Загрузка видео...

Не удалось загрузить видео

На главную

For years, British Columbia expanded drug consumption sites while overdose deaths continued to soar. Now, evidence from across Canada demonstrates the dangerous consequences of this approach. Dr. Julian Somers shows us how in Canadian jurisdictions that have closed consumption sites while expanding recovery and treatment services, deaths have declined...

Vote4ABC's profile picture

ABC Vancouver

2,744 subscribers

10,495 просмотров • 16 дней назад •via X (Twitter)

LIVE

Anya Rossi• Live Now

Private livecam show

Комментарии: 0

Нет доступных комментариев

Здесь появятся комментарии из оригинального поста

Похожие видео

We need to connect people directly to treatment, stabilization, and long-term recovery instead of referring them to drug consumption sites. We are shutting down the Sheldon M. Chumir supervised consumption site in Calgary and reinvesting those funds into expanded addiction treatment, medical detox, recovery supports and 24-hour outreach teams that will help more people move from crisis toward recovery. Shutting down sites like this increases public safety, revitalizes local businesses, and gets those struggling with addiction into the programs they need.
1:51

We need to connect people directly to treatment, stabilization, and long-term recovery instead of referring them to drug consumption sites. We are shutting down the Sheldon M. Chumir supervised consumption site in Calgary and reinvesting those funds into expanded addiction treatment, medical detox, recovery supports and 24-hour outreach teams that will help more people move from crisis toward recovery. Shutting down sites like this increases public safety, revitalizes local businesses, and gets those struggling with addiction into the programs they need.

Danielle Smith

45,170 просмотров • 4 месяцев назад

San Francisco just recorded the lowest number of overdose deaths since we began tracking in 2020. One death is too many, but the progress we continue to make gives us hope. Since I took office, we have reformed our street outreach teams, invested in new treatment and recovery solutions including long acting medication, and stood up more than 600 shelter and treatment beds to get people the help they need. So far this year, overdose deaths are down 30% compared to last year, but the work is far from over, and we will continue to be relentless.
0:49

San Francisco just recorded the lowest number of overdose deaths since we began tracking in 2020. One death is too many, but the progress we continue to make gives us hope. Since I took office, we have reformed our street outreach teams, invested in new treatment and recovery solutions including long acting medication, and stood up more than 600 shelter and treatment beds to get people the help they need. So far this year, overdose deaths are down 30% compared to last year, but the work is far from over, and we will continue to be relentless.

Daniel Lurie 丹尼爾·羅偉

26,886 просмотров • 2 месяцев назад

1/3 Today's debate in the Scottish Government is nothing short of a slow-motion car crash, with policymakers willfully ignoring global evidence while steering Scotland further into drug policy disaster. Instead of fixing our broken treatment system and backing recovery, they are doubling down on failure, pushing policies that have already devastated communities in Portugal, Oregon, and British Columbia. Let’s be crystal clear: decriminalisation isn’t saving lives—it’s killing more people. In Portugal, drug deaths have skyrocketed, treatment services are overrun, and Lisbon has become a hotspot for open-air drug markets​. Oregon’s so-called "progressive" policy has turned its cities into lawless wastelands of public drug use, overdoses, and cartel activity, forcing the government to scramble to re-criminalise drugs just a few years later​. And yet, here we are—watching Scottish politicians repeat these same catastrophic mistakes, pretending that more "harm reduction" will work when all the evidence screams the opposite. This isn’t just ignorance—it’s negligence. If Scotland keeps chasing these failed fantasies of decriminalisation, we’ll be standing in the wreckage of a policy that normalises addiction, fuels overdoses, and abandons the very people it claims to help. Where is the accountability? Where is the outrage? The Right to Recovery Bill offers a real solution—a legal right to treatment, a commitment to recovery, and an end to the bureaucratic blockade that keeps people trapped in addiction. It’s time to wake up. Stop following the junk science of failed decriminalisation and start fighting for real recovery.
0:42

