Fixing city’s social issues will take co-operation
By Lethbridge Herald on October 16, 2021.
Editor:
The biggest issue in Lethbridge is that we have social problems that are making this entire community less safe and less desirable as a place to live. Everything else will come together if we solve the homeless and addiction and drug-dealing issues.
Basically we are perpetuating a cycle of wash, rinse, repeat. We should be seeing less need for shelter beds, food banks, soup kitchens, AHS drug-injection mobiles, Sage Clan, overdose prevention groups, downtown patrols and garbage pick-up, Streets Alive and even A.I.S.H., Alberta Income Supports and Indigenous treaty and other payments.
Instead as Chris Rowley stated, we have institutionalized poverty and addiction. Social services and other organizations exist to keep themselves operating. We can’t revitalize a city area that is unsafe even to walk.
We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Places such as the Clubhouse program in Claresholm and Inclusion Calgary are having successes, either verbally or by their behaviour. Just start. No paperwork. No red tape. Housing needs only to be a room with a bed and a lock on the door and access to a bathroom, kitchen and laundry. A job – taking the person, helping them do it and then go home. Finances – not money in the bank once a month: instead pay the rent and bills and help them learn to budget and keep with them.
Medical – get to a doctor, to ongoing treatment, whatever is needed.
Social – have leisure activities. These supports need to be at least for five years but for many persons, it will be ongoing for life. It’s a whole retraining to learn to live off the streets and ongoing medical support to live with addiction issues.
It is not about throwing more money at the problem. All the groups and agencies operating in Lethbridge need to meld into one and focus on moving one person at a time off our streets and into productive citizenship. Work yourselves out of a job.
To make a difference, we all need to co-operate. City of Lethbridge, Blackfoot Confederacy, AHS and Alberta government – prove that every child matters. Start today.
Karen J. Collin
Lethbridge
12-11
Be careful how you say it, Karen Collin:
Let’s not target one group. It is everybody. All shapes, all sizes, all colors, all of us.
There is a difference between, offering a leg up, offering assistance and offering a free ride in life.
We first change what is mainstream so that we are able to confuse the taxpayer. Spearman was the lead example. He started calling Drug Addicts “Homeless” which I sincerely believe demeans the “homeless”. We then had a group called the SCS who renamed Drug Addicts “Clients” and that we should all have “respect” for their “clients”.
We have the collusion of the medical society which moved Drug Addiction to “Disease Status” as they recently did with “Obesity”. All of these words and descriptors achieve one of two things. Either its a windfall profit which the taxpayer bears or its a legitimizing something illegal or something that requires a person to take personal responsibility, that doesn’t!
If you ask any DoGooder his/her impression of Drug Addicts, they all chirp the party line that it was those evil doctors that prescribed Opioids for Pain? Then if you ask Doctors about Drug Addicts, you have them espouse its a disease that costs you $100,000 to see if “they can relieve that person of that disease.
Both sides join in continually allowing the addict to take no personal responsibility for his/her situation. I have a “disease”, an addict is never at fault, its always someone else’s fault!
So you have this incestuous loop of its the Doctors Fault, and had it not been for them, Johnny or Suzie would not be a drug addict, countered by “its a disease that requires $100K for taxpayers to fix. Strangely, a disease blamed in large part on those that profess to fix it!. Mind you the numbers associated with success, disappear or are hidden from view, as quickly as the $100,000 does the same.
So to continually “up” the social acceptability of the group, they are addressed as Clients, or Homeless so they do not at all cost fit the term DRUG ADDICT. In pursuit of that name change the person that is relieving him/herself on a business door step and then uses his donated coat to clean himself up must be “respected” and is “deserving of respect”! Which must be part of this “Social Acceptability thing” because I was always taught you earn respect, you are not given it while robbing someone of their personal property!
In the very near future treatment centers will be called “Campuses” and not what they are. Why? Again, its all in a name, you could easily see the breakdown of taxes as Public School Board, Catholic School board and, Meth Head Campus. Of course it would not be called that, perhaps something more socially acceptable like the “Seeking Nirvana Campus”?
So there is a lot in a name. The soul purpose is to hide a purpose, it make something illegal , legal, or more acceptable! It makes some one who accepts NO personal responsibility, ever, a ward of the state, because, its never their fault, its societies fault! When the experts promo this system, you find they are profiting handsomely but rarely mention the conflict as if it is unnecessary to do so because “were savin lives here”!
