A zero sum game is being played out on the world stage and that mediocre actor, Stephen Harper is in the middle of it all.
Canada needs business.
India needs nuclear power.
Without doing trade with Indian and China, Canada will continue its role as the world's nicest B movie.
India and Pakistan, sworn bordering enemies, both have nuclear weapons.
John Ibbotson has an excellent look at this frightening and very real dilemma in this morning's Globe.
The news that Tarnsclunk will increase the fare (ever so slightly) on the new Canada Line to YVR can only be a boon for the struggling taxi industry.
Now, if only you could flag a cab down in rush hour...
For those interested in the plight and fortunes of small business in Vancouver, yesterday's cover story in the Courier will be an eye-opener.
So far, 16 businesses in the neighbourhood between the Granville Bridge and West 16th Avenue have closed this year.
High rents and even higher city taxes will do it every time.
Two inevitable consequences follow.
Empty stores and the ultimate arrival of Big Chains, which rob neighbourhoods of any semblance of individuality. Think Robson Strasse of several decades back to Robson today of the Gap, Banana Republic, and Roots . A big yawn if you're not a tourist in a group from Japan.
The Stanley Theatre (Arts Club) continues to be a major and important anchor and draw for the street, and while their work isn't entirely my cup of tea, they are a boon for everybody - actors, singers, directors, musicians, writers, shop owners, audiences and shoppers.
Has anyone considered adding some competition?
1. You must read Mark Hasiuk's wonderfully funny editorial in yesterday's Courier.
Spurred on by the announcement of a "safe" crack smoking room, Hasiuk offers a few original initiatives of his own.
This reminds me of the very large public meeting about 40 years ago when I announced with a straight face that three levels of government had entered into an agreement with Ford Motors of Canada to keep a lot in Steveston fully stocked with new cars. The catch was that the keys would be left in the ignitions and that car thieves were allowed only one theft a day.
At least half the mural stared at me in complete baffled belief.
2. By now you have probably heard or read that former Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan has scored more money for his various nutty programs. About half a million. Dollars, that is. His ideas are about seven.
When asked about his continuing plan to give substitute opiates to addicts, Sullivan admitted that he didn't really have a structure or a team or an office but that this would help him nicely survive the cold winter months.
Proud of you, Buddy!
What follows is written by Christina, who just celebrated her 15th birthday. She is in Grade 10 here in the Vancouver area.
Nobody, myself included, has ever said it better.
Insite
A Chair Missing Three of Its Legs
By Christina Larsen
Teacher: Mrs. Sharpe
November 8, 2009
Outline
I. Introduction
Thesis- The Safe Injection Site (Insite) in Vancouver uses money to supply a clean and safe environment for drug addicts to inject themselves with illegal substances. The money used to run this facility would be better spent on treatment.
II. Downtown East Side
A. History
B. Why Downtown East Side?
i) The Addictions
III. The Health of Drug Addicts
A. Physical Effects
i) Internal Damage
ii) Tolerance Building
B. Emotional Effects
i) Brain Chemical Imbalances
ii) Emotional Cycles
IV. Criticisms of Insite
A. What is Insite?
B. Unsuitable Way of Treatment
C. The Failed Four Pillars Approach
D. The Budget for Insite
V. Conclusion
Most people pay taxes, and others have jobs. Most people are responsible, contributing citizens of society. Drug addicts however, are not like most people. They have addictions that are so strong that it consumes their entire life. It does not matter if they once had jobs or have families. All that matters is the drug that is slowly killing them. Every waking second is about their next fix. Drugs are poisons that are derived from plant defence mechanisms called psychoactive alkaloids.[i] These were used to ward off the herbivores. When the herbivore eats the plant, they experience the “high” and stay away from it. Yet addicts want this feeling, they need it to dull the pain and the loneliness they feel. It is illogical and unnatural, but it is an issue around the world, especially in the Downtown East Side in Vancouver. The Safe Injection Site (Insite) in Vancouver uses money to supply a clean and safe environment for drug addicts to inject themselves with illegal substances. The money used to run this facility would be better spent on treatment.
Originally, Gastown was a thriving industrial community complete with sawmills, great transportation, a main library, a city hall, banks, hotels and theatres. But, like all good things, it came to an end: in the late 60’s businesses re-located, decreasing the economy’s productivity. When less and less people walked through the Downtown East Side, the other community centers like the library and the theatres followed suit. The following decade, most people with mental health issues could not afford housing anywhere else but the Downtown East Side due to supply and demand. Soon after, many drug addicts and dealers called the Downtown East Side their home. In the late 80’s heroin, the drug of choice at the time, changed to cocaine, a highly addictive drug. Drug addicts living in the Downtown East Side had to support their habit somehow, and they did this by stealing. Due to the increase in robberies, the only businesses that made a profit were second hand shops that bought the stolen items. This made legitimate businesses hard to come by. In the 90`s, almost all of the businesses had moved elsewhere, leaving a poor, poverty-stricken, highly unemployed, and addicted Downtown East Side behind.