1/3 Today's debate in the Scottish Government is nothing short of a slow-motion car crash, with policymakers willfully ignoring global evidence while steering Scotland further into drug policy disaster. Instead of fixing our broken treatment system and backing recovery, they are doubling down on failure, pushing policies that have already devastated communities in Portugal, Oregon, and British Columbia. Let’s be crystal clear: decriminalisation isn’t saving lives—it’s killing more people. In Portugal, drug deaths have skyrocketed, treatment services are overrun, and Lisbon has become a hotspot for open-air drug markets​. Oregon’s so-called "progressive" policy has turned its cities into lawless wastelands of public drug use, overdoses, and cartel activity, forcing the government to scramble to re-criminalise drugs just a few years later​. And yet, here we are—watching Scottish politicians repeat these same catastrophic mistakes, pretending that more "harm reduction" will work when all the evidence screams the opposite. This isn’t just ignorance—it’s negligence. If Scotland keeps chasing these failed fantasies of decriminalisation, we’ll be standing in the wreckage of a policy that normalises addiction, fuels overdoses, and abandons the very people it claims to help. Where is the accountability? Where is the outrage? The Right to Recovery Bill offers a real solution—a legal right to treatment, a commitment to recovery, and an end to the bureaucratic blockade that keeps people trapped in addiction. It’s time to wake up. Stop following the junk science of failed decriminalisation and start fighting for real recovery.

Annemarie Ward 💜

29,262 просмотров • 1 год назад

Today, I’m proud to introduce the Compassionate Intervention Act - a bold and life-saving step forward in helping those suffering from severe addiction. We can’t allow those in the spiral of addiction to end their lives on our streets because we are too politically correct to intervene. If addiction has caused someone to become a real threat to themselves or others, they need intervention and mandatory treatment. For far too long, people have been left to suffer in cycles of addiction, harming themselves and those around them. We are changing that. With more than 10,000 publicly funded treatment spaces, 11 recovery communities, and groundbreaking programs, Alberta has built a world-class recovery model based on the truth that recovery is possible.
53:59

Today, I’m proud to introduce the Compassionate Intervention Act - a bold and life-saving step forward in helping those suffering from severe addiction. We can’t allow those in the spiral of addiction to end their lives on our streets because we are too politically correct to intervene. If addiction has caused someone to become a real threat to themselves or others, they need intervention and mandatory treatment. For far too long, people have been left to suffer in cycles of addiction, harming themselves and those around them. We are changing that. With more than 10,000 publicly funded treatment spaces, 11 recovery communities, and groundbreaking programs, Alberta has built a world-class recovery model based on the truth that recovery is possible.

Danielle Smith

131,651 просмотров • 1 год назад

NEW: Jennifer Friedenbach is the queen of San Francisco's homeless industrial complex. Looks like she's getting booted from the "Our City Our Home Oversight Committee." This collective is responsible for looking after a billion dollars in homeless and housing services. I spoke to Friedenbach earlier this year. She took shots at recovery advocates like T Wolf 🌁 and defended the failed Housing First and "harm reduction" policies that have led to record drug overdose deaths in the city. 🧵👇
1:52

NEW: Jennifer Friedenbach is the queen of San Francisco's homeless industrial complex. Looks like she's getting booted from the "Our City Our Home Oversight Committee." This collective is responsible for looking after a billion dollars in homeless and housing services. I spoke to Friedenbach earlier this year. She took shots at recovery advocates like T Wolf 🌁 and defended the failed Housing First and "harm reduction" policies that have led to record drug overdose deaths in the city. 🧵👇

Jonathan Choe

115,309 просмотров • 9 месяцев назад

Frightening scenarios like this rundown SRO on Granville Street are exactly why so many neighbourhoods across British Columbia are protesting the NDP’s so-called “supportive housing.” Despite the comforting name, these facilities too often lack real treatment, remain far from drug-free, and end up concentrating chaos, crime, and human suffering in our communities. The NDP continues to push this ideological model while ignoring the evidence and the voices of residents who have to live with the consequences. It is time for real solutions that actually support recovery and public safety, not more taxpayer-funded failures that make the problem worse.
1:26

Frightening scenarios like this rundown SRO on Granville Street are exactly why so many neighbourhoods across British Columbia are protesting the NDP’s so-called “supportive housing.” Despite the comforting name, these facilities too often lack real treatment, remain far from drug-free, and end up concentrating chaos, crime, and human suffering in our communities. The NDP continues to push this ideological model while ignoring the evidence and the voices of residents who have to live with the consequences. It is time for real solutions that actually support recovery and public safety, not more taxpayer-funded failures that make the problem worse.