It even effects medical staff. When medical staff become dependent on a drug or two they are sentenced to being monitored with drug tests, by the more holy then thou upper echelon of the medical society. Make the name very superior… College of Physcians etc, only to find that the people doing the sentencing have an interest in the drug test facility!
There is a protection game going on here and it is played out everyday by the non profits who profit exceedingly well and the Medical Society that supports this system because of the windfall profits.
Promotion is a significant part of Social Acceptability and we are being bombarded by it daily. We get no numbers attached to this system because if it was a business, it would be in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It survives on the gullibility of the taxpayer.
So it does not surprise me that now there is a move afoot to amalgamate services and perhaps we could call it a Campus? The one thing you can be assured of, is the Campus will never be big enough, the taxpayer will never have given enough and the Addict will never have to display any personal responsibility because he should be “respected” while laying in his own filth after coming down from a high. He/she should also be given new clothes free because he/she was unaware he/she would relieve themselves in their donated clothes! Most of all, social acceptability must include a “free ride for life, on the taxpayer tab”!
Most volunteers have a huge heart and the establishment is more than willing to squeeze the last ounce of blood out of that good heart!
The sad part? This has nothing to do with the homeless, but you think it does! The true homeless, the ones you see trying to pick up bottles and make a meager living doing so, are petrified in what the do-gooders are doing (to them). They have made it so the homeless are afraid to use the soup kitchen because they get mugged, robbed and beaten for the money they make. Have a chat with the people that you see with shopping carts near the north side Tim’s, they are PETRIFIED to go to the soup kitchen because “your society, not mine” has decided a Drug Addict who contributes nothing, and takes everything is some how in the same league as a person down in their luck, that tries to eek out a living everyday! How dumb is that!
So the Dogooder Society of Lethbridge is doing an extremely good job of supporting the $100k group that is driving the “true homeless” as far away from services as possible, but don’t worry the new “Seeking Nirvana Campus” will thrive! The absolute worse day for a Lethbridge Addict will be the day that Residents realize its been conned and the homeless they thought they were helping, are being treated the worst! Follow the money!
This must be Bremner’s new user name. :::rolleyes:::
Hey WATERHEAD the only thing that seems to “roll” consistently is your idiotic responses to these posts!
The thing is, I’m right.
Hey coward j57, when you going to get a spine?
Most likely when you get a brain to intelligently respond to posts! In other words I could be spineless for a very long time!
At least you admit being spineless, but we knew that all along.
Bravo! That’s exactly what is happening and People wake up! It’s the biggest money maker in town and all from the taxpayer’s pocket. Another change of name is… ‘accidental OD’. Like really? An addict is not that ignorant by not knowing what they put into their veins will eventually kill them! No accident. It’s the consequence of not asking for help.
The few drug users you see on the streets are a small number of the actual drug users in the city. The indigenous population of homeless do not represent a majority of the actual users, nor the dealers.
I’ve been keeping screenshots of news stories of people being charged for drug trafficking for the last two years. A vast majority are not indigenous names. Indigenous people make up less than 10% of those charged. It just happens that disenfranchised people with addiction issues are visible, while a majority of the users and dealers can pass out in their own homes.
None of the agencies or “services” in Lethbridge will fix the problem because they all make money off of homelessness. Do an intake form, count the person in their stats, get more funding for all “the good we do” and let them stay homeless. Why? There’s a ton of money to fill pockets that never makes it to anyone on the street. Who benefits? Us white settlers. Every time.
Take the income away from the dealers. Provide a safe and free drug supply to everyone already addicted and the dealers won’t have money or reason to operate. They won’t steal to feed their habit. Take the income away from the dealers because the big gangs are moving into Lethbridge, and sooner or later the violence will go from petty theft to outright gang wars, and you’ll see why the cops bought an armoured vehicle.
I believe “they” said the same thing about Cannabis Dealers! Make it legal, take the money away from illegal dope and they will disappear. Well that never happened. The Gov supply is not as strong as the Dealer supply, so all the dealers for Cannabis did was market stronger weed. The legalization of MJ just created more users, who would normally have not dabbled in MJ in the first place.
