We need to make illegal drugs socially unacceptable
By Lethbridge Herald on April 11, 2023.
Editor:
Drinking and driving have become socially unacceptable, and if you are intoxicated and injure or kill someone while driving, you are going to jail, plus more. You will still face stiff consequences if you are caught before you hurt or kill somebody.
Smoking is socially unacceptable by the public, and when someone is smoking in public, they are considered lower than a cockroach.
Drug addicts? It’s not their fault so let them do their drugs, litter our streets, defecate and urinate wherever they please, and set a few fires here and there.
When they set up an encampment, we have people clean up their garbage, including used needles.
Now, the do-gooders claim they are saving lives by offering clean needles, clothes, food, shelter, and a supervised site to inject, smoke, or snort the drug they choose. Really?
When I read the Lethbridge Herald, I see a lot of obituaries with young people in their 20s and 30s.
If the approach we are using now is so excellent, why are there so many deaths from drug overdoses?
If you think you are saving lives, let’s look at some harsh realities. I’m going to use methamphetamine as an example.
Methamphetamine is a lot of toxic chemicals that are mixed. There are a lot of people addicted to it in British Columbia.
Although there are various opinions on the subject, it is believed that between 80 and 90 per cent of all who try methamphetamine once or twice will become addicted to it from that moment. Because of how it is manufactured, the average lifespan of a methamphetamine addict depends on how much meth the person takes and the concentration and integrity of the meth they are taking. It is said that the average lifespan of a person who is a full-time, hardcore meth user is about five to 10 years.
What can we do differently? If we continue with the same approach, the future doesn’t look too bright.
I agree we can’t arrest our way out of the problem. We can’t stop the supply of drugs from getting to their customers. The war on drugs is a lost cause.
We can’t help many drug addicts on our streets as they are too far away to return. So what can we do? Here are a few of my thoughts.
I believe our No. 1 job is to stop the young from doing drugs in the first place. With all the deaths from drug overdoses in the past years, there appear to be more drug addicts now than in the past. Therefore, more people are heading down that path, and I believe it is probably the 12 to 20-year-olds who we should concentrate on. Could we be more proactive in the schools, perhaps?
Stop calling drug addiction a disease. If it is a disease, then why aren’t you helping these people cure their disease? Do you fight a disease by exposing the sick to the very thing that is killing them? It’s like handing a suicidal person a gun because they aren’t ready yet to get help with their mental issues.
Stop calling the drug addicts our most vulnerable. I feel that the citizens that don’t do drugs, pay their taxes but are afraid to walk the streets of Lethbridge go for a picnic at Galt Gardens, or pick up a book at the library, are the most vulnerable.
Stop calling the drug addicts the homeless population. Yes, they may be homeless, but they might get their lives in order if they didn’t do drugs.
Just like alcohol and nicotine, we need to make illegal drugs socially unacceptable.
Having said all this, we must stop the damage to our city and its citizens before it is too late. Our present premier of Alberta, Danielle Smith, brought forward the Sovereignty Act.
In theory, if we don’t like some law the federal government has in place because it would harm Alberta’s self-interest, we can ignore it.
Why not bring out the Lethbridge Sovereignty Act so if we don’t like specific laws by either the federal or providential government that would be against our city’s interest, we could ignore those.
For example, we could talk to each drug addict on the street and offer them a free ticket to rehab, where they would be provided the services to get clean and sober, have a warm bed, and have healthy food.
As they progress, they could be provided with life skills, including education and job placement.
There needs to be more than just offering this. This has been tried, and the percentage that takes up that offer is tiny. There must be a consequence if they are not willing to accept the gift of life.
It could be explained to the individual that if they are not ready to go for treatment, they are not welcome here in our city and have 24 hours to leave.
It (transportation) could be provided if they need transportation to the area of their choice. If they don’t go, they will be arrested.
You can’t do that, some will scream! That’s the reason I added the Lethbridge Sovereignty Act. By the time the act is challenged in court, we may have solved much of our problem. We might also actually have saved some lives.
Wow, others will scream. How much would that cost? It’s always about money, isn’t it?. How much? My answer is much less than letting our downtown become a ghetto filled with drugs, guns and prostitution.
