W-Five had an excellent piece on Ottawa's growing crack and heroin problem and the role of the needle exchange program .... or more accurately give-away, since you can just leave your dirty used one anywhere you please.
The growth of the crack problem, they say, is largely due to a drop of a hit from $10 to $3.
I don't think it's too terribly hard to see why the price dropped. Encourage behavior by supplying paraphernalia and reducing enforcement -- the market is gonna get flooded with supply.
Price drops.
Get tough with dealers, give users the option of treatment (if Dolt hadn't closed Burritts Rapids that might be an option) or time. That restricts supply ... a scarce commodity demands a higher price.
It's simple economics.
Needles have been handed out in Ottawa for 13 years. Isn't it time to call the grand experiment a colossal failure ?
Not according to Dr. Gabor Mata, head of the safe-injection free-for-all in Vancouver ... he thinks we outta just let the junkies and crackheads do as they please .... completely unfettered. In an interview on CFRA on Monday he stated:
"What sense are we making in criminalizing the petty drug addict who sells an ounce of cocaine to support his own habit ?"
One of the crackheads in the W5 story was asked if they hated their life. The answer ?
Of course ... every second of it.
The innocent one ounce pusher is responsible for enabling and prolonging that hell ... just a little longer ... for 56 individuals.
Some city councillors have their heads in the sand
I'm thinkin' that this story was devastating for Ottawa's tourism industry ... what Canadian would want to come and see this crap in the heart of the capital. I woulda thought Ottawa city council would have had an emergency meeting Monday morning to discuss how to mitigate the damage.
It didn't happen. Guess they were too busy writing their odes to the Portrait Gallery.
Not only did it not happen .... On the regular Thursday municipal panel Councillors Alex Cullen and Jacques Legendre admitted they hadn't seen it. Marianne Wilkinson admitted to seeing only the part that featured City police chief Vern White. Cullen and Wilkinson were watching hockey (cuz you know ... that's what's really important). Legendre didn't even know about the program.
Shame on them. Oh, so happy I don't pay taxes in that City.
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