In the end, safe supply is a red herring. People die because they are injecting crap into their veins. The reason people call for safe supply is the hopes of dropping death rates to zero. That will never happen, in fact what will happen is what is happening in Portugal. The numbers of addicts are about the same but now the number in the Naloxone group, has vaulted from 10% of the drug population to 50%. So, the people that really are addicted become more addicted and become wards of the state.
Once safe supply is achieved, the next move is a safe “free” supply because in the end, the only way the medical community and non-profits can profit from this is if the taxpayer is paying for it!
Please supply some kind of proof legal cannabis is weaker than ‘dealers’. Old man Bremner is in ‘know-it-all’ mode again. Your cannabis analogy to injectables is lame.
Older FOOL.
That has to be the most laughable comment yet ! h2o wants me to provide the names of MJ growers that were not given licenses because of past criminal records that have proven over many many years to produce the best strains, not on the legit gov market. Ya, wait for that one lol
Most cannabis users I know would never buy from a dealer when they can get any strain they want from any legal source.
A few who are left dealing weed, which is slim to none because there’s no money in it, have been known to add fentanyl to it to increase potency and addiction.
For this reason, most every single dedicated pot smoker I know just goes to the corner store because they know that is a safe supply. Plus, why risk buying from an illegal dealer, again which there aren’t really any anymore, when you can just go to the store scot free?
No where did I ask for ‘names’. You said legal cannabis is weaker. Just looking at some of the online sites that sell have quite high THC numbers, but you couldn’t be bothered to check, could you?
Seeing as your in 1950’s mode, I’m sure you’ll tell us cannabis is the gateway to injectables.
H20… You are a DISRESPECTFUL and egotistical pompous a__! No brains
Well, some the these old farts need to be TOLD. You don’t like it, don’t read it.
some of these old farts have been around weed a long time and you just proved you have buying the wrong stuff lol https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrisroberts/2020/06/16/science-reveals-the-cannabis-industrys-greatest-lie-youre-buying-weed-wrong-and-so-is-everyone-else/
What a crappy website loaded with ads. The writer points out the obvious. You don’t get it, Bremner, concentrates with high thc numbers means you have to use less. If your bag of cannabis is 18%, you’re taking 10 puffs. With a concentrate only one or two draws does the same. That is the point. It’s cannabis, btw, not the weeds in your yard.
And a idiotic-uneducated-MORON!
Well there young fellow someone should teach you that the strength of the THC has nothing to do with the strength of the weed. The best weeds are less than 18% THC and there are plenty of weeds that claim 25%. So before one claims a person knows little one should learn something himself. https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrisroberts/2020/06/16/science-reveals-the-cannabis-industrys-greatest-lie-youre-buying-weed-wrong-and-so-is-everyone-else/
From what I see available online, the concentrates climb to 60-80% + thc, meaning you would use less.
Go back and read your crap.
“”The Gov supply is not as strong as the Dealer supply, so all the dealers for Cannabis did was market stronger weed.””
YOU were the one touting ‘strength’ of gov cannabis, while I was mentioning the high thc numbers.
Uncle Buck – – – Legalizing pot didn’t help! Organized crime still makes money on pot and you still see pot busts!
Fact: Years ago when the were talking about legalizing pot I stated that it wouldn’t help, that organized crime makes their money from drugs and will continue, including changing the illegal drugs. And they did, their focus went into chemical drugs as they increased, such as putting more Meth and Fentanyl on the streets.
Legalizing yet another drug will do nothing and giving addicts more access will just encourage more addicts!
How did legalizing alcohol help? We encouraged more alcoholics to feed their addiction!
Cops bring armoured vehicles to high risk situations so they can go home to their families at the end of the shift! Too many died on the job or were maimed by drug crazed individuals or criminals that didn’t want to live!
Uncle Buck, why don’t you move to BC and enjoy the crime, tent cities, high costs to the taxpayer that harm reduction failures have created there! They even have vending machines there for addicts to walk up and put their palm on the reader to get their prescribed opioids! It hasn’t helped there and only encourages drug use.
