Drug abusers have experience in one personal aspect of the problem. They may or may not have any actual insight. In fact, it’s the very definition of substance abuse disorders that the use of the substance is continued despite the adverse effects, implying that there’s no insight, no rationality, or both.
They have even less insight into the family and societal effects of their substance use. For addicts, it becomes all about them and their next dose.
As such, while they might bring a particular perspective to a policy discussion about drug use and abuse, they cannot and should not lead the discussion.
For too long, the conversation has concentrated on the addicts, and how to minimize the harms (to them) of their behaviour. In doing so, we’ve discounted the harms inflicted on others and on society in general, which are considerable.
I think many Canadians are now tired of drug addiction and addicts being treated like a special class of person when they cause so much harm to all of us.
K Brooker: We are a nation of 'victims' - and those of us required to support them. Drug users, criminals, the Indigenous industry exploiting the residential school system. Decent, hard-working people are held to one standard: don't even think about defending yourself, your family or your property against an armed invader...an assault charge will follow. Freedom convoy protesting draconian lock-downs and pandemic restrictions? Years of political persecution of its' leaders on "mischief charges".
For those who play the victim role, the oppressed part of the 'oppressor/oppressed' dynamic? A pass, financial compensation...and the blessings of a maligned judicial system to keep stealing vehicles, breaking into homes, manufacturing and smuggling drugs, shooting and stabbing innocent bystanders. Asylum shoppers get treated to more 'goodies' than the people who are paying to keep them while immigration officials plod through their prolonged asylum claims. Who would have thought - just 20 years ago - that our country would be hosting such widespread lawlessness and depravity?
These people have brainwashed themselves. Harm reduction is ridiculous. Drugs will kill the user. It may take decades or it might be the next time they use. They are allowing them to play Russian roulette. The only policy should be to scoop them up off the streets and force them into treatment. It’s agreed that that users are already not of sound mind which makes them incapable of making sound judgements. Allowing them to wallow in the streets is cruel and unusual punishment. It’s time to get rid of this bullshit psychology where everyone belongs to some group where these libtards can claim discrimination. Everyone is a human being and that’s how each person should be seen and treated. We can feel one way or another about the choices individuals make with their lives and that’s personal choice but crafting laws melding to every subset of individual is ridiculous. The left is trying to make everyone a victim so they can claim oppression that we must all self censor ourselves over. It’s time we get back to people are just people and the choices you make are your own but as a society we need to think about what good for the greater again and not the individual. The left doesn’t really care about any of it either. It’s all a money grift and when you cut off their funding they will tell and scream but only for a little while as they go join the other groups that still have money. We are seeing daily here in the states. Trump killed US Aid and they screamed. Then he went to the next and they went crazy there too. NPR and PBS got axed and it was mass murder. Have you heard a damn thing lately about any of them? No because they know they have been stealing money from us all for years. It’s all a grift.
“…Canadian policymakers, deferring to the “lived experiences” and “leadership” of drug users meant giving addicts almost everything..results were predictably disastrous: crime, public disorder, overdoses, and program fraud skyrocketed.”
Agreement here by most taxpayers for sure!
The everyday visual bombardment of homeless encampments is ‘public disorder’ by definition but worth singling out because the effect they are having on youngsters- of the impressionable mind set age, as you drive or pass by on foot or on a bike is significant.
Order, guidelines and general safety assurance are a craving and a must have for developing brains, none of which is being offered when these society free-for-all’s are in play.
The fox may have slithered into our proverbial hen house in a different form.
Reconfiguring provincial laws so as to better filter out the chaos causing drug use proponents - including some known as PCP, CPC, and maybe PRC,…. (😁) , is key.
This tendency on the part of the Left to put the “victims” in charge of public policy is broader than the drug industry, ‘tho. For example, one of my ex’s cousins transitioned (medically and surgically) as an adult from female to male. Because of his “lived experience” presumably, he is called on to speak as an expert to various groups and brags about how he “teaches” doctors, despite being an electrician by trade and having no scientific, medical or research background whatsoever.
if you look at the studies on the affect that prolonged use of heroin.coke,phentynol,meth,,,,...ect has on the human brain..it,s devastating and permanent......although:....the libtards running things now also have mush for brains!!!so maybe the addicts would do a better job of running things!!!
