Who is to blame?
Posted: Feb 21st, 2013, 3:20 pm
Who is to blame? The truth is we have nobody to blame but ourselves. The connection between poverty, mental health, education and health care, among other factors, and what we are witnessing today is inescapable and undeniable. We are as intimately connected to each other as we are to the earth and the processes that allow life to flourish. Yet somewhere in our collective minds we disconnect from this and view ourselves as individual and separate and that people make their own choices without influence. This couldn't be farther from the truth.
Right now BC has the second worst child poverty rates in Canada. How do we think that’s going to affect us down the road? Do we honestly believe those kids are going to be raised in a healthy environment with great expectation? What effect on that kids psyche will it have and how will it influence future "choices" he or she makes? More often than not it will be with negativity and diminished expectation.
How is it we are able to build great cities or send men to the moon or harness the power of nuclear fission? One of the primary answers is education. The ability and capacity for us to learn and pass on what we've learnt enables this. It's not something new; we only need look back in history to see examples. The Mayan and their renowned accurate to this day astronomical calendar, the advanced mathematics and logistical prowess of the Egyptians that built the pyramids or the Roman Empire who’s architectural and civil engineering techniques we use to this very day.
As important as education is to our collective well being we find a way to undercut ourselves. Whether that’s because we don’t understand the enormous importance of education or we are jaded and lament unions, the fact remains, we chronically underfund one of the primary foundations of modern society. This practice again continues, the newly tabled BC budget freezes education funding for three years.
When it comes to health care we do a pretty good job of treating the acute conditions, however, with mental health we can only assign ourselves a failing grade, though in some respects getting better. Awareness for example comes to mind. If one has a broken arm a trip to the ER quickly remedies it. Have a heart attack and we fly one to Vancouver for same day surgery. Have a mental health condition and one will be literally waiting weeks at best and months at worst. This type of care is abysmal and for a large part inaccessible. GP’s can do little more than suggest antipsychotic drugs, eat right and exercise. Even if one asks or the doctor suggests referral, depending on location, the wait list and availability of qualified professionals can and does push time waits upwards of six months. Addiction is also held under the umbrella of mental health but is subject to the same time constraints, it takes weeks just to get an initial assessment and should one opt for residential treatment, months. Some may suggest that private care is available or it’s not an emergency. Private care is unaffordable to the average income person and if smoking little more than Lysol and ephedrine (Meth) or injecting impure heroin or coke with contaminated needles isn’t an emergency I’d suggest we redefine the word. Vancouver’s downtown eastside is currently in the grips of a Hepatitis C and HIV epidemic with infection rates among the most at risk at 30 and 40 percent respectively.
Understanding the causal roots is of paramount importance. Over the last thirty years we have built a great body of evidence that is routinely ignored. We now know for example that addiction is not just a matter of will but is primarily driven by brain chemistry and the imbalance thereof. The ancient (hundreds of millions of years old) part of the brain known as the limbic system, the part primarily responsible for survival, has a very active role in addictions. The intimate and extremely complex role of the limbic system, neurochemistry, genetics, conditioned and unconditioned behaviour, trauma and environment puts the drive for addicts to use drugs, or those that suffer from alcoholism to drink, on par with the “basic” survival roles of fight or flight, to eat, not be eaten and procreation.
We often speak of personal responsibility but where is our collective responsibility? A single animal separated from the herd quickly becomes game for predators but in a herd we are protected; there is safety in numbers. It’s all too common now that we hear stories of people seeing someone in distress but simply walk by; it’s as if until it “hits close to home” that we become aware and distraught enough to help. We are individuals within a collective, not a collection of individuals and an isolationist mindset, or one of “they brought it on themselves”, do nothing to further our species, are detrimental to the whole and quite frankly, moves us away from what ensures our survival.
When we start combining these issues with the conditioned behaviour and ignorance of the general population, throw in laws like prohibition that quite literally play on the above and create the very people that everyone is afraid of (addicts, dealers, homeless and organized crime alike) we reach a critical mass scenario. In other words, we construct a self perpetuating cycle of poverty, violence and misery.
Right now BC has the second worst child poverty rates in Canada. How do we think that’s going to affect us down the road? Do we honestly believe those kids are going to be raised in a healthy environment with great expectation? What effect on that kids psyche will it have and how will it influence future "choices" he or she makes? More often than not it will be with negativity and diminished expectation.
How is it we are able to build great cities or send men to the moon or harness the power of nuclear fission? One of the primary answers is education. The ability and capacity for us to learn and pass on what we've learnt enables this. It's not something new; we only need look back in history to see examples. The Mayan and their renowned accurate to this day astronomical calendar, the advanced mathematics and logistical prowess of the Egyptians that built the pyramids or the Roman Empire who’s architectural and civil engineering techniques we use to this very day.
As important as education is to our collective well being we find a way to undercut ourselves. Whether that’s because we don’t understand the enormous importance of education or we are jaded and lament unions, the fact remains, we chronically underfund one of the primary foundations of modern society. This practice again continues, the newly tabled BC budget freezes education funding for three years.
When it comes to health care we do a pretty good job of treating the acute conditions, however, with mental health we can only assign ourselves a failing grade, though in some respects getting better. Awareness for example comes to mind. If one has a broken arm a trip to the ER quickly remedies it. Have a heart attack and we fly one to Vancouver for same day surgery. Have a mental health condition and one will be literally waiting weeks at best and months at worst. This type of care is abysmal and for a large part inaccessible. GP’s can do little more than suggest antipsychotic drugs, eat right and exercise. Even if one asks or the doctor suggests referral, depending on location, the wait list and availability of qualified professionals can and does push time waits upwards of six months. Addiction is also held under the umbrella of mental health but is subject to the same time constraints, it takes weeks just to get an initial assessment and should one opt for residential treatment, months. Some may suggest that private care is available or it’s not an emergency. Private care is unaffordable to the average income person and if smoking little more than Lysol and ephedrine (Meth) or injecting impure heroin or coke with contaminated needles isn’t an emergency I’d suggest we redefine the word. Vancouver’s downtown eastside is currently in the grips of a Hepatitis C and HIV epidemic with infection rates among the most at risk at 30 and 40 percent respectively.
Understanding the causal roots is of paramount importance. Over the last thirty years we have built a great body of evidence that is routinely ignored. We now know for example that addiction is not just a matter of will but is primarily driven by brain chemistry and the imbalance thereof. The ancient (hundreds of millions of years old) part of the brain known as the limbic system, the part primarily responsible for survival, has a very active role in addictions. The intimate and extremely complex role of the limbic system, neurochemistry, genetics, conditioned and unconditioned behaviour, trauma and environment puts the drive for addicts to use drugs, or those that suffer from alcoholism to drink, on par with the “basic” survival roles of fight or flight, to eat, not be eaten and procreation.
We often speak of personal responsibility but where is our collective responsibility? A single animal separated from the herd quickly becomes game for predators but in a herd we are protected; there is safety in numbers. It’s all too common now that we hear stories of people seeing someone in distress but simply walk by; it’s as if until it “hits close to home” that we become aware and distraught enough to help. We are individuals within a collective, not a collection of individuals and an isolationist mindset, or one of “they brought it on themselves”, do nothing to further our species, are detrimental to the whole and quite frankly, moves us away from what ensures our survival.
When we start combining these issues with the conditioned behaviour and ignorance of the general population, throw in laws like prohibition that quite literally play on the above and create the very people that everyone is afraid of (addicts, dealers, homeless and organized crime alike) we reach a critical mass scenario. In other words, we construct a self perpetuating cycle of poverty, violence and misery.