switzerland or Vancouver, it has nothing to with race, I can create just as effed up a group of white folks given a 100 to 200 years of abuse and oppression, the closest we have to that in my experience would be the poorer areas of Scotland and Ireland where they have grim levels of addiction and overdose

Fair point.

I had an A-hole friend who recently kicked his white collar cocaine addiction and was trying to make some horrible argument that if he can do it, anyone can do it.

I tried to point out to him that he had the benefit of going to his parents' home, in Ontario, and drying out for a month. He is 40 btw.

Meanwhile, many of the people on the streets are fleeing all sorts of physical and sexual abuse from their parents' homes, if they even had parents with homes to begin with.

Support really is a major determining factor in whether or not someone can successfully get off the streets.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

I think it's a cop out to say "we're different, that won't work here".

The two biggest reasons they're different from us are:

1. They don't have a toxic drug supply problem to the same extent that we do.

2. Most of the "model" Western European countries tend to believe in strong social programs, safety nets, evidence-informed policies, and a more collectivist approach to social and economic issues. We still have a sizable population that is hyper-individualist and believes in austerity politics, trickle-down economics, and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.

On the downside, those countries are way more xenophobic than we are, so it's not all great.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by rubecube

The two biggest reasons they're different from us are:

1. They don't have a toxic drug supply problem to the same extent that we do.

2. Most of the "model" Western European countries tend to believe in strong social programs, safety nets, evidence-informed policies, and a more collectivist approach to social and economic issues. We still have a sizable population that is hyper-individualist and believes in austerity politics, trickle-down economics, and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.

On the downside, those countries are way more xenophobic than we are, so it's not all great.

The major advantage Portugal has is it's a small mostly homogeneous semi rural population, the people tend to have a sense of stability and place within their society, it makes a huge difference to outcomes

[activeStick]

Pretty brazen shooting yesterday just before 6pm in a very busy area with a grocery store, Starbucks, and numerous restaurants nearby. Targeted hit on members of the Brothers Keepers gang in the lower mainland. Terrible shots as they still didn't kill their guy, apparently.

https://globalnews.ca/news/10394009/...ught-on-video/

[D as in David]

Originally Posted by activeStick

Pretty brazen shooting yesterday just before 6pm in a very busy area with a grocery store, Starbucks, and numerous restaurants nearby. Targeted hit on members of the Brothers Keepers gang in the lower mainland. Terrible shots as they still didn't kill their guy, apparently.

https://globalnews.ca/news/10394009/...ught-on-video/

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by D as in David

That's one rubbish hit, one of them even drops his gun, laughably amateur

[Winsor_Pilates]

A miracle no one was hurt; such a busy area & time of day.
One pedestrian almost gets hit by the car too.

[activeStick]

It looked like the 2nd guy (not the main shooter) also went back and fired at the guy after he ran, from a distance, down the street. So dangerous.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

A miracle no one was hurt; such a busy area & time of day.
One pedestrian almost gets hit by the car too.

They missed the Tesla! It was right there!

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

That's one rubbish hit, one of them even drops his gun, laughably amateur

Have you not seen The Godfather? You always drop the gun.


A bit funnier was one of them being unable to get into their getaway car for a few seconds because it was locked

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

Have you not seen The Godfather? You always drop the gun.


A bit funnier was one of them being unable to get into their getaway car for a few seconds because it was locked

Well, with crime where it is, you wouldn’t want to leave your door unlocked in downtown Vancouver, even if you’re just stepping out for a quick shoot.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Well, with crime where it is, you wouldn’t want to leave your door unlocked in downtown Vancouver, even if you’re just stepping out for a quick shoot.

Good point, it's worth a few seconds to verify that the armed assailant entering your vehicle is your armed assailant.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

Good point, it's worth a few seconds to verify that the armed assailant entering your vehicle is your armed assailant.

"Sir, can you remove your balaclava for a moment? Ah! Jim! Its you!"

[activeStick]

I get not going through a patient's belongings and the risk associated to confronting a patient with drugs or weapons, but this seems a bit much to not do anything if a patient is smoking crack or doing some other drug in their room at the hospital.

https://vancouversun.com/news/leaked...-from-patients

Nurses in the Northern Health region have been told during the past year not to confiscate patients’ drugs or weapons, according to a leaked memo obtained by the B.C. United party.

The advice was in response to the province’s decriminalization experiment which has resulted in an increase in patients who possess or use drugs while in hospital, according to the memo.

While the Ministry of Health disputes that the memo amounts to an acceptance of illicit drug use in hospitals, the B.C. Nurses’ Union said the reality is that patients are using drugs in hospitals across the province, which is putting nurses at risk.

