Treat Addiction as a Disease

[Hal 9000]

So how's that 'trickle-down' economics working?

And punishing and incarcerating drug addicts to keep them off the streets ... how's that working?

Addicts can't even get into a shelter let alone on a housing list until they stop using, rehab programs are few and far between and waits for social housing are very long.

Despite the diversity across studies, there is consistent support for the

positive impact of housing on health and social outcomes for people with substance use and mental disorders.

... the available research suggests that housing should be made as

accessible as possible, with the flexibility to add additional supports in response to the

expressed needs and wishes of each individual.

substance-abuse-and-housing.pdf

Housing first.

Permanent housing, complemented by the provision of services, helps to assist clients to sustain their housing and work towards recovery and reintegration into the community.

.

WTF are you talking about?

[WestCoastRunner]

Studies in politically sensitive fields are often produced by activists with an agenda. This makes it next to impossible to get reliable and impartial assessments done.

ROFL. You are so right Tim. Let's dismiss every study that has been done to prove that these sites work.

Edited April 18, 2016 by WestCoastRunner

[WestCoastRunner]

WTF are you talking about?

WTF was your last post about?

[Hal 9000]

WTF was your last post about?

Well, Tim brought up Vancouver and you continued on with that sentiment. I mentioned that the diseased parts of Vancouver are increasing - which is actually on topic. Now, Jacee went completely off the board once again - why? who knows.

[TimG]

ROFL. You are so right Tim. Let's dismiss every study that has been done to prove that these sites work.

You seem to think that just because have a "study" then the question is resolved. That is nonsense because it presumes that the people doing the study are impartial. You also know perfectly well if the Fraser Institute funded a study on the topic that said insight was not effective you would reject it simply because of the funding source. So you really have no business criticizing me for applying the same skepticism to studies buy groups that you support ideologically. Edited April 18, 2016 by TimG

[jacee]

Well, Tim brought up Vancouver and you continued on with that sentiment. I mentioned that the diseased parts of Vancouver are increasing - which is actually on topic. Now, Jacee went completely off the board once again - why? who knows.

On topic ... housing is the best treatment for homeless addicts.

You were surprised at just how big the shitty area is ...

I think what you are noticing is how many homeless addicts there are on the streets ... a housing crisis:

Meanwhile, a crisis in housing and homelessness was emerging. Between 1970 and the late 1990s, low-income housing in other parts of the city had been steadily converted into more expensive condominiums.[16] In the same time period, the DTES itself saw a loss of about 60 units per year of housing suitable for low-income single people.[16] In 1993, the federal government stopped funding social housing, and the rate of building social housing in B.C. dropped by two-thirds despite rising demand for it.[16] By 1995, reports had begun to emerge of homeless people sleeping in parks, alleyways, and abandoned buildings.[16] Citywide, the number of homeless people climbed from 630 in 2002 to 1,300 in 2005.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downtown_Eastside

And now close to 2000 people are homeless in the DTES.

Housing comes first.

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Edited April 18, 2016 by jacee

[eyeball]

I was in East Van last summer and was quite surprised at just how big the shitty area has gotten over the last few years. I don't know (and don't care) about whether the safe injection sites are working, but the junkies (or victims of disease) seem to be everywhere.

The bigger factors driving this phenomenon are the shitty economy, the high cost of housing and mental illness and there are far more homeless people on the streets of Victoria and Seattle these days too.

Our west coast climate makes homelessness a little easier to bear but this also speaks to the lack of services that treat poverty, addiction and mental illness in smaller communities. Most of the homeless people you're talking about are actually refugees from the stigma inflicted on them in these smaller communities. One of the biggest things big cities offer is anonymity and relief from the humiliation they often face at home. The stigma they face at home is like the stigma on display in your's and other's posts in this and every other thread on the topic. Its cruel, dehumanizing, ugly and beneath contempt.

Edited April 18, 2016 by eyeball

[bush_cheney2004]

The bigger factors driving this phenomenon are the shitty economy, the high cost of housing and mental illness and there are far more homeless people on the streets of Victoria and Seattle these days too.

So if I had lost my job on the west coast instead of the upper midwest, it would be understandable and expected that I would choose to become a heroin addict ? San Diego is pretty nice too, but even the homeless people there have standards.