More needles on beach

[the truth]

Bottom line is, Kelowna is turning into a s%^+ hole and something has got to be done about it. A tiny minority of residents is turning this city into a filthy, disgusting pile of crap. I don't know if the answer is arresting them and throwing them into rehab or institutions under the Mental Health Act, or beating the crap out of them and dropping them off outside of town. But, something needs to be done about it. I don't know if handing out free houses, food, and drugs is the answer because it seems to me, like feeding wild animals, all you end up doing is habituating people so they'll never be able to take care of themselves.

and that's a fact.................

[Treblehook]

Is the epidemic of discarded needles in Kelowna a problem created through the attempt to solve another problem? There has been a very noticeable spike in the numbers of discarded dirty needles all over downtown Kelowna. Does this spike in numbers correlate to any specific action or policy by local government? Surely the number of illicit drug users/addict has not exploded in direct proportion to the spike in needles found in public places? Are these folks readily discarding their needles because they are so easily acquired, at no expense to them. Is needle exchange just a name of a project? In any case, the situation as long since gone past the point of being tolerable and the powers that be need to come up with some way of dealing with it. Anyone who thinks this kind of deterioration of the environment in Kelowna won't have a long reaching negative impact is dreaming. The city will develop a reputation that will be a long time changing.

[bjsilent]

Is the epidemic of discarded needles in Kelowna a problem created through the attempt to solve another problem? There has been a very noticeable spike in the numbers of discarded dirty needles all over downtown Kelowna. Does this spike in numbers correlate to any specific action or policy by local government? Surely the number of illicit drug users/addict has not exploded in direct proportion to the spike in needles found in public places? Are these folks readily discarding their needles because they are so easily acquired, at no expense to them. Is needle exchange just a name of a project? In any case, the situation as long since gone past the point of being tolerable and the powers that be need to come up with some way of dealing with it. Anyone who thinks this kind of deterioration of the environment in Kelowna won't have a long reaching negative impact is dreaming. The city will develop a reputation that will be a long time changing.

Cornerstone Shelter at 425 Leon Ave hands out clean rigs, cookers and such like candy to anyone who wants them. They refer to it as harm reduction, as far as im concerned they are contributing to the problem!!!

[Bpeep]

Meanwhile, they continue supporting and saving these moronic zombies. All on your buck.
Imo my solution is most effective.
Leave them be.
Their actions alone will ultimately solve the problem.
As for all the do gooders out there, if these idiots don't know by now that they shouldn't be messing with this crap, they all deserve whatever they get out of it.

Sayonara, zombie.

[Verum]

...
Cornerstone Shelter at 425 Leon Ave hands out clean rigs, cookers and such like candy to anyone who wants them. They refer to it as harm reduction, as far as im concerned they are contributing to the problem!!!

There is a lot of research to support the benefits of harm reduction, do you have such to support your claim that it is making the problem worse. For instance, such harm reduction seems to reduce load on our healthcare as fewer people get chronic and expensive illnesses such as HIV. It also seems to save lives and improve chances of recovery.

I guess we should first define the problem. The biggest issue I find with such is that most people only look as far as their own interests and forget that those who avail of harm reduction are citizens equal in importance to themselves. To my mind the biggest problem is that there are people who are not contributing to our society in a way which would benefit themselves and the rest of us. Authoritarian and penalising approaches have been shown to fail miserably, which anyone with a modicum of understanding of human behaviour should have been able to predict. It is time to try something else, and harm reduction is part of that something else and it is working. Sadly, it coincides with some recent technological developments in drugs which make them particularly dangerous. We need harm reduction and access for drug users to clean and safe supplies of drugs or we will lose huge numbers of potentially productive members of society, a costly mistake due to a history of punitive drug policies by short-sighted and judgemental fools.

Those who advocate for letting people die if they engage in harmful activities, such as taking illicit drugs, fail to apply the same logic to other dangerous and harmful activities when it suits their World view. Nobody advocates for letting victims of car accidents just die, even if they were driving over the speed limit, or letting those who accidentally overdose on medication die, but people frequently advocate for taking that very approach with people who accidentally take the wrong or too much of a substance to feed an addiction, or recreationally. Such a lack of consistency shows a lack of understanding.

[bjsilent]

Meanwhile, they continue supporting and saving these moronic zombies. All on your buck.
Imo my solution is most effective.
Leave them be.
Their actions alone will ultimately solve the problem.
As for all the do gooders out there, if these idiots don't know by now that they shouldn't be messing with this crap, they all deserve whatever they get out of it.

