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[Go_Ly_Dow]

Nov 2, 2023


From early 2023
1. https://www.voanews.com/a/canadian-province-decriminalizes-small-amount-of-hard-drugs/6944480.html
2. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64461983

Canada's province of British Columbia is starting a first-in-the-nation trial decriminalising small amounts of hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin.
From Tuesday, adults can possess up to 2.5g of such drugs, as well as methamphetamine, fentanyl and morphine.

Looking at the video and looking at videos of areas in certain parts of North America where decriminalisation/harm reduction policies are in place the results look disasterous and tragic. The criminality is rampant still (they clearly control the streets here) and these people are rotting and dying without dignity on the streets. Being robbed whilst overdosing in public. I couldn't imagine raising kids in this environment and feel for those that do.

Has anyone from Vancouver noticed an increase or decrease in drug users on the streets/dealers/crime over the past few years?

 

[Zelduh]

Complete bullshit propaganda video

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

Complete bullshit propaganda video

You watched that quickly.

 

[DKehoe]

Hasn't it gone really well in Portugal? And that was more than 20 years ago now.

 

[Zelduh]

You watched that quickly.

I've seen it before along with similar grifting fearmongering videos to make people slide back to thinking the war on drugs is the answer, total propaganda and not based in facts or reality

 

[dem]

Just keeping drugs legal and letting them do it isn't going to magically make addicts better. There needs to be a treatment piece... but good luck getting the government to pay for it.

tough situation.

What do you do? Round them up and throw them in jail?($$$) Let them kill themselves? Force them into treatment?

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

I've seen it before along with similar grifting fearmongering videos to make people slide back to thinking the war on drugs is the answer, total propaganda and not based in facts or reality

The facts and reality of the situation appears to be pretty grim for 2023.

As of Nov. 27, the fire department said it has responded to 8,128 overdoses, compared to 7,767 in all of 2021—the previous record high for overdose calls.

The most deadly month of 2023 to date—in fact, the deadliest month since 2013, the earliest year for which data is available—was April, when there were 234 drug fatalities recorded.

At least 2,039 British Columbians have lost their lives to toxic drugs so far in 2023, according to the latest data release from the BC Coroners Service—marking the third year in a row more than 2,000 people have died from the province's ongoing overdose crisis.

The B.C. Coroners Service (BCCS) issued a public safety warning Wednesday amid "a recent increase in deaths caused by toxic drugs."

The service says the number of toxic drug deaths has risen faster than expected since October when it warned the province was on track to surpass its previous grim record for the number of toxic drug deaths in a year.

 

[Days like these...]

Complete bullshit propaganda video

That's what I came to say. Mexico has decriminalized small scale possession and I've never seen one crackhead or people on fentanyl like I do in the states

 

[DKehoe]

This guys's channel is something lol

 

[analog_future]

This guys's channel is something lol

I'd be ODing on drugs too if I had to stare at this guys face all day

 

[Joramun]

Why do they always make f'd up faces for video thumbnails lol

 

[jshackles]

Drugs were decriminalized where I live too. Can confirm, it's an absolute shitshow. I'm not saying a return to "the war on drugs" is the answer, just that we need to do something different.

Here, you just get ticketed if you get caught possessing hard drugs. Cops here will usually only give people tickets if they're doing something else unruly or illegal, most of the time it's completely overlooked. If you do get a ticket, you can get the ticket discharged by calling a phone number and reporting a "self screening" - basically "I'm okay I'm not taking drugs anymore" to get out of paying the fine. After three tickets, you have to attend a drug rehab program - surprise, there is now a whole unregulated industry that's popped up where you basically just pay $75, and they print out paperwork that they evaluated you. Now you're back to self-reporting on your next three ticketed offenses.

It's also really fucked up that drinking and smoking weed in public here is illegal, but freebasing heroin is a-okay.

 

[DKehoe]

I'd be ODing on drugs too if I had to stare at this guys face all day

I always wonder if YouTubers finish up making a thumbnail like those and think to themselves "now that's a job well done!"

 

[Dr.Guru of Peru]

The facts and reality of the situation appears to be pretty grim for 2023.

Legalization only came into effect in January 2023, so it's hard to argue from the numbers that it's made a major difference either way. We're just seeing a continuation of the trend that was already established.