“This is becoming a widespread issue of significant magnitude,” Adriane Gear told Postmedia. Gear said she recently talked to a nurse who was exposed twice in a week to smoke from illicit drugs.

B.C. United health critic Shirley Bond grilled provincial NDP cabinet ministers over the memo during question period on Wednesday, saying it is evidence the government’s decriminalization policy has created a “free for all” in B.C. hospitals that is exposing health-care staff to illicit substances.

“There are reports of meth being smoked in a unit just hours after the birth of a newborn baby,” Bond said. “How many more nurses have to be put at risk and infants exposed to illicit hard drugs in our hospitals before the premier puts an end to this reckless decriminalization experiment?”

[OldDutch]

NDP just NDPing

Meth smoking in BC hospitals while they permit economic blockades.Truth stranger than their caricature.

[chemgear]

“There are reports of meth being smoked in a unit just hours after the birth of a newborn baby,”



The fact that it's the NURSES that could face charges for trying to keep drugs and weapons out of hospitals is wild. Nevermind the people smoking meth in a hospital or inside with a gun. I know the quote about the inmates running the asylum but holy ####. Going to be crazy to think that they're going to let newborns OD on meth, maybe enterprising addicts will start a protection racket for the best hospital rooms for those patients willing to pay.

[rubecube]

Surely BC United wouldn't exaggerate/fabricate reports...

*checks back three weeks ago to Eleanor Sturko using the false report in the NP (posted by chemgear) about widespread diversion of safe supply*

EDIT: Do you guys ever actually read past the headline and first few paragraphs of the article? It's pretty clear that this has very little to do with decriminalization and more to do with safety and laws around illegal search and seizure.

[activeStick]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Surely BC United wouldn't exaggerate/fabricate reports...

*checks back three weeks ago to Eleanor Sturko using the false report in the NP (posted by chemgear) about widespread diversion of safe supply*

EDIT: Do you guys ever actually read past the headline and first few paragraphs of the article? It's pretty clear that this has very little to do with decriminalization and more to do with safety and laws around illegal search and seizure.

Yeah, reading some of that article made me question if these are facts or exagerrations (or completely made up).

Edit (to address your Edit): I did... I even said in my post, "I get not going through a patient's belongings and the risk associated to confronting a patient with drugs or weapons, but this seems a bit much to not do anything if a patient is smoking crack or doing some other drug in their room at the hospital."

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by activeStick

Yeah, reading some of that article made me question if these are facts or exagerrations (or completely made up).

If BC United is involved, you can be almost certain that it's exaggerated or fabricated. They're not much better than the UCP.

Edit (to address your Edit): I did... I even said in my post, "I get not going through a patient's belongings and the risk associated to confronting a patient with drugs or weapons, but this seems a bit much to not do anything if a patient is smoking crack or doing some other drug in their room at the hospital."

Yeah, I was more referring to the posts after yours.

I would hope that smoking crack in a hospital would be treated like smoking weed or drinking alcohol in the hospital. Nurses, however, shouldn't be required to prevent or stop this from happening. That's on the health authorities and the province to make sure the hospitals are properly staffed with security, police, etc.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by rubecube

If BC United is involved, you can be almost certain that it's exaggerated or fabricated. They're not much better than the UCP.

Wait, you're saying CBC is also reporting on a falsehood? That the Northern Health Region didn't write that memo and distribute it to hospital staff last July? Or that the Province is lying in their acknowledgement of the memo and their response to it? Or that it's some kind of conspiracy by the main stream media? I am not sure I understand.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...memo-1.7163121

Memo from last July in Northern Health hospital had advised nurses to not impede patients using illicit drugs

The memo, sent out to staff at the G.R. Baker Hospital in Quesnel, B.C., last July, asks them not to search through patients' personal belongings and take away substances. It also tells staff not to restrict visitors if they suspect they are dropping off illicit substances, and also not to confiscate weapons if they are found.

While the province says the advice in the memo has since been superseded, the memo sparked concerns for nurses' safety and well-being in the workplace from both opposition politicians and the provincial nurses' union.

"The entire memo is outrageous," said B.C. United MLA Shirley Bond during question period.

Jennifer Whiteside, B.C.'s minister of mental health and addictions, said the decriminalization pilot project is one of the tools being used by the province as it grapples with a deadly toxic drug crisis that has claimed thousands of lives.



EDIT: I don't know much about "BC United" and your distrust of them but they could be the literal devil AND they could still have leaked a real and stupid memo with really stupid policies that the public should know about. Both can be true at the same time.