Steve Kooner MLA

26,124 просмотров • 3 месяцев назад

The Make Canada Great Again community was formed to find & promote solutions to the biggest problems in Canada. There is no bigger crisis in British Columbia that then clearly targeted mass murder of over 13,000 men & boys in BC from overdose, since Jan 2016. Males make up almost 80% of OD deaths in BC. British Columbia has over 30% of Canadian overdose deaths but only 13% of the population. We are by far the worst impacted by WOKE decriminalization. To Make Canada Great Again we must stop the slaughter by recriminalizing people who poison people for $$$ or do it because it's easier to get away with murder using pills. If 200 people in BC were dying from gun shots every month, it would be considered a war zone. The true mental health crisis in BC is clearly in government. Sadly for British Columbia we have 3.5 more years of the BC NDP and 4 years of Carney... At least... I hope everyone starts having conversations around why this has been allowed to go on for so long in BC.
6:29

The Make Canada Great Again community was formed to find & promote solutions to the biggest problems in Canada. There is no bigger crisis in British Columbia that then clearly targeted mass murder of over 13,000 men & boys in BC from overdose, since Jan 2016. Males make up almost 80% of OD deaths in BC. British Columbia has over 30% of Canadian overdose deaths but only 13% of the population. We are by far the worst impacted by WOKE decriminalization. To Make Canada Great Again we must stop the slaughter by recriminalizing people who poison people for $$$ or do it because it's easier to get away with murder using pills. If 200 people in BC were dying from gun shots every month, it would be considered a war zone. The true mental health crisis in BC is clearly in government. Sadly for British Columbia we have 3.5 more years of the BC NDP and 4 years of Carney... At least... I hope everyone starts having conversations around why this has been allowed to go on for so long in BC.

Bruce McGonigal

44,238 просмотров • 1 год назад

DESTRUCTION of scientific data! Dr. Julian Somers, a professor at Simon Fraser university, spent decades researching treatment strategies for addictions and homelessness. He testified to health committee that the B.C. government asked him to DESTROY his published RCT data after he delivered a briefing related to the addiction and homelessness crisis that the bureaucrats didn’t like. Liberal MP John-Paul Danko thinks this has nothing to do with sovereignty. Meanwhile, more Canadians have died from opioids than died in the entirety of World War II. The B.C. government continues to push failed opioid policies and safe consumption sites while the crisis grows and more Canadians lose their lives. Let’s listen to expert scientists like Dr Somers instead of the bureaucrats trying to censor him!
5:04

DESTRUCTION of scientific data! Dr. Julian Somers, a professor at Simon Fraser university, spent decades researching treatment strategies for addictions and homelessness. He testified to health committee that the B.C. government asked him to DESTROY his published RCT data after he delivered a briefing related to the addiction and homelessness crisis that the bureaucrats didn’t like. Liberal MP John-Paul Danko thinks this has nothing to do with sovereignty. Meanwhile, more Canadians have died from opioids than died in the entirety of World War II. The B.C. government continues to push failed opioid policies and safe consumption sites while the crisis grows and more Canadians lose their lives. Let’s listen to expert scientists like Dr Somers instead of the bureaucrats trying to censor him!

Matt Strauss

67,220 просмотров • 5 месяцев назад

“Scotland's drug deaths have just risen again by 31% in a single quarter. And the response is still the same. More consumption rooms, more drug checking, more talk about managing addiction. If you're in recovery, you already know something that the system has long since forgot. Addiction isn't something you can manage.If we could have managed it, we would have. None of us ended up here because we were in control. Addiction's chaos, it's compulsion. A system that keeps people alive in addiction while failing to help them escape it is not a humane system. It's a holding pattern. And what we've seen here again in Scotland is this holding pattern has a massive body count.” Full article link in comments Annemarie Ward 💜 CEO FavorUK #recoveryispossible #stopthedeaths #quangos #wedorecover #makingrightsreal
2:32

“Scotland's drug deaths have just risen again by 31% in a single quarter. And the response is still the same. More consumption rooms, more drug checking, more talk about managing addiction. If you're in recovery, you already know something that the system has long since forgot. Addiction isn't something you can manage.If we could have managed it, we would have. None of us ended up here because we were in control. Addiction's chaos, it's compulsion. A system that keeps people alive in addiction while failing to help them escape it is not a humane system. It's a holding pattern. And what we've seen here again in Scotland is this holding pattern has a massive body count.” Full article link in comments Annemarie Ward 💜 CEO FavorUK #recoveryispossible #stopthedeaths #quangos #wedorecover #makingrightsreal