I don't think legalization of illicit drugs is helpful, but the downsides are mostly annoyances and QoL things like not being able to call the cops on the guy using drugs in the playground near your kid's school. Prior to this, the cops would just not show up so it doesn't make a huge difference. Anyone that's lived here knows that things have been bad for a long time. This video could have been filmed in 2019 and it would have looked much the same. Lack of economic opportunities and and skyrocketing costs of living are playing a bigger role in the social despair that lead young people to use drugs and I think if we focused more on prevention and addressing those issues we'd be better off. I'm not sure if rehabilitation is realistic, since many of these people are so deep in their addiction that they'll likely never be drug free or productive members of society. But it's not considered politically correct to effectively write off a human being's life, so we'll keep throwing money at what's essentially a chronic but ultimately terminal illness.

 

[SlimySnake]

The facts and reality of the situation appears to be pretty grim for 2023.

Looks like they are letting evolution take its course. With more dumb people dying out unable to reproduce, we will one day have smarter and fewer drug addicts.

 

[Woggleman]

The way I see it is that with any kind of vice whether it be drugs, gambling, prostitution, smoking or alcohol prohibition does not work. Where there is demand somebody will supply and to me it is better if that supplier is legal business rather than violent criminals. Accept the fact that it can't be stopped and take away the money source from these violent and put it in the hands of people who will have to follow some rules. Also at the very least druggies will know what they are getting rather than thinking they are buying one thing and dying from a lethal dose of fentanyl.

 

[Mistake]

The only solution that seems to make sense to me is prosecuting dealers, harshly, but helping users and having possession decriminalized, maybe up to a certain amount

 

[gothmog]

This guys's channel is something lol

Those AI generated exaggerated backgrounds kinda tell you all you need to know.

 

[gothmog]

The only solution that seems to make sense to me is prosecuting dealers, harshly, but helping users and having possession decriminalized, maybe up to a certain amount

As long as the people in big pharma that started this epidemic are the first to be prosecuted I would be fine with it.

 

[Hobo-13]

You watched that quickly.

I live there. The place looked like that long before drugs were decriminalized.
It's also a small part of the city where these people hang around, mainly around chinatown. The rest of the city looks pretty normal.

 

[jshackles]

The way I see it is that with any kind of vice whether it be drugs, gambling, prostitution, smoking or alcohol prohibition does not work. Where there is demand somebody will supply and to me it is better if that supplier is legal business rather than violent criminals. Accept the fact that it can't be stopped and take away the money source from these violent and put it in the hands of people who will have to follow some rules. Also at the very least druggies will know what they are getting rather than thinking they are buying one thing and dying from a lethal dose of fentanyl.

I would agree that legalization would be much safer than decriminalization in that case. With what we have now (decriminalization) it's still illegal to distribute, so there are no legitimate companies stepping up to follow any sort of rules - it's all just street drugs as normal, you now just get a ticket for having in your possession instead of going to jail.

 

[badblue]

Complete bullshit propaganda video

Are you in Vancouver or British Columbia in general? Are you Canadian?

I have family in that area and visit frequently. Decriminalization has exacerbated a lot of problems. Drug use is rampant in some areas as is homelessness.

East Hasting has gotten worse every year.

I've seen a lot of what was shown in that video with my own eyes. So tell me what you think is propaganda?

 

[Jinzo Prime]

Drugs were decriminalized where I live too. Can confirm, it's an absolute shitshow. I'm not saying a return to "the war on drugs" is the answer, just that we need to do something different.

Here, you just get ticketed if you get caught possessing hard drugs. Cops here will usually only give people tickets if they're doing something else unruly or illegal, most of the time it's completely overlooked. If you do get a ticket, you can get the ticket discharged by calling a phone number and reporting a "self screening" - basically "I'm okay I'm not taking drugs anymore" to get out of paying the fine. After three tickets, you have to attend a drug rehab program - surprise, there is now a whole unregulated industry that's popped up where you basically just pay $75, and they print out paperwork that they evaluated you. Now you're back to self-reporting on your next three ticketed offenses.

It's also really fucked up that drinking and smoking weed in public here is illegal, but freebasing heroin is a-okay.

