The Dark Underbelly of Vancouver

Last Friday I went downtown with a friend to meet two Quebecois girls at a pub in Gastown. This area of that pub is fine but it's right on the edge of what has often been described as "the worst neighbourhood in Canada". My friend parked his car in a monitored lot about 6 blocks away to reduce the chances of it getting plundered by some crack / heroin / crystal meth addict in search of funds to pay for his next fix. This meant we had to cross the "danger zone" twice.

Both heading there and coming back we saw scenes that were re-enactments from "Night of the Living Dead". You see dozens of lost souls on every block, down every lane, and in every doorway. The "look" in the eyes of these junkies is beyond description. Two cops walked by at one point and I immediately realized the futility of their job. For even if they were to arrest dozens of people, all of them would be back on the street the next day. Such is the state of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside today.

Yet at the same time we have countless members of what I call "DEPI" (the Downtown Eastside Poverty Industry) that rave on & on & on about what great things they're doing in the name of harm reduction. But ask them how many addicts they've successfully cured of their habits and hear nothing but silence.

There are SO MANY PARALLELS with the nonsense spun about Global Warming. It's my understanding that Montreal and Toronto are considering adopting similar programs to what we have here in Vancouver. I would vehemently urge them not to! But I am not the most well versed in the facts & figures of what's really happening out here. For that I turn to David Berner. He's done many things in his life including broadcasting, writing, and actually running a SUCCESSFUL drug rehab facility for a decade in Winnipeg.

On this subject he has written much. Here are some recent examples:

• http://thebernermonologues.blogspot.com/2007/01/wired-to-lose-comprehensive-examination.html
• http://thebernermonologues.blogspot.com/2007/02/pillars-galore.html
• http://thebernermonologues.blogspot.com/2007/06/running-on-empty-mobile-safe-sites.html
• http://thebernermonologues.blogspot.com/2007/05/at-last-at-long-bloody-last.html