Spent three weeks in Vancouver last summer. I so love Canada’s Coasts, East and West. Walking Vancouver was very educational and at times highly uncomfortable to say the least. We could be shopping, or attending a entertainment performance, leaving the theater, restaurant, or venue, strolling about only to come face to face with hoards of what my late father called bums, sluts, and druggies(sorry for the harshness). Used needles everywhere, and down and out people sleeping on steps, benches, and in alleyways.
Vancouver has become a dropping ground for the homeless, destitute, and addicted. Hastings, a sector in downtown Vancouver is a street and community bursting from its seams with streets filled with tents, corrugated boxes, filled at night with people you would not want to meet. It’s true is it not? Middle-class citizens want to stay away from such people, keep them outside of their communities, and don’t want to see, hear or speak to them right?
The dirty unwashed, diseased and forever walking about in a drugged state.
My wife and I came upon them while strolling about, and my better half wanted to run away from the situation, but not I. You see I have worked with drug addicts for years, spending my evenings communicating, getting to know ladies and men of the night, addicts and homeless too in The Bronx(NY), Washington DC, Toronto, and Philly as a Franciscan TOR. I walked over and put my wife through a half hour of stress, talking to them, finding out where they received assistance and whether were there other places they could go instead of this localized area. They gathered around free injection sites, certain groceries, and restaurants that hand out free food when closing.
Spoke to several local police, all concerned about the number of drug-related deaths they had been seeing since summer came upon them. Expressions like “there is no end to this mess”, and ” the higher-ups know not what they do” showed me the terrible state our police and medical emergency folk were going through. Fatalism is everywhere, with no end in sight. Vaccination sites act like magnets to both users and drug pushers as well. Where you can find addicts, you will find an opportunity for sales and acquiring drugs and paraphernalia too.
The local government simply does not know what to do, meaning well they enact services that seem to be enabling addicts. Drug users then get high, and walk about the local area in a dangerous uncontrolled state. Discarded Syringes are a threat to local children and animals strolling through their parks and community streets.
Toronto is becoming just like Vancouver. The well-meaning but ill-advised politician’s programs and services have and will attract addicts to their region. When the Toronto City Council and Federal Government(they pay for free services) offer free drug runways(injection clinics) they attract those who are already on the down and out, and yet these same medical-security professionals cannot force the addict into a program that would make them clean once again. Bad, but well-meaning programs feed addictions but do not solve the problem.
Statistics Canada has shown that 61 % of homeless do use illicit drugs at least once during the period of homelessness. And with the opioid Fentanyl pandemic, all you need is to use a pill once to Die. When someone takes illicit drugs they are not of proper sound mind, especially if they know these drugs are harmful or even lethal. What do we do with people who will harm themselves? Well, we called the police or officials to take them to the hospital right? So instead of feeding an addict’s hunger for drugs, why not force them to rehab? They cannot hurt themselves or others while they are in some ones care right?
New York City Crimes: 38+ % have some relation to drugs and addiction.
Vancouver City Crimes: 28-36+% drug-related
Toronto City Crimes: They do not provide such information to the public at this time.
I was mugged twice while living in New York City. Each time by an addict. I recognized the tells, gave the twenty dollars I kept in my pocket for just such an incident, and told them to leave. Thankfully they did. Their weapon of choice was a knife. I took control, knowing all they needed was a few dollars to continue their high.
Toronto will certainly become like Vancouver and many urban centers in America soon enough. A hard line is needed here. When you deal with a stupid person, you can expect stupid things to be done. Addicts act in a similar manner, needing to be managed with their health in mind. Addiction is a mental disease, so treat it with determination, forceful passion. Don’t ask the addict, tell them what is going to happen, how they will be medically treated, and accomplish the task. A mentally deranged person loses their freedom for a time until they become well. So to an addict.
Also, forced homelessness is a crime. Bringing people from across the globe to reside in Canada, and not providing them a place to stay makes no sense. The very services needed for those who have left their homes because of abuse, addiction, or unemployment should be expanded. Our local governments squander revenue on programs that do not work, while the needy have no place to go except the streets.
Middle-Class Citizens have the ability to force governments to manage their taxes better, directing these funds to where they should go. The medical sector has made work programs (like injection sites) that waste your funds and put your family at risk as well. Hard decisions need to be made in Vancouver and Toronto. Once the horde has control, it will be very difficult to regain control of your funds and freedom as well.
Steven Kaszab
Bradford, Ontario
skaszab@yahoo.ca