Where the hell do you live? Argentina?

 

[jshackles]

Where the hell do you live? Argentina?

Oregon

 

[Jinzo Prime]

Oregon

Yikes. Like Portland needed more drug problems.

 

[Puscifer]

Just keeping drugs legal and letting them do it isn't going to magically make addicts better. There needs to be a treatment piece... but good luck getting the government to pay for it.

tough situation.

What do you do? Round them up and throw them in jail?($$$) Let them kill themselves? Force them into treatment?

That's the missing link. Countries didn't just decriminalize, they rerouted a lot of that cash into wellness programs and that's not the case here

 

[Roll Fizzlebeef]

Crazy thing is Shrooms werent included.. They are still Illegal because reasons...

lived in the vancouver lower mainland all my life. its got pretty bad but it all depends where you are. Some really nice areas, some not so nice

 

[StreetsofBeige]

East Hastings St is the well known drug area to avoid. When I'd visit Vancouver once a year on business, I'd stay either downtown, or in Richmond. If i was downtown, I'd wander the city on foot (not a huge downtown core) staying at the Mairriott Pinnacle on West Hastings St. Every coworker told me avoid that druggie area..... even in the day. I said fuck it and walked it anyway because Chinatown is right around that area. I walked it in the day and it was total dumpy, but it wasnt like there were tons of druggies or tent cities or anything. Maybe that shit comes out at night or it got worse lately since I havent been there since before covid.

Aside from that area, the rest of downtown seems super nice and clean. I asked my coworkers there why it seems to so clean and it's one part mindset and one part there's a lot of rain there so it washes down dirt down the sewer. Makes sense.

 

[Dr.Guru of Peru]

Are you in Vancouver or British Columbia in general? Are you Canadian?

I have family in that area and visit frequently. Decriminalization has exacerbated a lot of problems. Drug use is rampant in some areas as is homelessness.

East Hasting has gotten worse every year.

I've seen a lot of what was shown in that video with my own eyes. So tell me what you think is propaganda?

Every thing in that video existed before decriminalization/legalization. Downtown East Hastings has been a scene from the Walking Dead for decades. Even the data posted by the OP shows that nothing really changed after legalization.

 

[RAÏSanÏa]

It'll be good to get some statistics from a reliable source to see if there is a trend going one way or another after a few years of this approach. Usage of these substances have long been pretty open and concentrated in certain areas like the downtown Eastside and Pandora in Vic even going back to the early days and opium dens. Decriminalizing those amounts is more in line with the irl enforcement and maybe part of taking pressure off police.

This graphic does seem to show a leveling off on deaths(which is only one stat) that had already started. It's difficult to say what effect that has with other efforts.

The problems really started to get worse on the streets back in the 90s when cuts were made to mental health and the deinstitutionalized were kicked out onto the street and had few services to catch them or new patients. It may be difficult and perhaps prohibitively expensive to reintroduce.

 

[RoboEight]

East Hastings St is the well known drug area to avoid. When I'd visit Vancouver once a year on business, I'd stay either downtown, or in Richmond. If i was downtown, I'd wander the city on foot (not a huge downtown core) staying at the Mairriott Pinnacle on West Hastings St. Every coworker told me avoid that druggie area..... even in the day. I said fuck it and walked it anyway because Chinatown is right around that area. I walked it in the day and it was total dumpy, but it wasnt like there were tons of druggies or tent cities or anything. Maybe that shit comes out at night or it got worse lately since I havent been there since before covid.

Aside from that area, the rest of downtown seems super nice and clean. I asked my coworkers there why it seems to so clean and it's one part mindset and one part there's a lot of rain there so it washes down dirt down the sewer. Makes sense.

East Hastings has gotten worse since after the pandemic, thing is when it gets really bad they tend to shift them to different areas. For awhile there was advisories when walking down in that area to stay away from curb side because they had a lot of incidents of people being pushed into traffic and other violent attacks that's why most say to stay away. I mean if you do go down there just keep to yourself and away from the actual street but during the day there is enough people there it's usually not an issue. There is also other parts like in North Surrey that are getting really bad and can be dangerous Fentenayl is big out there, one guy I work with says it's pretty bad he lives there. It's sad really but the homeless situation is getting worse as many parts of BC for many is becoming unaffordable and there has been a big rise in homelessness. There are programs but very few people will use them and they are hugely under funded.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

It'll be good to get some statistics from a reliable source to see if there is a trend going one way or another after a few years of this approach. Usage of these substances have long been pretty open and concentrated in certain areas like the downtown Eastside and Pandora in Vic even going back to the early days and opium dens. Decriminalizing those amounts is more in line with the irl enforcement and maybe part of taking pressure off police.