The problems in downtown Vancouver did not get any better, nor did the health of the drug addicts residing there. The health of drug addicts who use cocaine and methamphetamines ranges from ear, nose and throat problems such as bronchitis, bleeding, sinusitis and coughing up mucus and blood to unhealthy weight loss due to higher than normal metabolisms, and everything in between.[ii] Drug addicts either sleep too much or too little, have periods when they feel they have extreme strength which could cause injuries, teeth problems, vomiting, seizures, irregular breathing, haemorrhaging (bleeding of the brain), and the list goes on. What makes the addictions maintain in severity is tolerance building. This occurs as an addict needs more and more of their drug of choice to feel `normal`. However, drugs do not limit themselves to destroying the physical health of the user, they affect the mental health as well.
Drugs change responses of brain chemicals called nero-transmitters. They do this by causing the brain to release too much or too little of these chemicals.[iii] Vital nero- transmitters that are affected by drugs are as follows; norepinephrine, dopamine, serotonin, and acetylcholine. Norepinephrine and dopamine is adrenaline, and too much of it that is released can result in a more violent behaviour. Serotonin, also called 5-hydroxytryptamine is responsible for the high. This nero- transmitter constricts the blood vessels, making the user feel ‘happy’. Acetylcholine or ACH relays information between nerve cells in the brain, effecting the physical movement. Drugs that take a shorter time to affect the brain do so because they are similar size and shape to the normal brain`s nero-transmitters. The ingested drugs take about twenty to thirty minutes, whereas injected drugs take only fifteen to thirty seconds. A marijuana high can last up to several hours, whereas a cocaine high, lasts about an hour. While all of the brain chemical changes are taking place, the drug addict feels euphoric. He or she thinks that they are on top of the world, can do anything they want. Any pain or loneliness they feel, diminishes. Unfortunately for the addict, that joy comes to an end, and is followed by extreme depression. Wanting to feel that sense of euphoria again, the addict buys more drugs and shoots up. This vicious cycle continues to occur until the addict can get their next fix, until he/she can feel happy again, until he/she walks across the street, opens the door the Safe Injection Site, sits in a comfortable cubby, is supplied a clean needle, and is able to shoot up while a nurse is watching him to make sure he is safe so he/she can do it all over again the next day.
The Safe Injection Site opened its doors in June of 2003, when Health Canada granted Vancouver Coastal Health an exemption from section 56 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA). This led to North America`s first Supervised Injection Site, otherwise known as Insite. It is located on 139 Hastings Street in the Downtown East Side. Insite is open from ten in the morning to four in the afternoon, seven days a week. Around 650 drug addicts use Insite each day. This means 650 human beings who desperately need support and help continue to shoot up, easily forgetting about what they really need, which is treatment. The high they experience is more important than anything else; it makes them feel good, so why should they stop? They are getting what they want, which is their drug of choice and the ability to use it. Insite only provides the ability to use the drugs safely.
Insite is only focussed on harm reduction. It is quite clear that Insite does not provide the four pillars approach. It has failed to supply the other three key pillars; prevention, treatment, and enforcement. Insite itself is the complete opposite of prevention. By letting addicts shoot up, they are allowing this behaviour. As for enforcement, making it legal to use drugs in Insite is most definitely not enforcing the law. As for treatment, that`s a big one. Drug specialists say that the best way for someone to get clean is to take the temptation away. Again, Insite is doing the exact opposite by enabling drug addicts to use without any consequences or second guesses.
Tony Cement, Canada`s former Health Minister is against Insite. He said ``Advocates have given an overly rosy picture of the Vancouver facility, which focuses on `harm reduction` by letting addicts shoot up and receive medical help in a safe, clean environment.`` He said that treatment is key in the solving the issue. Clement continued by saying ``The best way to reduce harm is to get addicts off drugs and to provide supports for that addict.``[iv] Due to the fact that Insite was so controversial, Tony Clement had a committee issue a study. This committee found that Insite only had five percent of the Downtown East Side`s addicts actually using it.[v] This concludes that Insite is not helping most of the addicts living in the Downtown East Side to kick their habit.
