by
jr | March 3, 2007 at 02:44 pm
808 views | 20 Recommendations |
3 comments
Yesterday I was walking up Main St. on the Downtown Eastside, headed to a coffee shop with my friend J.D. Under the Georgia viaduct, J.D. asked two workers wearing red coats with strips of green fluorescent tape across the back, “How’s business?” It was obvious what business they were in. One of them, a 20-something white guy with light brown hair, a beard and wire-rimmed glasses, was carrying the telltale plastic yellow pail.
See story at Downtown Eastside Enquirer
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (3)
at 01:11 on March 4th, 2007
These two alone on one shift pick up on average 250 needles per day?
This is winter time in Vancouver! Why would people sit in a freezing,
dirty alleyway to shoot up when they could go down the block to a
clean, well-lighted place with professional, tax-paid staff to assist
them? Let me see: cold alleyway on one side, nice warm place around the
corner. Why choose the alleyway. Daily. Why choose the alley 250 times
per day!
And that's just the two pick-up guys in question. There
are other workers on other shifts in other areas. The needles in the
pail tell the story the povertarians won't tell: drug addicts on one
shift in one small area of the city don't use the needle exchange on
average 250 times per day. The needle exchange is as close, at least
often, as around the corner. The drug addicts don't use it. Why not?
It's as simple a matter as staying warm and dry. How bad does it have
to be indoors to drive a junkie into the cold? 250 times per day on one
shift in one area!
at 15:20 on March 4th, 2007
I know our member JR has just put a bit of this story on Nowpublic, but I highly recommend that you click through and read all of it.
A lot of people have no idea what Vancouver is like - many know of the pretty mountains and sparking bays, rounded by friendly Canadians who are healthy, prosperous and ready to smile.
Read on.
at 20:03 on March 4th, 2007
Your story is now on the home page for awhile, and everywhere else the “good stuff” box shows up. Many thanks.