This graphic does seem to show a leveling off on deaths(which is only one stat) that had already started. It's difficult to say what effect that has with other efforts.


The problems really started to get worse on the streets back in the 90s when cuts were made to mental health and the deinstitutionalized were kicked out onto the street and had few services to catch them or new patients. It may be difficult and perhaps prohibitively expensive to reintroduce.

Interestingly, there was a huge drop in 2019, then shot back up. 2019 wasnt even covid yet, so that couldnt be a factor that year messing up any numbers.

 

[bitbydeath]

Why do they always make f'd up faces for video thumbnails lol

I heard it impacts the search algorithm, those stupid faces are said to display more when searching as opposed to non-stupid faces.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

It'll be good to get some statistics from a reliable source to see if there is a trend going one way or another after a few years of this approach. Usage of these substances have long been pretty open and concentrated in certain areas like the downtown Eastside and Pandora in Vic even going back to the early days and opium dens. Decriminalizing those amounts is more in line with the irl enforcement and maybe part of taking pressure off police.

This graphic does seem to show a leveling off on deaths(which is only one stat) that had already started. It's difficult to say what effect that has with other efforts.


The problems really started to get worse on the streets back in the 90s when cuts were made to mental health and the deinstitutionalized were kicked out onto the street and had few services to catch them or new patients. It may be difficult and perhaps prohibitively expensive to reintroduce.

If it started in the 90s, something must had happened around 2015 to really spike it upwards and onward.

In 2012-2014, it was around 250-350. So assuming it was a gradual slope from the 90s over 15-20 years, that would a slow creep up. But then 2015 it did 500, 2016 1,000, 2017 1,500, and 2023 is on track for 2,500.

 

[RAÏSanÏa]

If it started in the 90s, something must had happened around 2015 to really spike it upwards and onward.

In 2012-2014, it was around 250-350. So assuming it was a gradual slope from the 90s over 15-20 years, that would a slow creep up. But then 2015 it did 500, 2016 1,000, 2017 1,500, and 2023 is on track for 2,500.

Fentanyl. OD deaths from it started occurring and becoming common in the Interior around that time too.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Accept the fact that it can't be stopped and take away the money source from these violent and put it in the hands of people who will have to follow some rules. Also at the very least druggies will know what they are getting rather than thinking they are buying one thing and dying from a lethal dose of fentanyl.

Do you think more or less harm would have been done if tobacco cigarettes were outlawed instead of Big Tobacco advertising their cancer causing product to impressionable people for decades?

 

[squeakywheel]

The problem is spreading to other cities now too. Lived in the lower mainland for 25 years now and although DTEastside has always been bad, it's spread to a lot of downtown (and other municipalities) since theyve pushed people out of Opp Park. Every city the amount of people OD'ing to death has trended up for the most part. One of the solutions is safe supply but that is terrible optics and a political albatross. "Oh the government is now a drug dealer" that will go over well. I think forced institutionalization should also be looked at and drug dealers have to be punished more. Tragic but it's one of those things where everyone has to pitch in as a community to fix. Nobody wants to help an alcoholic, nvm a dirty drug addict addled out of their mind.

 

[Scotty W]

East Hastings St is the well known drug area to avoid. When I'd visit Vancouver once a year on business, I'd stay either downtown, or in Richmond. If i was downtown, I'd wander the city on foot (not a huge downtown core) staying at the Mairriott Pinnacle on West Hastings St. Every coworker told me avoid that druggie area..... even in the day. I said fuck it and walked it anyway because Chinatown is right around that area. I walked it in the day and it was total dumpy, but it wasnt like there were tons of druggies or tent cities or anything. Maybe that shit comes out at night or it got worse lately since I havent been there since before covid.