Sayonara, zombie.

I agree! No more handouts in the form of shelters, food, clothing, bus tickets, haircuts, passes to parkinson rec center, , free shoes, eye exams and eye glasses along with a chiropractor who comes in once a week ( can thank the Kelowna Gospel Mission ) for providing this nonsense. Enough with a social worker attending the KGM twice a week to make sure the rift raft get welfare and to collect their stubs on their behalf so they are in by the fifth of the month so they receive their handout the second to last weds of every month. Enough with same social worker arriving at KGM on welfare day to distribute cheques ( handouts) to these poor souls who cant get off their behinds and go to welfare office themselves and pick up their monthly handout. You people arent helping them your enabling them to be non productive!!!

[WalterWhite]

Then quite simply they need to revamp the method of harm reduction to prevent thousands of possibly tainted needles being carelessly tossed aside with zero regard for public safety. That aspect of the harm reduction model is not working - plain and simple. Hard to have empathy for those that show zero concern for the health and well being for themselves - let alone the very segment of society that's paying to keep their thankless sorry arses alive.

[bjsilent]

This is for VERUM... Let them die, why should John Q tax payer keep footing the bill for their poor decisions? They know that the drug may be laced with fetanayl so lets take away the naxolone kits and let them roll the dice!

[the truth]

exactly..............

[Verum]

Then quite simply they need to revamp the method of harm reduction to prevent thousands of possibly tainted needles being carelessly tossed aside with zero regard for public safety. That aspect of the harm reduction model is not working - plain and simple. Hard to have empathy for those that show zero concern for the health and well being for themselves - let alone the very segment of society that's paying to keep their thankless sorry arses alive.

I agree that we need to find a better solution for the problem with improperly disposed of needles. I doubt that anyone is happy about that current situation whatsoever. Wantonly inviting the death of people, as some have done, is an extreme solution to this problem, both in terms of wasted resources and human life.

Perhaps we need more safe injection sites and similar, maybe a way to reward the return of needles with something substantial, but which cannot be redeemed for other goods and services, such as food and drink. The problem with providing financial incentive is that it will either be too small to really act as an incentive, or it will encourage people to abuse the system.

Anyway, I agree, constructive, respectful solutions should be suggested and we should be looking at ways to encourage our leaders to tackle this problem in a healthy way, rather than the traditional one of just sweeping it under the rug.

[Lore]

On this past Fri a junkie chick was stripping down to nothing to put some new clothes on in a
short back alley that is frequently travelled.
When she was gone I went to see what she left.
Dirty underclothes and a naloxone kit.
I opened the naloxone kit to discover that the naloxone
and everything else was in the kit except for the 30 cent syringe.
So I wonder where she discarded that syringe.
I was so mad that this junkie just took the naloxone kit just
for the syringe.Anyone know how much these free naloxone kits
costs the tax payers?
So I took the naloxone kit to the shoot up bus downtown gave it to them
and told them how useless I thought the bus was.
A junkie pipes up and says "its not useless,it saved my life".
Yay, shut up junkie and go get your fix already.
You want to save your life then get help to get off of the
drugs instead of doing everything possible to get the drugs.
I used to have compassion for some of these people but the
things I am seeing around town lately has squashed that.
Its bad and at this rate and with what is being done (HA)
I can only see it getting worse.

[PocoGirl]

Here’s a little known fact.... Not only is IH allowing testing for fentanyl for addicts but also, a testing site for the Dealers to have their drugs tested before they sell them. How up is that? Before anyone asks, I won’t divulge how I know this for various reasons. It’s been confirmed to me and from whom is good enough for me.

[phasyluck]

I can't get a hernia fixed because it "doesn't bother me". Quite the operation our government has created isn't it?

[Catsumi]

[quote="PocoGirl"]Here’s a little known fact.... Not only is IH allowing testing for fentanyl for addicts but also, a testing site for the Dealers to have their drugs tested before they sell them. "

...........


Ok, I'll bite. Do the dealers get a rating score such as 1-10 scale? Goldilocks style.

1-3.... too tame, good luck finding buyers

4-7....just right, get's them high and looking for more


8-10... Now that will kill your customers, sonny. Go back, cut it, and return for retesting, silly boy.

[Jlabute]

Automated safe injection site. Go through the screen menu, enter your user ID, facial recognition done, pick your poison, insert your arm, a robot gives you a shot then automatically disposes the needle. Let’s invent it. Or maybe the future will be simpler, such as the use of smart syringes which retract and interlock after use, and todays syringes will no longer be available.

http://www.smartsyringe.com