Addicts can have a moment of wanting treatment, but when they hear it can take anywhere from one week to four weeks for a detox bed, the moment often vanishes. It does not make any sense that while an addict has to wait for treatment, they can go shoot up at Insite any time. Insite makes it easier for addicts to continue to use because if they were caught on the streets using drugs, then they would be either fined or arrested, whereas in the safety of Insite, drug addicts are free to use without any consequences. The whole point of making something illegal is to make people not want to do it, or at least make it harder for them to do it. The drug addict using Insite may not think of his/her addiction as big a deal that needs fixing, but instead a normal way of life.
If the four pillars approach clearly states that treatment is part of it, then why would a drug addict have to wait for treatment? Because most of the funding is being put towards Insite, leaving little for treatment facilities and detox beds. So little in fact, that British Columbia, with 8,000 addicts,[vi] has only one hundred detox beds. Patti Smith, a worker at Vancouver Native Health said; ``We need to be able to respond to these people the minute there is a window. They`re taking responsibility and we need to acknowledge it right away.``[vii] So, prevention, enforcement, and especially treatment are not receiving the attention they deserve. Let`s compare Insite; a clean, chic setting complete with a coffee bar and background music to one of the very few detox beds; a dingy, unwelcoming facility that you have to wait for days to enter. As a drug addict, which would you rather be in? People do what is easiest for them. Why wouldn’t they continue to do something that makes them feel euphoric, at least part of the time, when the alternative would be a dull and boring place? Treatment must be appealing to use. John Turvey, a founder of a needle exchange noted ``They`re jumping all over this Safe Injection Site and forgetting about the treatment programs that were supposed to go with it. What about abstinence and the 12-steps?``
Not only does Insite fail the four pillars approach, but it costs a lot of tax dollars to do it. The budget for Insite is three-point-five to four million dollars a year. This tax money should not go towards allowing and enabling drug addicts to use, but rather to treatment centers. Wasn’t that the whole point of Insite? Once informed of ‘treatment options’ addicts are supposed to go to treatment. But they don’t because there are not many treatment beds available. Insite is giving no hope to those who desperately want to overcome their addiction, but cannot because of the lack of funding. The main purpose of Insite is to decrease the amount of sharing needles. Yet 40% of regular Insite users who have AIDS still share needles.[viii] Money being put towards Insite for that purpose is being wasted, because the addicts who are informed about the dangers of needle-sharing do not get the message.
[ii] http://helpguide.org/mental/drug_substance_abuse_addiction_signs_effects_treatment.htm
[iii] Schwartzenberger, Tina. Substance Use and Abuse. New York: Weigl Publishers Inc., 2007.
[iv] http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=497292
[v] http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=497292
[vi] O'Neill, Terry. "No Quick Fix." National Edition 16 Jan. 2002: P24. Print.
[vii] Carmichael, Amy. "Vancouver's Safe Site Popular With Junkies." The Toronto Star 26 Dec. 2003. Print.
[viii] Carmichael, Amy. "Vancouver's Safe Site Popular With Junkies." The Toronto Star 26 Dec. 2003. Print.
[ix] "The Commission on Medical Instruments." Letter to General Public. Oct. 2002. MS
2. Ignoranus : A person who's both stupid and an asshole.
3. Intaxication : Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
4. Reintarnation : Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
5. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
6. Foreploy : Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.
7. Giraffiti : Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
8. Sarchasm : The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
9. Inoculatte : To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
10. Osteopornosis : A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)
11. Karmageddon : It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.
12.. Decafalon (n.): The gruelling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
13. Glibido : All talk and no action.
14. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
15. Arachnoleptic Fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.
16. Beelzebug (n.) : Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your Bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
17. Caterpallor ( n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.
The Washington Post has also published the winning submissions to its yearly contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words.
And the winners are:
1. Coffee , n. The person upon whom one coughs.
2. Flabbergasted , adj. Appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained.
3. Abdicate , v. To give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
4. Esplanade , v. To attempt an explanation while drunk.
5. Willy-nilly , adj. Impotent.
6. Negligent , adj. Absentmindedly answering the door when wearing only a nightgown.
7. Lymph , v. To walk with a lisp.
8. Gargoyle , n. Olive-flavored mouthwash.
9. Flatulence , n. Emergency vehicle that picks up someone who has been run over by a steamroller.
10. Balderdash , n. A rapidly receding hairline.
11. Testicle , n. A humorous question on an exam.
12. Rectitude , n. The formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
13. Pokemon , n.. A Rastafarian proctologist.
14. Oyster , n. A person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.
15. Frisbeetarianism , n. The belief that, after death, the soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.
16. Circumvent , n. An opening in the front of jockey shorts worn by Jewish men.
If nothing else, he lied to the border police.