Aside from that area, the rest of downtown seems super nice and clean. I asked my coworkers there why it seems to so clean and it's one part mindset and one part there's a lot of rain there so it washes down dirt down the sewer. Makes sense.

I walked down East Hastings in 2015 and it was the worst thing I have ever seen.

 

[Musashipan]

I lived in Chinatown and had to take the bus to commercial drive and eventually started walking hastings and back at night,although scary and sad, i never had problems. It was already bad in 2013, can't imagine how it is today.

 

[badblue]

Every thing in that video existed before decriminalization/legalization. Downtown East Hastings has been a scene from the Walking Dead for decades. Even the data posted by the OP shows that nothing really changed after legalization.

"nothing really changed after legalization"
Before BC decriminalized the hard drugs, addicts didn't have a right to get strung out in playgrounds.

Why B.C. ruled that doing drugs in playgrounds is Constitutionally protected

In a Dec. 29 injunction, B.C. Supreme Court ruled that it would impose 'irreparable harm' if drug users were warned away from public areas

nationalpost.com

Yeah, Downtown East Hastings has been a scene from the Walking Dead for decades. They just have the new, stronger stuff these days.
There's also more people:

The number of unhoused people in Vancouver shot up by 16 per cent between 2020 and 2023, meaning there are now 2,420 homeless people in the city, according to the most recent homeless count.

Across Metro Vancouver, homelessness grew by 32 per cent, with a total of 4,821 unhoused people counted.

You could always gets drugs in Vancouver. Illegal Pot shops were common before we legalized pot. Mushroom shops too.

It's just easier to get everything else now.

"Every thing in that video existed before decriminalization/legalization"
Decimalization of drugs in BC stuff happened Jan 1 2023. In the first 7 month's 1,455 people died from toxic drugs. That's the most since a public health emergency over drug poisoning deaths in the province was declared in 2016.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/toxic-drug-deaths-july-2023-1.6950922

It go so bad they issued a public safety warning.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/public-safety-warning-toxic-drugs-1.7058487#:~:text=In%202022%2C%202377%20deaths%20were,more%20deaths%20by%20year's%20end.

Combating those toxic drugs death's was the point of decriminalization.

 

[Dr.Guru of Peru]

"nothing really changed after legalization"
Before BC decriminalized the hard drugs, addicts didn't have a right to get strung out in playgrounds.

Why B.C. ruled that doing drugs in playgrounds is Constitutionally protected

In a Dec. 29 injunction, B.C. Supreme Court ruled that it would impose 'irreparable harm' if drug users were warned away from public areas

nationalpost.com

Yeah, Downtown East Hastings has been a scene from the Walking Dead for decades. They just have the new, stronger stuff these days.
There's also more people:



You could always gets drugs in Vancouver. Illegal Pot shops were common before we legalized pot. Mushroom shops too.

It's just easier to get everything else now.

"Every thing in that video existed before decriminalization/legalization"
Decimalization of drugs in BC stuff happened Jan 1 2023. In the first 7 month's 1,455 people died from toxic drugs. That's the most since a public health emergency over drug poisoning deaths in the province was declared in 2016.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/toxic-drug-deaths-july-2023-1.6950922

It go so bad they issued a public safety warning.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/public-safety-warning-toxic-drugs-1.7058487#:~:text=In%202022%2C%202377%20deaths%20were,more%20deaths%20by%20year's%20end.

Combating those toxic drugs death's was the point of decriminalization.

Eh, just look at the graph posted earlier. The number of deaths was already over 2,000 before the drugs became legalized, and the rise in 2023 was miniscule. It's disingenuous to look at that trend and think that legalization is what's driving the rise - drug use death has been skyrocketing for nearly a decade now. If anything, the inflection point seems to be in 2015. From what the data shows, it appears that decriminalization hasn't had any effect on the number of deaths and may even be peaking at this point.

I already addressed the part about park use in my first post.

I'm not sure how you're linking the rise in homelessness to the legalization of drugs. There is a massive housing crisis in all of Canada right now, and homelessness has increased in every province, legalized drugs or not.

