Reflections on Vancouver, British Columbia and other topics, related or not
Junkie chaos disrupts
hospital emergency ward
It’s probably a common but under-reported occurrence
If this happens in Ontario hospitals, it’s likely even more common in British Columbia. B.C. media sometimes hint at similar incidents, but this Peterborough account was graphically reported by Christopher Dummitt in the National Post on July 24, 2025. (The drug-addict zombies are coming for your neighbourhood. It’s a zombie apocalypse, and just like in the movies, the zombies aren’t the only ones being hurt)
Here’s an excerpt from the story:
Photo: Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press
Last week, while visiting my local ER, I met someone I’ll call “Dwight.” I was there to help my child. Dwight was there to get access to drugs.
I shouldn’t have known Dwight’s name — I certainly didn’t know the name of any other patient in the small curtained off “rooms” where we found ourselves. But Dwight was hard to miss. Loud rock music was blaring from his room. It’s not normal in an ER but apparently Dwight needed to be calmed down and he had an iPad and this is all the nurses had to work with.
It wasn’t enough. Soon Dwight was demanding drugs. Like RIGHT NOW. The nurses couldn’t help. He’d just been given drugs.
That’s when he began to smash things.
When he smashed the computer next to his bed, the security guards came. But they didn’t approach Dwight. As the nurse kept telling him, security was just there to keep everyone else safe.
“Please sit back down Dwight. Go back to your bed Dwight.”
Dwight didn’t go back to bed. The shouting got worse. So did the swearing and then, randomly, the accusations of racism against the non-white security guards who had just shown up. It wasn’t until the police came and restrained Dwight to the gurney that things began to settle down. Though not until they had sedated him.
In the meantime, my own child, who was in immense pain, didn’t get attention. The nurses and doctors couldn’t get near us.
But don’t worry, Dwight was OK.