We know what we are doing now is a complete failure, so let’s try something different. Let’s compare it to our climate change problem.
All the talking heads yak about how we have to do something quickly. The problem is that “the love of money is the root of all evil.” Greta Thunberg was right when addressing world leaders in Milan, Italy, with her speech.
Let’s not be the talking heads. We moved from Nova Scotia to Lethbridge 25 years ago. I have always said that the people of Lethbridge think differently than any other people I have encountered throughout the world, including the rest of Alberta. Let’s use this to our advantage.
Doug Cameron
Lethbridge
35-34
-a lot of turf covered there Doug.
I think your argument goes a lot deeper than the Herald by-line infers. Thes drugs ARE illegal and amongst anyone but the suppliers, dealers and users ARE socially unacceptable. Its a very small and dying per centage who see any beauty in a needle and a larger number who profit or get their “I’m a good person..” feelings from enabling their demise. Killing these addicts off is a good business for some, a higher calling for others but it is still killing them.
We have a Lethbridge Drug Treatment Court. I recall the Herald ran an article a while back covering 1 succes therefrom. Not to diminsh that success but if any other venture invested the time, people and resources as that Court did and yielded such a numericly small return, I doubt it would be around long.
The City has become a meca for dealers, who follow their clients and vice versa. The problems of addiction on the Reserve for example become our problems as you cannot simply ban people from one area and think they wont pop up elsewhere.
A cross roads ha been reached in many respects. Either you take proactive, definitive and in many eyes harsh steps to reclaim this City for those who do pay the bills and are productive , which means arresting , imprisoning, and banning an offender from this City and locking them up for years, not days or “time served” if they Breach or you surrender to the mayhem. Put up.a fenced compound area of blocks, admit people but do not let hem leave other than in a hearse or van taking them directly to treatment and let them kill themselves.
I rememeber when addiction in this city meant you saw the odd drunk sleeping on the grass of Galt Gardens. You saw it, you felt pity or disgust, but rarely were you endangered by the addiction….and the Police scooped up the drunk for thier own safety. Now.. addiction is a threat t us all…
I don’tt agree with your Sovereign approach however. The mechanism to deal with the addiction problem is already there,it is the will to use it that is lacking. Set up an ” independent ” Lethbridge and you will eventually be found to have breached the rights of these addicts [ only they matter…right ] and millions of tax dollars will go to compensating them …and guess where the dealers will be waiting ? [ in nicer cars parked near the transit terminal and library ].
What evidence do you have that says any of the nearby reserves ban anyone? Can you name any of the reserves nearby?
Blood and Kainai…evidence? Ask Chiefs and Councils. Ask anyone who lives on the REZ and isn’t part of the administrative machine. If you have any knowledge of REZ life at all you know a small clique runs the show, determines who gets housing and where. Cause problems or fall into disfavor and you end up on the outskirts. Push drugs or cause problems because of them and you are “out” and conveniently close ot the ever welcoming arms of the Lethbridge Taxpayers.
Now, as to your tone, what evidence do you have that says I’m wrong…
Very accurate statements made about the situation on our streets. You are correct . . . the laws are there to deal with the issue but the intestinal fortitude is not.
The taxpayer is paying for all the ‘free prescription’ drugs that are also been doled out in BC. along with the $70,000 dispensing machines that the addicts can walk up to and get their prescibed amount by placing their hand on the reader to confirm their ID!
We are putting together a large group to ‘legally’ protest those issues, protesting on the streets, in Council Chambers and pressuring all levels of government for change, after watching the failed harm reduction attempted in BC for 20 years, seeing annual increases in fatal overdoses, addicts, crime, homelessness and huge costs to the taxpayers and watching the leadership in this city following the same mistakes made their!
Lethbridge Council is in the process of building a Co-ordinated Care Campus on the Northside, taking over several blocks by the shelter, increasing shelter size, adding several non-porfit services that will make ipacts of the SCS we suffered, miniscule!
The plans came from a Phoenix, Arizona Community Care Campus plan that failed completely and attracted hundreds more to the area, compounding the issues and increasing the encampments.