I'm not saying that legalizing drugs is a good thing. I'm saying this video is clickbait trash. DTES was hell on earth before January 2023, and its still hell on earth now.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Lucky for me I dont live anywhere near downtown. I dont live in Vancouver anyway. But a common trait in any city is downtown often has druggies and homeless people as they congregate where there's other downtrodden people and if anyone is going to panhandle the best bet is always downtown where theres tons of people. No point trying to beg for money or look for drug dealers in low density suburbs.

Never the less, decriminalizing and/or turning a blind eye to drugs, booze, guns etc.... are terrible ideas. How is anything going to improve if the gov just lets it go? People expect all these problems will just magically smooth out and improve on their own?

Government should try to repicate what they did with tobacco. Heavily regulated where usage and deaths have dropped for decades. When people smoke less, people die less from lung cancer. Seems logical to me. I dont smoke, but I do know that availability has dropped like a rock. I remember smokes being sold everywhere when I was a kid. Now you can only buy them at gas stations and variety stores. Reduce availability and people will smoke less because it's not widely in their face at every check out counter like the old days. You dont see government saying lets have a free for all smoking party everywhere and things will just fix itself no problem.

Decriminalizing drugs just support drug usage as the gov doesn't seem to give a shit who does what.

Decriminalizing drugs helps the people who are already druggies. And for the kinds of people in the video who are coked up with hunchback spines, there's no point anyway because they are fucked. Police wasting time arresting them because those people arent going to turn their life around.

But what is important is putting in strict laws (preventative policy) to be proactive to prevent people who havent delved into being drugs addicts yet. Just like anything else in life, laws can scare people into not doing it. Of course some people dont give a shit and if were all in Singapore and using drugs results in a caning youre always going to get some guys who will be rebels and blow a puff of smoke into a cops face. But in reality, laws are set in hopes people with common sense follow the rules so they dont get in trouble. People already in trouble have nothing to lose because they are already fucked. Those two hunchback guys in the video are the types of people who wont give a shit if there's anto-drug laws or not. They are going to keep on doing coke. But for people who can be swayed, anti-drug policies can help.

If you take a skim of the smoking links below, it's the same. Enacting laws for people who are already on the cusp of getting lung cancer really doesn't help them because it's too late. But that doesn't mean it's not valuable. Not vauable for them maybe. But for the younger future people, it helps reduce usage over decades.

What a just-released report says about Canada's most common and deadly form of cancer

A report released Wednesday by the Canadian Cancer Society details how deaths from lung cancer—the most common and deadly form of cancer in Canada—have taken a significant tumble in recent years, a step forward believed to be connected largely to reductions in smoking and tobacco use.

www.ctvnews.ca

New Canadian Cancer Statistics report reveals lung cancer death rates are declining faster than any other cancer type in Canada

While effective tobacco control and advancements in research have contributed to improvements in lung cancer rates, enhanced prevention and early detection efforts and investment in research innovations are needed to curb Canada’s most deadly and most commonly diagnosed cancer

cancer.ca

 

[Sakura]

It's pretty bad here now. I came back to BC about a year and a half ago after being overseas for 7 years or so, and it is so much worse than it was when I left. Homeless camps on the side of the highway, lots of druggies wandering around my town now.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

tough situation.

What do you do?

Don’t do drugs?

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

Drugs were decriminalized where I live too. Can confirm, it's an absolute shitshow. I'm not saying a return to "the war on drugs" is the answer, just that we need to do something different.

Here, you just get ticketed if you get caught possessing hard drugs. Cops here will usually only give people tickets if they're doing something else unruly or illegal, most of the time it's completely overlooked. If you do get a ticket, you can get the ticket discharged by calling a phone number and reporting a "self screening" - basically "I'm okay I'm not taking drugs anymore" to get out of paying the fine. After three tickets, you have to attend a drug rehab program - surprise, there is now a whole unregulated industry that's popped up where you basically just pay $75, and they print out paperwork that they evaluated you. Now you're back to self-reporting on your next three ticketed offenses.

It's also really fucked up that drinking and smoking weed in public here is illegal, but freebasing heroin is a-okay.

What's alarming is, I've watched dozens of these videos from dozens of different content creators and the running theme is that the cops just give up policing these areas and they become huge crime zones.

Looks like they are letting evolution take its course. With more dumb people dying out unable to reproduce, we will one day have smarter and fewer drug addicts.

