Reflections on Vancouver, British Columbia and other topics, related or not
Addiction advocate
heads overdose task force
Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson gets a bigger
forum to push for tax-funded drug inducements
Greg Klein | March 19, 2017
Addiction advocate Gregor Robertson playing
his man of constant commiseration role. (Photo: CBC)
Thanks to people like Gregor Robertson, Vancouver’s probably the world’s most junkie-friendly city and—hardly a coincidence—the birthplace of an overdose crisis that’s spreading through B.C. and threatens other parts of Canada. Now the Vancouver mayor has even more opportunity to promote drug addiction. Quite perversely, last month he was appointed chairperson of a Federation of Canadian Municipalities task force to address the OD epidemic. Expect him to manipulate that position to encourage more addiction.
Just one day before his appointment, the CBC posted a tortured Robertson argument that linked addiction to a lack of free housing. Somewhat unfocused and appealing largely to emotions, Robertson failed to argue his case intelligently. But this is Canadian public discourse so stupidity’s acceptable, provided it’s conventional stupidity. This excerpt emphasizes Roberston’s belief that druggies shouldn’t even have to give up drugs to get their free druggie homes:
I've been fiercely advocating for more supportive housing and “housing first” programs with health supports, to give homeless drug users access to immediate housing and treatment options, with no requirement to abstain from drug use—a universal best practice recommended by the Mental Health Commission of Canada.
Similar arguments will likely come from the mayors’ task force, now that he’s in charge. But what’s the connection between overdoses and homelessness? Very slight, if it exists at all. Even the Vancouver Sun figured that one out. Its editorial board cited widely publicized B.C. Coroners Service data suggesting relatively few drug fatalities among the homeless “despite the ubiquitous images of first responders reviving a victim in an alley in the Downtown Eastside.”
Robertson long ago enticed the world’s bums to Vancouver by claiming he was going to eliminate homelessness, which meant giving free homes to freeloaders. Now he wants another inducement: Play around with dangerous drugs, devote the rest of your life to getting high and you too can get a free home.
This comes on top of Vancouver’s other addiction-enabling policies, programs and services. Junkies get further encouragement from Vancouver’s doctrine of predestination, which claims that junkies were born to be junkies and nothing but junkies. So forget about self-restraint and live to get high.
Oh, and you’ll get a free home too.