On either side of the political spectrum, we can undoubtedly all agree that the seemingly growing opioid crisis must be addressed.
Of course left and right wing will, all too predictably, espouse nearly completely opposed policy approaches to reduce the problem that has resulted in the loss of many thousands of lives throughout the country, or an average of eight every day.
Conservatives claim they want to help addicts, but will then turn around and essentially condemn those individuals to back alleys and disease-ridden conditions as opposed to providing a safe site that facilitates rehabilitation instead of exacerbating crippling addictions.
Mounting bodies of evidence clearly demonstrate in places that have pursued supervised consumption sites that the spread of drug-related diseases drops, as does drug-related violence and drug-related overdoses.
These programs and facilities literally save lives and reduce many problems that stem from merely attempting to sweep the issue under the rug.
Yet United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney seems to think otherwise, recently telling the Lethbridge Herald, “Helping addicts inject poison into their bodies is not a solution to the problem of addiction.”
This, not surprisingly, is a misrepresentation of the case for safe consumption sites.
Absolutely no one is promoting or encouraging the use of dangerous, potentially deadly substances — legal or illicit. Let’s just go ahead and get that out the way first.
However, some of us do believe that the only real way to help drug addicts is to provide professional, safe, supervised, compassionate support that if nothing else will at the very least prevent the further spread of disease and drug-related overdoses as patients will no longer face the risks associated with completely unknown street mixtures and sharing or reusing potentially disease-laden needles.
The use of all drugs should be decriminalized without further needless delay that merely continues to cause far more harm than good. Whether all drugs should be legalized is a whole different discussion. Going after manufacturers and pushers that prey on vulnerable people is one thing, but we have to stop self-righteously persecuting people who suffer from addiction.
Alcoholics can at least seek help, safe and reassured by the knowledge they will not be held by significant segments of society in contemptuous disdain as criminals who should be locked up.
“Loving people — that’s how you get people to treat themselves better.”
These are the words of a retired U.S. police major, Neill Franklin, who fought as an undercover DEA agent at the front line of the War on Drugs for more than 20 years.
But now, the devout Christian — who said in a March 2014 interview with Vice that he felt a higher calling nudge him in a new direction — is committed to progressively reforming failed drug policy through an organization he helped found, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.
After decades of misleading and manipulative politicized prohibitionist propaganda that has served as nothing more than a social control tool, Franklin is fighting an uphill battle.
Yet as evidence continues to mount in favour of supporting new approaches such as safe consumption sites, politicians like Kenney who continue to stand against the proven policy will end up on the wrong side of history.
— Ducatel is the editor of the Sundre Round Up, a Great West newspaper