He insisted that he had only $10,000 as he was trying to drive into Canada last month.
Turns out he had considerably more than that - about $900,000 in gold coins and other currencies.
He also had an odd and damning array of other goodies in his possession. Read the full story for all the details.
Khaled Nawaya is in custody and he is innocent of any charges until proven otherwise.
He may be the Danny Kaye of border crossers - a goofy naive dupe.
Or he may be a terrorist.
Being a pilot and a certified flying instructor trying to drive into Canada with a cargo of oddities doesn't help.
The border guards were justified in stopping Nawaya and the Canadian government is justified in holding on to him until all can rest assured that he is just a nice guy with peculiar tastes in memorabilia.
It seems to have become a new Canadian tradition.
Every year, just before November 11th, some bright light urinates on or topples a war monument.
This time it is Fredericton, where vandals have crashed part of a monument with names of those Canadian soldiers killed in wars.
Some of these acts of sheer stupidity or outright hatred can be assigned to drunks who care about nothing, for whom nothing ever was or ever will be honorable, let alone sacred.
But some are committed by misbegotten fools who believe that they are making a plea for peace.
Yes, we get it.
We all know war is hell and war is dreadful and we'd all like to sit in our gardens and sip tea.
We also know that wars are often fought for all of the wrong reasons and that millions have died needlessly.
None of those home truths however change the fact that those who have fought and died did their best to serve.
Honoring the dead is not approving of war.
Like any Canadian, I mourn the loss of any soldier's life in Afghanistan, even while decrying our very presence there.
The desecration of monuments to dead soldiers is about as detestable an act as can be imagined.
One of the most costly and deadliest pieces of legislation to ever disgrace this country has been the Indian Act.
Billions and billions of dollars have disappeared, mismanaged by a Department filled with incompetence and bad intentions and handed over to people who have continued to despise the landlords who feed them so badly.
Now a sign of a New Day.
A delegation of the Gitxsan people from northwest British Columbia is set to meet with Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl next month with a groundbreaking proposal: That the 13,000 members of their tribe be allowed to abandon their status as "Indians."
The group is willing to relinquish reserves, tax exemptions, Indian Act housing and financial supports in exchange for a share of resources. Unlike most contemporary efforts at treaty-making, it would also abandon the ambition of a separate level of government.
This is the most exciting and refreshing news I have seen in many years.
Think about this.
A group of Canadian aboriginals says we will forgo reserves and we will vote on general elections and will pay taxes and be like all other Canadians in governnance and law.
The first nation's treaty team, led by hereditary chiefs, proposes the Gitxsan would become regular, enfranchised Canadian citizens, governed by municipal, provincial and federal governments.
"Every time we sit down with politicians at every level, I make a point of saying the Gitsxan don't want to be a burden on the Crown and we don't want the Crown to be a burden on us," said Chief Derrick, a hereditary chief of the Gitsegukla, one of seven communities of the Gitxsan nation.
Now this is astonishing and wonderful.
Of course, all the officials have been caught with their pants down and their hands in the troughs. Of course, they are raising countless phony objections to this extraordinary piece of progressive thinking.
I've just returned from several days in Winnipeg where the horrors of aboriginal life are on full display everywhere you turn.
Can you seriously believe that what we have been doing with and for native peoples for the past hundred years has worked?
I hope and pray that these native leaders get what they want.
This is the first great news I recall ever hearing about this matter in more than 40 years.
Full speed ahead!
Marvelous little guest editorial by a U of T professor in the Globe this morning.
So I'm catching some cathode tube rays while waiting for the laptop to upboot and...
Two women are interviewing a third woman who is starring in a new movie.
One of the interviewers says with shrieking incredulity, "So, you actually read the book??!!??"
Imagine.Between texting and carrying your latte through traffic, you actually with your very own set of eyeballs read a book!
Why, Girl, you are a wonder!
On Saturday, October 24th, I posted a small item that got a large and impassioned response.
Headlined Number, the post simply stated "The hungry people in the world are now 1.02 billion."
There was a photo of two starving children in Africa.
In recent days, we have been told in various newspaper reports that a mere one dollar a day from every Canadian could eradicate the housing deficits and homelessness in our country.
Yesterday, the United States took its first tentative step in providing real and affordable health care for more than 35 million of its currently uninsured. Of course, more fighting will occur in the Senate before President Obama will be able to sign this important initiative into law.
What do these three pressing and often depressing stories have in common?
Politics.
Politicians.
