This is a heart wrenching tragedy and it behooves us to look in the mirror and assume some social responsibility. A young woman died Saturday afternoon at the Occupy Vancouver site from what appears to be a drug over dose. Tragic indeed. I can tell you she didn't over dose on pot.
Thursday there was a heroin overdose and if there wasn't medical aid on site, that too could have needed in a fatality. These two tragedies illuminate the real problem in East Vancouver. Gangs get rich off of hard drugs and society enables addiction instead of helping to curb it. Vancouver Coastal Health has been handing out free needles on site part of their “harm-reduction” service. Once again they ignore the other three pillars and assume legal liability for handing out free needles without enforcing the law.
In case they didn't notice, it is a public protest not a safe injection site. The police have every right to arrest people for using hard drugs on that public protest. Tolerating it and handing out free needles is socially irresponsible. Then again it's likely part of the NPA's plan to shut the site down. Create a problem so you can rationalize shutting it down without examining the public urgency of the protest.
Eddy Murphy's new comedy Tower Heist is very timely. It's about a Madoff inspired stock swindler who rips off everyone's pension and gets away with it. A group of people he ripped off plan a robbery to recoup their losses. The fraud on Wall Street is serious. Stephen Harper lied about us not bailing out our Banks. That was a colossal waste of tax dollars. The people have every right to be upset.
It's not about the rich versus the poor. It's about white collar crime stealing tax dollars for bailouts from investment fraud. We need only look to Greece to see how urgent these concerns really are. Don't tell me this protest has no purpose. Don't tell me handing out free needles and free crack pipes is the answer. I disagree.
"...targeting organized crime, drug dealing, drug houses, problem businesses involved in the drug trade, and improving coordination with health services..." - Four Pillars Drug Strategy
ReplyDeleteThe plan targets drug addicts with harm reduction and treatment, and uses enforcement to target the drug trade. Despite your personal opinions, criminalizing addicts has proven ineffective at stopping addiction. Equating harm reduction with enabling is silliness.
I don’t support criminalizing addicts. I support criminalizing dealers. Criminalizing addicts is pointless. If someone is shooting up in public, then arrest them, take it away and send them on their way. I don’t think public drug use is acceptable. Yet the real problem is letting them sell crack in public and not doing anything about it. I find that suspect.
ReplyDeleteMy point is everyone quotes the Four Pillars but they refuse to admit there is anything in that plan other than harm reduction. Removing the other three pillars from the plan has been described as a one legged horse. It’s like paddling on one side of a boat. It just takes you in circles. If we are going to quote the Four Pillars we have to quote all of it not just one part of it.
ReplyDeleteGuess again. I’ve posted quite a bit of stuff about RCMP and police corruption. I hardly think I’m a cop. You’ve even posted that allegation on a post I made in support of Vancouver Occupy. The accusation doesn’t really make sense. I am however interested in your blog about corruption in the RCMP and the courts. I just don’t understand how anyone who can be concerned about corruption in the police and the courts isn’t concerned about corruption within organized crime on the streets. E division? That guy’s in Surrey? Interesting. I’ll have to look him up.
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