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Drug Abuse in Downtown Eastside

Tuesday, 26 May 2009 @ 12:37Written by kyc4

Drug abuse in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver has been a growing problem-the results? Just walk down Hastings and you can see how many people have beeen led to the streets by drugs. According to CBC News, there are about 5,000 injection drug users in the Downtown Eastside, many who live within an 8 block area. Not to mention the amount of drug related crime that has increased recently (remember when we had 40 shootings in 3 months?) It''s getting to be a scary world out there, and we must start somewhere. Let''s hope that by tackling drug abuse in Vancouver, we can begin deminishing the many effects that come along with it, thus bringing the safety and life back into Vancouver.

Keywords: drug abuse, Downtown Eastside, crime, homelessness

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I totally agree with you! Really, sometimes I write something about replica watches or rolex watches, but I still do not understand why so famous the omega watches or rolex.but you know what you’re saying.

To add: Homelessness is not only a result of drug abuse. The social issues there include much more. There is economic hardship which can hit anyone and some of us don''t have support networks. There is a high rate of mentally ill people who are either homeless, drug abusers or both for lack of resources to meet their unique needs. As humans, we are social creatures who have built a world where a general set of social skills are essential to survive, and often those who can not conform are left "unemployable" and homeless. Our own animal kingdom as human beings requires us to fit in with the whole in many ways for our survival. Thanks to the changes of the industrial age we live more now as self-supporting individuals and do not have the same community support needs for survival as we would have needed to do with a pre-industrial way of living.

Yes, drug abuse is a problem for human beings. DTES is simply where the users congregate in the GVRD. Sometimes this is not by choice, as resources or probation requirements make sure that at-risk individuals are placed in the DTES. What could we do to we help the DTES? I am told by advocates in Strathcona that many half way homes are run by companies whose only care is the bottom line and not the health and well being of its residents & community. I read in the news that the shelters that were being placed in alternate areas to help disperse the DTES homeless were met with resistance from the communities they were placed in. I guess the real questions is how can we try to resolve the root cause of the problem by addressing only a symptom - crime? What do the addicts really need to recover & become law abiding citizens?.. Even then, are we not left with a population that medicates itself at alarmingly high rates with alcohol and prescription drugs? Can we heal the cause of this?

I agree. Drug abuse is always a root reason for many social problems. To tackle drug abuse can be hard, but definitely worth efforts.

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