FAVORUK 💜

19,342 просмотров • 3 месяцев назад

Right now, state funding cannot be used for sober, recovery-focused housing. That limits our city’s ability to support people who are working hard to get—and stay—sober. Today, I stood with Assemblymember Matt Haney in support of AB 1556, a bill that will allow cities to use state resources to create and expand drug-free recovery housing—giving people the stability and support they need to rebuild their lives. Recovery is not one-size-fits-all, and our system shouldn’t be either. We’ve already seen the impact of this approach in San Francisco with projects like Hope House—a sober shelter that I visited recently—which has a 78% success rate of moving residents into long-term recovery options. To everyone struggling or working to stay in recovery, we are working every day to build a system that supports you. And we’re not going to stop. Thank you to Assemblymember Haney for your leadership and to the Bay Area Council and all of our partners.
0:21

Right now, state funding cannot be used for sober, recovery-focused housing. That limits our city’s ability to support people who are working hard to get—and stay—sober. Today, I stood with Assemblymember Matt Haney in support of AB 1556, a bill that will allow cities to use state resources to create and expand drug-free recovery housing—giving people the stability and support they need to rebuild their lives. Recovery is not one-size-fits-all, and our system shouldn’t be either. We’ve already seen the impact of this approach in San Francisco with projects like Hope House—a sober shelter that I visited recently—which has a 78% success rate of moving residents into long-term recovery options. To everyone struggling or working to stay in recovery, we are working every day to build a system that supports you. And we’re not going to stop. Thank you to Assemblymember Haney for your leadership and to the Bay Area Council and all of our partners.

Daniel Lurie 丹尼爾·羅偉

16,579 просмотров • 3 месяцев назад

More and more signs indicate that China is experiencing a large number of deaths. This man said that on a 96-mile-long highway, he actually saw 17 households holding funerals, while only seeing one household holding a wedding, which means the ratio of births to deaths is 1:17. Recently, many Chinese netizens have said online that they suddenly noticed there’s no one in the cities anymore, and no one in the villages either—where have all the people gone? More than one netizen has posted videos asking this question. In addition, reports of crematoriums starting to have lines again and hospitals being overcrowded have begun to appear. I personally believe that the number of deaths during the pandemic a few years ago was severely underreported, a new pandemic is causing deaths again, the population is aging severely, and the number of deaths among younger people is also increasing significantly. The accumulation and overlap of these reasons have suddenly made people aware of the population decline issue and start asking: Where have all the people gone? China’s famous singer Faye Wong (56 years old this year) said in a recent TV interview that in her family of four, only she remains now. Her parents and brother have all passed away.
0:44

More and more signs indicate that China is experiencing a large number of deaths. This man said that on a 96-mile-long highway, he actually saw 17 households holding funerals, while only seeing one household holding a wedding, which means the ratio of births to deaths is 1:17. Recently, many Chinese netizens have said online that they suddenly noticed there’s no one in the cities anymore, and no one in the villages either—where have all the people gone? More than one netizen has posted videos asking this question. In addition, reports of crematoriums starting to have lines again and hospitals being overcrowded have begun to appear. I personally believe that the number of deaths during the pandemic a few years ago was severely underreported, a new pandemic is causing deaths again, the population is aging severely, and the number of deaths among younger people is also increasing significantly. The accumulation and overlap of these reasons have suddenly made people aware of the population decline issue and start asking: Where have all the people gone? China’s famous singer Faye Wong (56 years old this year) said in a recent TV interview that in her family of four, only she remains now. Her parents and brother have all passed away.

Inconvenient Truths by Jennifer Zeng

27,291 просмотров • 1 год назад

LOCK THEM UP AND THROW AWAY THE KEY The brilliant Dr Jeyanthi Kunadhasan testifies before an Australian Senate Committee that in Pfizer’s own clinical trial there were more deaths in the vaccinated group than the placebo group. For the TGA to grant approve to a new drug which had more deaths in the treatment group than the placebo group is beyond inconceivable, it was criminally negligent. And their excuse for doing so, was the claim the guesswork that the deaths in the vaccinated group where not related to the vaccine - yet many of these were unexplained sudden deaths for which no autopsy was performed. So their excuse that the deaths in the vaccinated group where not related to the vaccine was made without any evidence - which was also criminally negligent. And now we have tens of thousands of excess dead Australians - exactly what the results of the Pfizer trial suggested would happen. So it’s beyond criminal negligence- it’s mass negligent homicide. And to think they forced Australians to inject this stuff, knowing full well that Pfizer’s trial indicated that increase your risk of death. Forget the Royal Commission, we need to go straight to Nuremberg 2.0
2:24

