The Ontario government tabled an omnibus bill Monday that includes a ban on provincially funded supervised consumption sites and a de facto ban on sites approved by the feds.
They do cut down on paraphenalia waste, though since people can’t use inhalable drugs, crack pipes are everywhere and anything that can be set on fire is often set on fire
Yes, they attract people, but not nearly as much as the drug dealers that pitch tents and sell out of them. Portable drug dens, not SI/SC sites, are a serious problem
As with everything related to drug policy in Canada, we did the cheap half: provide precarious funding to a handful of under-resourced services and don’t give them legislative freedom to do the job correctly.
If you wanted this to work:
Allow inhalables
Don’t allow consumption off site. At all. Drugs get confiscated if you try to leave with them, and they’re confiscated if you’re using in, eg, a public park.
On that note, get police to do their fucking jobs, get out of their cruisers, and maybe enforce a law or two? Like, we have an SC site, and we have shelter space, but apparently that’s hard work and it’s easier to just let addicts deal drugs and swap stolen property all day, for months.
Housing. Holy fucking shit, we need housing. Nothing, and I mean nothing, breeds crime like drug addicts tenting.
While we’re on tents, I could really stop with suburban NIMBY do-gooders bringing addicts food and new tents. There’s a food bank and several shelters in the area, drop the food there. If you’re so keen to let them tent, offer them space in your backyard, not in the few green spaces that downtown residents can no longer use because addicts wreck them
(side note: I’ve seen the very same people who do the donation run protest about SCS sites and pop-up/tiny-homes outside of specific areas of downtown. They’re up for doing a Timmy’s run and getting their church to buy a tent, but no addicts in the suburbs, please & thanks)
I get why Ford has the support to do this. A lot of people, especially people who live in small Ontario towns and cities, are absolutely sick of addicts ruining things for everyone. Of course, Ford won’t do the right thing, because the right thing costs money, which is why we’re here. It won’t fix the problem, but like everything Ford does, it seems like he’s taking action if you don’t look too closely.
Plus, the operating budgets for these can be given the developers; win-win for Ford.
And this attitude is precisely why people won’t support SCS.
You might think think this, and people like you might think this, but it convinces no one else, and telling them they’re selfish is a great way to get them to vote against you in even greater numbers.
Try building some bridges and explaining how SCS sites actually reduce crime, needle waste and such. Then talk about how we need housing on top of that.
Yes, people are selfish and care about their own interests. They’re people. You need to work within those constraints if you want change. If your plans for a better society involve expecting better people, you won’t get there.
As someone who lives near one…
As with everything related to drug policy in Canada, we did the cheap half: provide precarious funding to a handful of under-resourced services and don’t give them legislative freedom to do the job correctly.
If you wanted this to work:
(side note: I’ve seen the very same people who do the donation run protest about SCS sites and pop-up/tiny-homes outside of specific areas of downtown. They’re up for doing a Timmy’s run and getting their church to buy a tent, but no addicts in the suburbs, please & thanks)
I get why Ford has the support to do this. A lot of people, especially people who live in small Ontario towns and cities, are absolutely sick of addicts ruining things for everyone. Of course, Ford won’t do the right thing, because the right thing costs money, which is why we’re here. It won’t fix the problem, but like everything Ford does, it seems like he’s taking action if you don’t look too closely.
Plus, the operating budgets for these can be given the developers; win-win for Ford.
No, addicts are sick. People who would rather see addicts die are merely selfish. Nothing has been ruined except addict’s lives.
And this attitude is precisely why people won’t support SCS.
You might think think this, and people like you might think this, but it convinces no one else, and telling them they’re selfish is a great way to get them to vote against you in even greater numbers.
Try building some bridges and explaining how SCS sites actually reduce crime, needle waste and such. Then talk about how we need housing on top of that.
Yes, people are selfish and care about their own interests. They’re people. You need to work within those constraints if you want change. If your plans for a better society involve expecting better people, you won’t get there.