Drugs, expectations, consequences and solutions

[razz]

Canada is experiencing a significant problem with drug addiction, OD, family expectations of the community's role and solutions.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...site-1.5908686

"A Barrie, Ont., mother whose son died from consuming tainted drugs says she was disgusted to discover the city's business leaders are paying $28,000 to a lobbying firm to have a proposed supervised consumption site moved away from the downtown area...
Ryan was open about the fact he was using crack cocaine to deal with his bipolar disorder, she said, and would have used a supervised consumption site to check the safety of his supply had there been one in Barrie. It could have saved his life, Nayler said.

Individual business owners or business groups opposing social services in their community is nothing new in Canada, but the decision to spend money on an outside company raises questions about who is swaying the debate around a serious public health issue. Nayler says she believes the entire process should be led by health officials, and questions why the BIA has a say in the site selection at all.

"This is not their mandate," she said...

However, video from a September 2020 BIA meeting suggests the organization, chaired by former Barrie mayor Rob Hamilton, may be more focused on business issues and the city's image than health outcomes. There was no discussion, for example, of the potential harm of moving a supervised consumption site further from the core.

Supervised consumption sites haven't eliminated all community concerns in cities where they've opened, such as Toronto and Vancouver, but public health data suggests they have saved lives. Toronto Public Health data, for example, shows its front-line staff have administered the opioid antidote naloxone more than 800 times since August of 2017.

But even with the sites, the opioid crisis rages on. Toronto paramedics responded to 34 fatal opioid overdose calls in December 2020, marking a grim new record for the city. "

I am sure that other communities are struggling with this. My small community has 3 methadone clinics downtown so more of the addicted individuals are moving here for this support. Add in those who are doing other drugs. My peers won't go downtown to shop; I do but buy so little . T BiA or Business Improvement Association is a group of merchants trying to earn a living, pay taxes to the community and struggle when shoppers are scared away. I don't want people to die.

Has community found a way forward? It seems to be either help businesses survive or save lives of those who are addicted.

I have yet to see where the addicts who are smart and capable people take some ownership of the problem and work toward solutions. It seems to be left to the struggling businesses, the families left behind, the health departments, the police and politicians to solve.

[Yppej]

Does Canada have treatment on demand?

[razz]

Does Canada have treatment on demand?

I don't know what you mean by this? From whom is the demand? Courts, family, individuals, healthcare?

What treatment? What example are you using to demonstrate a better outcome?

People are free to make their own choices to do nothing, short-term or longterm rehab but someone has to pay the bills so how much is mental health expense, etc paid by whom? Who owns the problem? Who should be included as the parties to find solutions? What is the goal?

I was actually asking if the US has found a way of working to deal with a family's grief on the loss of a loved one due to the opioid and the options that could be explored because it is tearing communities apart.

[Yppej]

You wrote about Canada so my question is can anyone in Canada who wants to do so go to rehab without waiting and without out of pocket costs? Since you have national health insurance I would think it would be easier for you to solve this problem.