LOCK THEM UP AND THROW AWAY THE KEY The brilliant Dr Jeyanthi Kunadhasan testifies before an Australian Senate Committee that in Pfizer’s own clinical trial there were more deaths in the vaccinated group than the placebo group. For the TGA to grant approve to a new drug which had more deaths in the treatment group than the placebo group is beyond inconceivable, it was criminally negligent. And their excuse for doing so, was the claim the guesswork that the deaths in the vaccinated group where not related to the vaccine - yet many of these were unexplained sudden deaths for which no autopsy was performed. So their excuse that the deaths in the vaccinated group where not related to the vaccine was made without any evidence - which was also criminally negligent. And now we have tens of thousands of excess dead Australians - exactly what the results of the Pfizer trial suggested would happen. So it’s beyond criminal negligence- it’s mass negligent homicide. And to think they forced Australians to inject this stuff, knowing full well that Pfizer’s trial indicated that increase your risk of death. Forget the Royal Commission, we need to go straight to Nuremberg 2.0

Craig Kelly:🇦🇺Foundation for Economic Education

262,856 просмотров • 2 лет назад

Edmonton is facing a serious opioid crisis, and community safety requires new, coordinated approaches. This summer, the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) will open the Integrated Stabilization Centre (ISC), a secure, space where officers can bring people who are at immediate risk due to severe intoxication, substance use or a mental health crisis. With support from Recovery Alberta medical professionals, the ISC will offer 24/7 medical support and connections to voluntary recovery, health care, community and cultural supports. “The Edmonton Police Service is taking decisive action through the ISC to address addiction, overdose and social disorder with a coordinated approach to public safety,” says Deputy Chief Derek McIntyre. The ISC is designed to help divert people from the justice system where possible, reduce pressure on emergency services and provide care with dignity. The ISC is one more step toward a safer, more supportive response for people in crisis.
2:03

Edmonton is facing a serious opioid crisis, and community safety requires new, coordinated approaches. This summer, the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) will open the Integrated Stabilization Centre (ISC), a secure, space where officers can bring people who are at immediate risk due to severe intoxication, substance use or a mental health crisis. With support from Recovery Alberta medical professionals, the ISC will offer 24/7 medical support and connections to voluntary recovery, health care, community and cultural supports. “The Edmonton Police Service is taking decisive action through the ISC to address addiction, overdose and social disorder with a coordinated approach to public safety,” says Deputy Chief Derek McIntyre. The ISC is designed to help divert people from the justice system where possible, reduce pressure on emergency services and provide care with dignity. The ISC is one more step toward a safer, more supportive response for people in crisis.

Edmonton Police

79,604 просмотров • 24 дней назад

🚨 Seattle’s Socialist Experiment is a Complete Disaster!! Open-air fentanyl use. Foil and glass pipes blowing down the streets. Taxpayer-funded “tiny house villages” turned into open drug consumption sites. 7–10 overdose deaths every single day in Washington state. Frontline workers are picking up hundreds of thousands of needles while the city hands out more drug paraphernalia in the name of “harm reduction.” Seattle’s socialist Mayor Katie Wilson still claims the real problem is “housing costs” — not the rampant addiction, crime, and zero accountability. Meanwhile, police staffing has been gutted, retail theft and prostitution fund the habit, and neighborhoods have become war zones. This isn’t compassion, it’s insanity. Enabling addiction while refusing to address the root cause is killing people and destroying the city. Time to end the failed progressive policies. Real solutions require real consequences, treatment, and law and order. Seattle is what happens when ideology trumps reality.
6:02

🚨 Seattle’s Socialist Experiment is a Complete Disaster!! Open-air fentanyl use. Foil and glass pipes blowing down the streets. Taxpayer-funded “tiny house villages” turned into open drug consumption sites. 7–10 overdose deaths every single day in Washington state. Frontline workers are picking up hundreds of thousands of needles while the city hands out more drug paraphernalia in the name of “harm reduction.” Seattle’s socialist Mayor Katie Wilson still claims the real problem is “housing costs” — not the rampant addiction, crime, and zero accountability. Meanwhile, police staffing has been gutted, retail theft and prostitution fund the habit, and neighborhoods have become war zones. This isn’t compassion, it’s insanity. Enabling addiction while refusing to address the root cause is killing people and destroying the city. Time to end the failed progressive policies. Real solutions require real consequences, treatment, and law and order. Seattle is what happens when ideology trumps reality.