If you want to learn more come to our information session at Honkers Pub meeting room on April 18, 6:30pm to 8pm as we share details of that project, some alternatives and ask for volunteers to support the cause. Watch for the ads in the Herald this week Is Lethbridge Dying?
We want to repatriate Galt Gardens and other parts of the city taken over by the addicts, criminals and end this gong-show on our streets that we have been lulled into thinking we HAVE to accept.
WE DO NOT HAVE TO ACCEPT!
We are fighting back as we see other cities, provinces and states across North America say they will not allow this anymore and are taking action.
We are demanding our city back!
Doug I would like to see you there!
Good Letter Doug. I personally am at the point where the rights of some have now impinged desperately on the rights of others.
When taxpayers foot the bill for Addiction like Lethbridge has, they should have a say as to where the money is spent and what is allowed and what is not. I am not talking about the National or Provincial Taxpayer, I am talking about Lethbridge Citizens who pay taxes and then watch $14million go out the door to solve a problem where a group feels it’s their right, to defecate where they like, urinate where they like, fornicate where they like and masturbate give or recieve blowjobs where they like!
It does not cut it to say, well he/she/they/them/it is addicted and thats what they do! Really, thats what they do? Well, thats what they do, because we let them. This has nothing to do with having a home, thats a conjob that is being handed down by a group who feeds on that taxpayer money anyway they can.
If Addiction turns you into an “animal”, and that is to be an accepted norm by those that suggest, its not their fault, then you have a choice, which Lethbridge seems reluctant to consider. That choice is simple, where do you want the Zoo? Do you want it in your downtown, or do you want to have it elsewhere?
I attended a public meeting with the Police Chief where it was stated “perhaps some people should travel to Kelowna” then they will realize they do not have it bad! I had to bite my tongue. Why? Because 3 years ago Kelowna was not as bad as Lethbridge is now. Every city goes through the same steps, they progress deeper and deeper into the darkness of drugs and the speed unto which they proceed is strictly based on “acceptance or avoidance”! So if Lethbridge residents ignore, wave off concern, then the tent cities will get larger quicker. The numbers will rise exponentially and be indirectly proportional to the lack of push back. So the more complacent we are the faster we become Kelowna.
I am not one to be happy with the concept the Zoo should be in your backyard anymore than I would be happy if it was in mine. I am one that believes it should be in NO ONES BACKYARD! “Do no Harm” is not exclusive to those that consume illegal drugs. Do no Harm applies equally to everyone. This should never be a NIMBY situation because if for a moment Complacent Lethbridge believes shafting the downtown will ensure it remains there. Then perhaps a visit to other cities to demonstrate it does not is in order.
I cannot believe that the “South side of the Tracks businesses believe its better it goes in the “North Side of the Tracks” because its not in their Backyard? It boggles my mind, it will be in EVERY ONES BACKYARD!
Hope to see you at Honkers , this Advert should be in tomorrows Paper https://lethccc.com
I’m as big of a fan of satirical writing as the next person. However, I almost get the sense that Mr. Cameron is actually serious. I mean really…. making the use of recreational substances socially unacceptable certainly sounds appealing but it underestimates the power of individualism. If you want to change human behaviour and undo millennia of entrenched behaviour by people known to engage in self-harm, forget the tried and failed Prohibition model. Better to work at understanding the physiological and psychological underpinnings of substance use, overeating, and all manner of deviant behaviours. Then we can develop some serious mind-control along the Chinese or Religious models. One way or another we will stamp out imperfection before anyone realizes the root of all evil is actually freedom of choice.
Thanks for your comments JustObserving, ewingbt, and Dennis.
I wrote this letter hoping we could start something that might spread throughout the Lethbridge community. It is time we started applying pressure on the city.
I am happy to hear about the meeting at Honkers, and Sue and I will attend. Like many others in Lethbridge, we have had enough. I’m also happy that the Lethbridge Herald also seems to have had enough based on some of their more recent opinion pieces. Has there been an invite to the Lethbridge Herald to attend? We will need coverage and a push for some who hide in the shadows but feel the same way as we do to step up to the plate.
This should not be a one-off protest like when we gathered at City Hall to protest the SCS. It has to be a continuous “in your face” push.