Kudos to the government for closing safe injection sites

 

The Ontario Government has announced that safe injection sites within 200 meters of schools and childcare centres are no longer allowed. This will result in 10 safe injection sites being closed in Toronto. As with all issues like this, there is much controversy.

As a recovered alcoholic/addict and social worker who works with people active in addiction I applaud the move. These sites are glorified enabling sites. Addiction is a disease and a health issue and the addict cannot control his/her consumption. However, you cannot treat this disease like any other disease. Addiction/alcoholism is the only disease that tells one they do not have it.

By making it easier to use and lessoning the consequences of one’s addiction we only make it easier for someone to continue using. The only thing that causes change is pain (physical/emotional/spiritual). If we take away the pain then there’s little chance of someone having that moment of clarity where they decide to ask for help.

I heard that 40% of people who go to these sites have been referred to treatment. That is great but that means 60% do not. Taxpayer money would be better spent on paying for treatment and lessoning the wait times as that moment of clarity does not last long. It must be acted upon ASAP. One of my friends was going to work at a Toronto safe injection site and was told, in no uncertain terms, that he was not allowed to talk about recovery to people using the site. That sealed the deal for me on any pro-stance towards these sites.

The government has also banned any attempt at providing safe supply. Thanks God for that!!! It has been proven, in both Vancouver and London, Ontario, that this does not help the addict in the least. All they do is sell the safe supply and by stronger opiates. In Vancouver, it’s actually labelled safe supply which makes some of the people it’s sold to think it is totally safe to take. A 14-year-old died from this alleged safe supply in 2022 when she bought it off someone who the government gave it to. The Vancouver family has launched a lawsuit and rightfully so.

If we want to help people, we need five things:

A)   Quicker and free access to addiction treatment.

B)   Treatment centres need to be regulated. Currently they are not and many take advantage of that.

C)   The Ontario Mental Health Act needs to be changed so we can put people with severe mental health problems into institutions to get help they don’t realize they need.

D)   The proper institutions need to be built.

We need much more transitional housing. Many addicts are not ready for independent living

A    If someone is not ready to be clean and sober then nothing we can do will change his or her mind. However, making it easier to use sure won’t get them to the place they need to be to make that change.

Davka Dave (AKA: Dave the Dude)