Gunther Eagleman™

15,960 просмотров • 2 месяцев назад

Punishing people who use illegal drugs doesn’t work—and only worsens health, racial, and economic inequities. Harm reduction works. It is a nonjudgmental and evidence-based approach of meeting people who use illegal drugs where they are and helps them to save their own lives and strengthen their families and communities. Harm reduction doesn’t withhold help or support even if people cannot or won’t stop using drugs. It also brings compassion to drug policies and ensures that people who use drugs have their voices heard in policy debates. Examples of harm reduction include administering naloxone to reverse the effects of opioid overdose, overdose prevention sites, and housing first programs. Open Society’s Judy Chang gives three facts about harm reduction.
1:26

Punishing people who use illegal drugs doesn’t work—and only worsens health, racial, and economic inequities. Harm reduction works. It is a nonjudgmental and evidence-based approach of meeting people who use illegal drugs where they are and helps them to save their own lives and strengthen their families and communities. Harm reduction doesn’t withhold help or support even if people cannot or won’t stop using drugs. It also brings compassion to drug policies and ensures that people who use drugs have their voices heard in policy debates. Examples of harm reduction include administering naloxone to reverse the effects of opioid overdose, overdose prevention sites, and housing first programs. Open Society’s Judy Chang gives three facts about harm reduction.

Open Society Foundations

17,199 просмотров • 1 месяц назад

Dr. Drew says toxic empathy in addiction policy has cost countless lives. He says RFK Jr.’s new plan could finally start fixing the system. “This is killing millions of people.” “It is toxic empathy that has had harm avoidance as the one and only strategy in the treatment of addiction.” “And it is killing people.” “The addictive process is progressive.” “And it ends in death, hospitalization, or imprisonment.” “These streets are littered with people who are not given a chance at recovery.” “There’s been an ideology in place that has been attacking recovery for thirty years.” “This is the first time we are going to turn to the solution.” “We are finally going to go help these people.” “It’s being led by people who themselves have recovered.” “Mark my words, this is the beginning of something very special.” Dr. Drew
1:49

Dr. Drew says toxic empathy in addiction policy has cost countless lives. He says RFK Jr.’s new plan could finally start fixing the system. “This is killing millions of people.” “It is toxic empathy that has had harm avoidance as the one and only strategy in the treatment of addiction.” “And it is killing people.” “The addictive process is progressive.” “And it ends in death, hospitalization, or imprisonment.” “These streets are littered with people who are not given a chance at recovery.” “There’s been an ideology in place that has been attacking recovery for thirty years.” “This is the first time we are going to turn to the solution.” “We are finally going to go help these people.” “It’s being led by people who themselves have recovered.” “Mark my words, this is the beginning of something very special.” Dr. Drew

MAHA Action

15,721 просмотров • 6 месяцев назад

This is more than just a building, it’s a lifeline for those grappling with addiction and working to reclaim their lives. There is no compassion in leaving people to suffer, and through Alberta’s Recovery Model, we’re putting real, long-term care within reach of every Albertan facing this fight. This milestone, opening our 4th recovery community in Calgary, honours our commitment to each individual who chooses hope over hardship, and strengthens our belief that true recovery is possible when the supports are in place. In Alberta, we don’t stand by, we respond with real help.
1:08

This is more than just a building, it’s a lifeline for those grappling with addiction and working to reclaim their lives. There is no compassion in leaving people to suffer, and through Alberta’s Recovery Model, we’re putting real, long-term care within reach of every Albertan facing this fight. This milestone, opening our 4th recovery community in Calgary, honours our commitment to each individual who chooses hope over hardship, and strengthens our belief that true recovery is possible when the supports are in place. In Alberta, we don’t stand by, we respond with real help.

