Writing

“1) Safe supply barely exists. 2) You've always been able to buy dillies in Vancouver. 3) You can't get treatment if you're dead. 4) This is a crisis of capitalism: low wages, insane housing costs, and never ending cycles of trauma.”

“The city has closed an overdose prevention site in Yaletown which could further endanger drug users.”

“Before that, it was the righteous furore of NIMBY's who had discovered a vending machine of harm reduction supplies at a hospital. That’s right, health materials at a hospital… shocker.”

“Having already caved to pressures around harm reduction and decriminalization, the NDP were more convinced by Karens complaining that tax dollars shouldn’t pay for crack pipes than the very real threat of a spike in Hep C and HIV (costing taxpayers magnitudes more).”

“It goes so far that in 2024 we are talking about using the notwithstanding clause to round up the mentally ill and force them into addiction treatment. This is absolutely fucking terrifying and it’s all on Eby for capitulating on decrim. The treatment industry, rife with sexual assault, is an unregulated billion dollar industry and have been the leading crusaders against harm reduction.”

“While decriminalization was a failure from the start by imposing a 2.5 gram threshold, the practice of police confiscating drugs has increased, leading to users seeking out potentially poisoned supply.”

“No, we don’t have a safe supply of drugs in B.C. (only 2% of drug users access the prescribed alternatives program). No, drugs are not legal. No we don’t hand them out for free. No, harm reduction doesn’t enable addicts. No, it doesn’t prevent someone from getting in to treatment. No, overdose prevention sites don’t dispense drugs. No, there’s no heroin in the province (so stop comparing us to Portugal). No junkies aren’t dying en masse in the street (casual users are dying in their homes).”

“Their logic goes: seeing a mouthpiece in a vending machine will enable drug users, or children, to become addicted. Of course, there’s absolutely no proof that harm reduction supplies enable drug users any more than giving free condoms in schools enables teenagers to have sex. In fact, the opposite is likely true. Destigmifying works.”

“Cops don't prevent crime, they are crime.”

“The DTES is a way for us to shift our policy failures onto a specific group of people while ignoring the fact that it's really an example of capitalism working as intended.”

“Since the election there was a massive pseudo-militarized operation that cleared tents from Hastings street that saw condemnations from the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, the Federal Housing Advocate, and a former UN special rapporteur on housing.”

“Of course, pretending to care about the poor while simultaneously making the underlying conditions worse is the entire conservative brand. The City of Vancouver just spent more than $400K to turn the designated CRAB Park encampment into an open air prison. While this is obviously so the city can keep up the veneer of a World Class City during cruise ship season and the upcoming FIFA spectacle, ABC councillor Peter Meiszner has the audacity to dress it up as being good for the community.”

“The school board reinstated the controversial School Liaison Officer program, despite evidence showing that SLOs actually exacerbate crime and contribute to what academics call the school to prison pipeline (Samuels-Wortley, 2021).”

“Of the myriad of callous and inept decisions by Vancouver’s ABC, the decision to go ahead with lighting City Hall and Burrard Bridge in the colours of the Israeli flag on so-called Israeli independence day, despite thousands of letters asking them not to, may have just finally revealed to voters their true far-right nature.”

“He [Trudeau] was a spent force. That being said his gimmicky tax holiday, Trump’s tariffs, inflation, his authoritarian treatment of the Trucker Convoy (yes, leftists should be abhorred by this) all played a role, when really it should’ve been his broken promise on electoral reform, buying a leaky pipeline, mocking Indigenous land defenders, first nations water advisories, total inaction on our housing crisis, and his unwavering support of Israel.”

“Community Trusts! Non-profit housing corporation! Right of First Refusal! Land Value Tax! It’s so heartbreaking that we could have had progressive property tax since 94, (not to mention vacancy control, not to mention a vehicle levy that would have funded TransLink healthily) but the NDP backed down because of pearl clutching wealthy homeowners. Imagine the kind of social programs that could be funded.”