Politicians are and have been and apparently will continue to be the single biggest obstacle to human progress.
More often than not, politicians represent the most reprehensible in human nature - greedy, tiny-minded, and self-serving.
So many years ago, Buckminster Fuller declared that if we eliminated politics from the earth, nothing of significance would be harmed or negatively changed; he added that if we eliminated designers and scientists, the world would crumble.
Are there in fact enough food stuffs to feed the human family tonight?
I think there are.
But this tribe hates that tribe and this government is in revolution against that and this corporation is vying for this or that and, after all, guns can be sold.
A friend of mine who raises money for AIDS victims in Africa takes the cash in her hand and gives it directly to the women in the villages, lest it gets "re-directed" by some helpful agency.
Could we house our own here in Canada, including the north?
Sure.
If we really wanted to and didn't let our votes or optics or petty allegiances or plans for the next election interfere with common good sense and good will.
Could the Americans adopt a public health care similar to the one we cherish here in Canada?
Of course they could and should, but that might not serve the Obama-bashers or the Republicans in general or the insurance giants or the rabid anti-socialist day dreamers, who see red at any sign of human kindness.
Of course, I am not suggesting we rid ourselves of these politicians.
But we could do at least two things that might help.
One is pay less attention and the other is pay more.
For the daily grind of headline after headline and column after column and interview after interview about Iggy Pop or Sarkozy or the local goons - JUST IGNORE IT.
These are diversions. You might just as well read something rally weighty like People Magazine or Star.
Blah, blah, blah.
Don't give these suckers the time of day.
On the other hand (to quote a famous milkman), when elections are at hand, this is when we should really get into action.
Challenge these simpletons, ask them the tough questions, assure them that they will not get your votes without real commitment to real programs.
Stop voting for clowns because they have a shiny nose or a big smile and you have some childish idea that they might "be a nice guy."
Last year, a new Vancouver City Council was elected with 30 something per cent of eligible voters showing up at the ballot box.
This is what soldiers died for on foreign fields?
When we welcome new Canadians into the fold, do we encourage them or ask them or demand of them that that they vote, that they carry the democratic dream forward?
There is a marvelous full page ad in the Globe today that I cannot reproduce here. Perhaps you can find it in your local paper.
The ad celebrates National Down Syndrome Awareness Week.
The headline goes like this.
"There is a place for children like Hannah...it's called a public school."
The copy then goes on to explain why inclusiveness is so crucial for all concerned.
I was so glad to see this today because I have been arguing exactly this position for decades.
Having children with disabilities in regular classrooms is not only wonderful for them; it is most important for all the able children.
Steve Largent, the great record-holding wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks said years ago when he was still playing football when asked about his fourth child who had spina bifida, "Our boy is a gift from God, because how would my wife and I and our other children have learned about love without him?"
Transclunk is - may I coin a new phrase? - "ungoverned."
It's a financial unholy mess according to the official penny-counter in Victoria.
And BC Ferries, who pay David Hahn a cool million a year, sit on their own board of governance and vote themselves gaspingly generous pay raises.
Read the piece here, and then tell me again about what a good business manager is Gordoon.
Have you ever been in the hospital?
Did they give you happy juice?
Demerol?
Do you have the faintest memory of anything you said to your Aunt Tilly or the kids when they came to visit?
Could you give a royal visiting poop what went on around you when you were medically stoned out of your gourd?
Of course you couldn't.
Thus is exposed the lie that if we only give addicts drugs and drunks a little shot, then we can talk to them about treatment.
Utter pig swill.
But...
The Harm Reduction Army has a new strategy in the relentless - and powerful - PR campaign.
We will admit that our mantra and mad mission is controversial, but our experts swear it works.
Oh, brother.
The City of Vancouver claims that a recent survey of some 300 people proves that the famous Burrard Street Bike Lane joke has been a clear winner.
I have given this matter serious and prolonged consideration.
For ages upon ages, I posted my daily count of bicycles.
That is, until I tired of the whole silly thing.
Here is my conclusion, rigged and slanted and unreliable surveys aside:
This has been a nothing, a non-event, a smoke-screen for lack of action and ineptitude on other more pressing issues.
The net result of wasting $1.5 Million of public tax money is zero.
No big rush of bikes, no big traffic snarls.
Just headlines and arguments and the spending of tax dollars on an irrelevancy.
Feh! Poo-poo.
NEXT!
CBC News - British Columbia - Olympic security plan a safety risk, airline warns: "Olympic security plan a safety risk, airline warns
Saltspring Air says diverting passengers for screening will jeopardize flights"
Yes, another fun Olympic moment.