Danielle Smith

40,316 просмотров • 11 месяцев назад

The Dirty Little Secret About Homelessness Is Also The Key To Ending It The US Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments about what cities can and cannot do to end homelessness. "What if there is a bed available in the Gospel Rescue Mission, but Ms. Johnson, a person, doesn't want it? Doesn’t wish to leave their pet. Her Rottweiler's not permitted there. So that is a difficult question for a person and a difficult policy question..." What everyone agreed on was that homelessness is a difficult problem. "Many people have mentioned this is a serious policy problem… So, the policy questions in this case are very difficult….Martin speaks in terms of someone who is involuntarily homeless and that raises all of those policy questions… We usually think about whether state law, local law already achieves those purposes so that the federal courts aren't micromanaging homeless policy…" I think most people listening to the Supreme Court would agree: it isn’t going to solve homelessness. That is a job for state legislators. So why haven’t they? Why has homelessness gotten worse? The answer that many homeless advocates give is that it’s because we don’t have enough homes, and poverty has increased. But neither is true. Poverty has steadily declined since the 1980s, when homelessness first became an issue of public concern. And very few people are on the street simply because they can’t afford the rent. The evidence is overwhelming that the majority of people on the street are there because of untreated mental illness or addiction, which leads people to use all their money to support their drug habit and be high, rather than work. People who can’t afford the rent but are able to work and aren’t in the grip of addiction or untreated mental illness find a cheaper place to live, move somewhere cheaper, or live with family and friends. It’s true there aren’t enough shelter beds, case workers, group homes, and psychiatric hospitals to care for the homeless. But a big part of the reason for that is that advocates for the homeless have, for 40 years, demanded that funding for dealing with the homeless go into giving people private studio apartments rather than building sufficient shelter beds. They call this “Housing First,” and its record is awful. Few stay in housing, and many die because it fails to treat the cause of the problem, addiction, and untreated mental illness rather than the symptoms. Studies find that cities that prioritize basic shelter over expensive housing reduce the deaths of homeless by 3-fold. And so in LA, homeless die at a rate 3 times higher than New York because living inside protects people from murder, drug overdose, and car accidents. Making matters worse, homeless advocates, along with the ACLU, have opposed expanding psychiatric hospitals, and mandatory care in general, because they believe it’s worse to mandate hospitalization for people who are dangerously psychotic or manic than to simply leave them on the street. But it’s not. Last year, 112,000 Americans died from drug overdose and poisoning because we failed to mandate treatment. Two of my friends from high school would still be alive today had we mandated they get treatment for addiction rather than letting them die. What is happening on homelessness is a record of failure. The number of drug deaths quintupled from 20,000 in 2022 to 112,000 last year. That’s more people dying per year than died in Hiroshima. Homelessness is not a fundamental problem of housing. It’s a problem of enabling addiction and untreated mental illness, both of which lead people to give up on work, lie, steal, cheat their families and friends, and live on the street, where they turn to petty crime to sustain their drug habits. This seems cruel to many people, which is why homelessness has gotten worse. In other words, the reason homelessness has gotten worse is because we’ve enabled it, and subsidized it, rather than funded treatment and recovery. Nobody has subsidized homelessness more than California, Washington, and Oregon. And it’s been in those states that homelessness has worsened the most. Why? The homelessness groups really believe it’s more cruel to mandate care than to let people die on the streets. But there is an ideology behind this, too. It’s the idea that people suffering from addiction and mental illness are victims of society or the system, which is fundamentally evil. And, according to their logic, to restore justice in the world, we must give victims whatever they want, including the right to camp anywhere and use hard drugs, even if it results in their death. You might call this "pathological altruism. Think of the Kathy Bates character in Misery. Or of the mother who poisons her child in order to have a sick person to take care of, like in “Sixth Sense.” It’s no coincidence that the same people who believe this also think civilization is evil and should be replaced by something more akin to primitive anarchism, like the kind romanticized by intellectuals since Rousseau. The alternative to this dystopia is tough love. We need to give people the care they need, but that’s not through enabling addiction and illegal behavior, but rather enforcing laws and mandating care, as an alternative to jail, when they are broken. It’s not enough to do what many Republicans want to do, which is to enforce laws and recriminalize shoplifting and hard drugs simply. We need to do that, for sure. But states must also have caseworkers, group homes, and psychiatric hospitals so there is an alternative to jail, and so states can provide people with the specialized care where it’s available, which simply isn’t going to be in many of the small towns, like the one at the center of the Supreme Court hearing. The dirty little secret about homelessness, which is also the key to ending it, is...
5:52