I think that's cold. I've known good people who once held down amazing jobs, careers and who have great potential had their lives ruined by opioids and other drugs. Some were bright people who took their own life in their 20s. I think a society where we let the most vulnerable take drugs just so they overdose themselves to death would be a rotten society and a fall from grace. That kind of disregard for people from both politicians and the populace would be dangerous. The country would quickly become a hell hole.

I live there. The place looked like that long before drugs were decriminalized.
It's also a small part of the city where these people hang around, mainly around chinatown. The rest of the city looks pretty normal.

Thanks. I hope they're able to do something effective about it.

Are you in Vancouver or British Columbia in general? Are you Canadian?

I have family in that area and visit frequently. Decriminalization has exacerbated a lot of problems. Drug use is rampant in some areas as is homelessness.

East Hasting has gotten worse every year.

I've seen a lot of what was shown in that video with my own eyes. So tell me what you think is propaganda?

Thanks, yes I thought some here wouldn't like the clickbait nature of this video, but I don't think our eyes lie here. You can clearly see a growing crisis on the streets here and elsewhere.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

It's pretty bad here now. I came back to BC about a year and a half ago after being overseas for 7 years or so, and it is so much worse than it was when I left. Homeless camps on the side of the highway, lots of druggies wandering around my town now.

Yeah, I have Canadian friends who lived with me in Asia a few years. When they returned to Canada they opted for Vancouver Island over the city itself. Less crime and slightly more affordable. Although still sounds unaffordable.

 

[Embearded]

Looks like they are letting evolution take its course. With more dumb people dying out unable to reproduce, we will one day have smarter and fewer drug addicts.

You are assuming that all addicts were fools who willingly got themselves in this situation, but even then maybe consider their families that are suffering.

People can get addicted because they followed their doctors advice, or due to chronic pain.
We do not live in a Darwinian society, we look after people so they will look after us.

With that mindset, if you do something stupid and get hurt in public, everyone else should let you die there.

 

[winjer]

Hasn't it gone really well in Portugal? And that was more than 20 years ago now.

Yes, it has.
Back in the 90s, Portugal had a major drug problem. And despite all attempts to curb it with restrictive laws, there were no results.
Then, a right wing party, passed a law that made drug possessions, up to certain defined amounts, not to be considered a crime.
So users of drugs were instead of being arrested, were sent to rehabilitation. They were considered the victims of the drug traffickers and not the criminals.
Meanwhile, drug trafficking was still a crime. So the Police and the judicial system, instead of wasting time with drug users, were able to focus their efforts into the traffickers.
And the drug users got a chance to get rehabilitated, which many took.
Of course this does not mean, everything is perfect and there are no drug addicts and drug traffickers in Portugal, but the situation is much better now, than it was in the 90s.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

Yes, it has.
Back in the 90s, Portugal had a major drug problem. And despite all attempts to curb it with restrictive laws, there were no results.
Then, a right wing party, passed a law that made drug possessions, up to certain defined amounts, not to be considered a crime.
So users of drugs were instead of being arrested, were sent to rehabilitation. They were considered the victims of the drug traffickers and not the criminals.
Meanwhile, drug trafficking was still a crime. So the Police and the judicial system, instead of wasting time with drug users, were able to focus their efforts into the traffickers.
And the drug users got a chance to get rehabilitated, which many took.
Of course this does not mean, everything is perfect and there are no drug addicts and drug traffickers in Portugal, but the situation is much better now, than it was in the 90s.

There's a lady in the video towards the end who discusses Portgual and basically says Canada doesn't have the care facilities and systems in place to provide the rehab you see in places like Portugal. Rather than have these people go into the hands of well funded, well staffed and well trained care facilities, they're going into the hands of the dealers and its spilling over into the streets.

 

[winjer]

There's a lady in the video towards the end who discusses Portgual and basically says Canada doesn't have the care facilities and systems in place to provide the rehab you see in places like Portugal. Rather than have these people go into the hands of well funded, well staffed and well trained care facilities, they're going into the hands of the dealers and its spilling over into the streets.

I don't know how the decriminalization of drugs in Canada was done, but I know how it was done here, in Portugal.
But the approach the USA has taken in the las few decades, with the "war on drugs", seems like a complete and utter failure.
And the private jail system, just makes things much worse.