Drug abusers have experience in one personal aspect of the problem. They may or may not have any actual insight. In fact, it’s the very definition of substance abuse disorders that the use of the substance is continued despite the adverse effects, implying that there’s no insight, no rationality, or both.
They have even less insight into the family and societal effects of their substance use. For addicts, it becomes all about them and their next dose.
As such, while they might bring a particular perspective to a policy discussion about drug use and abuse, they cannot and should not lead the discussion.
For too long, the conversation has concentrated on the addicts, and how to minimize the harms (to them) of their behaviour. In doing so, we’ve discounted the harms inflicted on others and on society in general, which are considerable.
Rick, you hit the nail on the head, very well said.
I think many Canadians are now tired of drug addiction and addicts being treated like a special class of person when they cause so much harm to all of us.
K Brooker: We are a nation of 'victims' - and those of us required to support them. Drug users, criminals, the Indigenous industry exploiting the residential school system. Decent, hard-working people are held to one standard: don't even think about defending yourself, your family or your property against an armed invader...an assault charge will follow. Freedom convoy protesting draconian lock-downs and pandemic restrictions? Years of political persecution of its' leaders on "mischief charges".
For those who play the victim role, the oppressed part of the 'oppressor/oppressed' dynamic? A pass, financial compensation...and the blessings of a maligned judicial system to keep stealing vehicles, breaking into homes, manufacturing and smuggling drugs, shooting and stabbing innocent bystanders. Asylum shoppers get treated to more 'goodies' than the people who are paying to keep them while immigration officials plod through their prolonged asylum claims. Who would have thought - just 20 years ago - that our country would be hosting such widespread lawlessness and depravity?
These people have brainwashed themselves. Harm reduction is ridiculous. Drugs will kill the user. It may take decades or it might be the next time they use. They are allowing them to play Russian roulette. The only policy should be to scoop them up off the streets and force them into treatment. It’s agreed that that users are already not of sound mind which makes them incapable of making sound judgements. Allowing them to wallow in the streets is cruel and unusual punishment. It’s time to get rid of this bullshit psychology where everyone belongs to some group where these libtards can claim discrimination. Everyone is a human being and that’s how each person should be seen and treated. We can feel one way or another about the choices individuals make with their lives and that’s personal choice but crafting laws melding to every subset of individual is ridiculous. The left is trying to make everyone a victim so they can claim oppression that we must all self censor ourselves over. It’s time we get back to people are just people and the choices you make are your own but as a society we need to think about what good for the greater again and not the individual. The left doesn’t really care about any of it either. It’s all a money grift and when you cut off their funding they will tell and scream but only for a little while as they go join the other groups that still have money. We are seeing daily here in the states. Trump killed US Aid and they screamed. Then he went to the next and they went crazy there too. NPR and PBS got axed and it was mass murder. Have you heard a damn thing lately about any of them? No because they know they have been stealing money from us all for years. It’s all a grift.
The pendulum swings .. hopefully.
“…Canadian policymakers, deferring to the “lived experiences” and “leadership” of drug users meant giving addicts almost everything..results were predictably disastrous: crime, public disorder, overdoses, and program fraud skyrocketed.”
Agreement here by most taxpayers for sure!
The everyday visual bombardment of homeless encampments is ‘public disorder’ by definition but worth singling out because the effect they are having on youngsters- of the impressionable mind set age, as you drive or pass by on foot or on a bike is significant.
Order, guidelines and general safety assurance are a craving and a must have for developing brains, none of which is being offered when these society free-for-all’s are in play.
The fox may have slithered into our proverbial hen house in a different form.
Reconfiguring provincial laws so as to better filter out the chaos causing drug use proponents - including some known as PCP, CPC, and maybe PRC,…. (😁) , is key.
https://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/572512/Kelowna-police-seize-drugs-cash-during-traffic-stops
This tendency on the part of the Left to put the “victims” in charge of public policy is broader than the drug industry, ‘tho. For example, one of my ex’s cousins transitioned (medically and surgically) as an adult from female to male. Because of his “lived experience” presumably, he is called on to speak as an expert to various groups and brags about how he “teaches” doctors, despite being an electrician by trade and having no scientific, medical or research background whatsoever.
Wow great article Adam.
if you look at the studies on the affect that prolonged use of heroin.coke,phentynol,meth,,,,...ect has on the human brain..it,s devastating and permanent......although:....the libtards running things now also have mush for brains!!!so maybe the addicts would do a better job of running things!!!
cheers!