The Dirty Little Secret About Homelessness Is Also The Key To Ending It The US Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments about what cities can and cannot do to end homelessness. "What if there is a bed available in the Gospel Rescue Mission, but Ms. Johnson, a person, doesn't want it? Doesn’t wish to leave their pet. Her Rottweiler's not permitted there. So that is a difficult question for a person and a difficult policy question..." What everyone agreed on was that homelessness is a difficult problem. "Many people have mentioned this is a serious policy problem… So, the policy questions in this case are very difficult….Martin speaks in terms of someone who is involuntarily homeless and that raises all of those policy questions… We usually think about whether state law, local law already achieves those purposes so that the federal courts aren't micromanaging homeless policy…" I think most people listening to the Supreme Court would agree: it isn’t going to solve homelessness. That is a job for state legislators. So why haven’t they? Why has homelessness gotten worse? The answer that many homeless advocates give is that it’s because we don’t have enough homes, and poverty has increased. But neither is true. Poverty has steadily declined since the 1980s, when homelessness first became an issue of public concern. And very few people are on the street simply because they can’t afford the rent. The evidence is overwhelming that the majority of people on the street are there because of untreated mental illness or addiction, which leads people to use all their money to support their drug habit and be high, rather than work. People who can’t afford the rent but are able to work and aren’t in the grip of addiction or untreated mental illness find a cheaper place to live, move somewhere cheaper, or live with family and friends. It’s true there aren’t enough shelter beds, case workers, group homes, and psychiatric hospitals to care for the homeless. But a big part of the reason for that is that advocates for the homeless have, for 40 years, demanded that funding for dealing with the homeless go into giving people private studio apartments rather than building sufficient shelter beds. They call this “Housing First,” and its record is awful. Few stay in housing, and many die because it fails to treat the cause of the problem, addiction, and untreated mental illness rather than the symptoms. Studies find that cities that prioritize basic shelter over expensive housing reduce the deaths of homeless by 3-fold. And so in LA, homeless die at a rate 3 times higher than New York because living inside protects people from murder, drug overdose, and car accidents. Making matters worse, homeless advocates, along with the ACLU, have opposed expanding psychiatric hospitals, and mandatory care in general, because they believe it’s worse to mandate hospitalization for people who are dangerously psychotic or manic than to simply leave them on the street. But it’s not. Last year, 112,000 Americans died from drug overdose and poisoning because we failed to mandate treatment. Two of my friends from high school would still be alive today had we mandated they get treatment for addiction rather than letting them die. What is happening on homelessness is a record of failure. The number of drug deaths quintupled from 20,000 in 2022 to 112,000 last year. That’s more people dying per year than died in Hiroshima. Homelessness is not a fundamental problem of housing. It’s a problem of enabling addiction and untreated mental illness, both of which lead people to give up on work, lie, steal, cheat their families and friends, and live on the street, where they turn to petty crime to sustain their drug habits. This seems cruel to many people, which is why homelessness has gotten worse. In other words, the reason homelessness has gotten worse is because we’ve enabled it, and subsidized it, rather than funded treatment and recovery. Nobody has subsidized homelessness more than California, Washington, and Oregon. And it’s been in those states that homelessness has worsened the most. Why? The homelessness groups really believe it’s more cruel to mandate care than to let people die on the streets. But there is an ideology behind this, too. It’s the idea that people suffering from addiction and mental illness are victims of society or the system, which is fundamentally evil. And, according to their logic, to restore justice in the world, we must give victims whatever they want, including the right to camp anywhere and use hard drugs, even if it results in their death. You might call this "pathological altruism. Think of the Kathy Bates character in Misery. Or of the mother who poisons her child in order to have a sick person to take care of, like in “Sixth Sense.” It’s no coincidence that the same people who believe this also think civilization is evil and should be replaced by something more akin to primitive anarchism, like the kind romanticized by intellectuals since Rousseau. The alternative to this dystopia is tough love. We need to give people the care they need, but that’s not through enabling addiction and illegal behavior, but rather enforcing laws and mandating care, as an alternative to jail, when they are broken. It’s not enough to do what many Republicans want to do, which is to enforce laws and recriminalize shoplifting and hard drugs simply. We need to do that, for sure. But states must also have caseworkers, group homes, and psychiatric hospitals so there is an alternative to jail, and so states can provide people with the specialized care where it’s available, which simply isn’t going to be in many of the small towns, like the one at the center of the Supreme Court hearing. The dirty little secret about homelessness, which is also the key to ending it, is...

Michael Shellenberger

29,148,561 просмотров • 2 лет назад