Firm policing, drugs courts and effective treatment programs and for those that are hopeless in abiding by the laws, jail!
no one is adding fentanyl to pot…it is way too expensive, and it just does not happen…lacing pot is an old lying piece of propaganda from the war on drugs fools.
as for thc, that is not the tell all of how much buzz a strain has. there is so much more that needs be accounted for. start reading, folks, as many are still bought into decades of lies and bs on the topic.
yup, the gateway drug, which is why over half the pop of canada is addicted to heroin, because over half have used pot. start with taking the gateway drug lie into account, and then grow from there. please, stop being so lame.
scuse me but there was only one youngin here that interpreted strength of the weed with percentage THC and it sure was not me! A stronger strain does not mean the highest THC
to be clear, stronger strains mean little anyway. thc cannot kill. the only really uncomfortable effects come from eating too much, and even then, it is not nearly as bad as overdosing with alcohol. the latter can kill, and the alcohol overdose effects last far longer…far too long. the strongest effects from smoking pot last about 30 mins, but from eating it can be about 4 hours. regardless, once one has been around the block with cannabis, it is the most easily controlled high to be had. again, alcohol is by the far the most invasive drug to be had…unless used responsibly, which most users are able to do. that is to be said with everything: most use responsibly; there is typically about 10% addictions/issues rate for most everything humans interact with.
synthetic “opioids” are a scourge: the makers should be sued, ceos jailed and fined massively. there is not near as much an issue with opium. there is a higher addictions issue with heroin than with opium, but still less than the poison “opioids” for 2 reasons: 1) heroin is a product refined from opium. as such, it is less natural to our system, much the same as refined sugars cause us issues and addiction, but nowhere do we see much in the way of fruit addicts, where the sugars ingested there are not refined. 2) heroin becomes most addictive, as does any substance, when one chooses to use intravenously. the hook is the rush, and it is overwhelming; it is the same with any type of substance that can be taken that way.
all that said, it is drug laws that are the most significant issue; as well, they are an affront to the right to choose.
At one point the police warned of ‘fentanyl’ laced pot on the streets a couple of years ago. Although I haven’t heard of it lately!
Illegal fentanyl is cheap, not like the prescribed fentanyl. That is why it overtook heroin sales and you rarely find actual heroin in the streets.
Years ago they would even dust pot with PCP! It is not uncommon!
omg: police have been laying out nonsense forever. and, if ever there is such a case, it is incredibly rare. moreover, the potential of that happening, however small and unlikely, is a primary reason as to why drug laws are a crime against humanity, why they cause far more issues than they solve. moreover, they are at their core illegal (despite being poorly and stupidly interpreted so as to be upheld by our courts), and they are incredibly ineffective as they are incredibly expensive to try and uphold. but oh, they serve to line a lot of pockets, particularly organised crime and “law enforcement.”
it is extremely uncommon. however, if it happens even rarely, that is just another essential point to support legal drugs.
drug laws are at their essence, illegal, as they infringe on what must be the inalienable right of the person to be sole arbiter of their body: my body my choice. you get to choose what you ingest, others get to choose what they ingest. that is a basic tenet of a free society.
we would have little to no crime with legal drugs because their cost would not be so artificially inflated, which is the consequence of illegal drug laws and the illegal war on drugs.
To Karen Collin – – – I agree with much of what you say and another factor is that many of the old SCS staff have worked themselves into other organizations such as the Alpha House shelter/consumption site, YWCA, LOPS and appear to think they are all above the law.
Alpha House has shown that is ‘independent’ of Canadian laws and municipal laws. They circumvent laws, when they have unsuccessful attempts for zoning change and ignore consumption site laws and prerequisites to allow licensing. Alpha House is the SCS on steroids, acting like a sovereign nation.
Addicts report gangs run the shelter and have stated they were raped, assaulted, had their property stolen, clothes cut up with little done by management so they refuse to stay there.
They report that the motel that housed COVID positive to isolate them, was a party palace that had COVID positive clients coming and going as they wanted, with some taking buses or cabs and drug dealers constantly coming and going! This hotel was operated by Alpha House and when police tried to charge them, as a freedom of information search finds, the charges were thrown out because of a breach regarding FOIP legislation.
The fact remains from all of this in my mind and all the information I have collected through talking with addicts, a cab driver and another driver that wants to remain anonymous, is that this organization has a complete disrespect for this community, it’s clients and the law.
I agree that some of these organizations are only in it to make money and pay the bills, 100%!
We need to kick these people out of this city, for that matter out of this province, AFTER throwing them in jail for all the lives that were lost and destroyed!
The people in this city want change and will not put up with this any longer!