A better option to treating the opioid crisis is to help those in need now … rather than waiting to see how their suffering will affect them and society as a whole.
The costs are always the same … either be a conservative and villainize these people and let them become a burden on society and costs go towards police, security, emergency health care, judicial and negative social effects from their destroyed lives
… or …
Be more socially minded and spend the funds on helping these people now and prevent them from spiralling out of control and negatively affecting their lives further or the lives of others.
Prevention and risk reduction is always cheaper than cures or damage control.
The problem always seems to be that government and those in power always view these issues from an economic and financial perspective … rather than as a humanitarian issue that just requires us to take care of one another.
Ironically though, almost every time the humanitarian approach is more economical.
It’s more expensive to police people than to help them. It’s more expensive to clean up around a homeless camp and deal with all the fallout than it is to house them. It’s more expensive to handle the repercussions of ignoring everyone’s health than to treat them.
Most of the time, when you cut to the quick of why people don’t want to fund something like OAT, you tend to get a response that basically boils down to wanting bad behaviour to be punished.
Exactly, I WISH the government would view these issues from an economic perspective, because that would mean actually helping these people and integrating them back into society
You forgot the most obvious that homeless drug addicted people are not employed and paying taxes. It’s a double whammy.
Oh I didn’t forget. It’s just that I could write forever and I have to draw the line somewhere.
Spending money now uses fewer cops.
Conservatives always seem to prefer being reactive rather than proactive, because when you are reactive you actually see the effects of the money being spent (gear for police, jails, etc.).
Being proactive you just see money being spent and you don’t actually see as much physical and obvious things, mostly just stats and numbers (less crowded ERs, lower crime rates, less overdoses, etc.) Which are harder for them to believe/justify.
Politics, especially on the right, likes “right now” policies. We give the cops more gear right now to crack heads, etc. And inevitably in a few years when they’re out of office they cab point to the short term changes made and campaign off that. No matter the cost to society or vulnerable populations. I mean it’s not just the right, but they provide so many examples on the regular.
It’s always better to prevent the problem both fiscally and responsibly. Modern Conservatives/Neoliberals don’t care about that though, they just want to hurt people and then pretend they’re doing something. Creating issues like this helps keep people distracted from the reality that the wealthy have robbed workers for the last 40 years
The unfortunate reality of substance abuse is not the lack of care, but the lack of commitment or motivation to get care. Same with all the resources we provide for mental illness.
We need to find more ways to get people into treatment, or at least incentivize them to do so.
I’ve heard a number of stories of people asking for assistance with mental health and being added to a list that will take them as much as 6 months to be seen even once. So what is it? Are there so few resources to help those who are asking, never mind those who have given up, or are we spending vast amounts on that with no one taking advantage of it? The evidence suggests the former.
No doubt, waiting lists happen, depends on the resource or service needed.
You also need to be acutely aware that some mental illnesses (i.e anxiety disorder) can distort a persons perspective, so any small effort would be described as “I tried everything to get help.” This should be recognized by anyone involved in this person’s care.
In Ontario, you are a call away from help. We have crisis teams that can be called out. We have free and paid therapy options. There are hospital beds for someone in a crisis. Etc. These are often immediately availability with no wait.
Yes, if you want to commit yourself to a place like Ontario Shores, then there’s likely a wait list depending on the program, but there are a half dozen other services you can access while you wait.
Kids and youth are helped faster than adults.
Can we use more resources? Of course, but getting someone with a mental illnesses to access and commit to treatment is the most difficult part, IMO.
I can’t speak for anyone else’s experiences, but I do have first hand experience, and a spouse who needs these services on an ongoing basis.
With mental health specifically, help often involves many moving parts: pharmaceutical, family support, workplace support, doctor support, therapist support, an in or out patient commitment, personal motivation, often times financial aid, and time.
It is daunting for anyone to see how much effort is needed, so it becomes an even greater challenge for someone who’s already struggling or has little will to see past today’s suffering.
But seeing how the Ontario government has been chronically underspending, I do believe that we can do much better for people in need.
I would encourage you to try and access care - it’s incredibly challenging if you aren’t an immediate threat to yourself or someone else. I agree lack of access would demotivate people trying to access care.
Drug addiction is a public health issue, not a criminal matter.
I would encourage you to try and access care
I have, for my spouse and another person in my immediate family (under 18). Mind you, this was before the pandemic, so things may have changed since then (no doubt), but it was far easier to find resources than it was to get a commitment for treatment.
You can’t force someone to get treatment, since these places only accept people who consent to it.
The real problem is that anyone who’s in a mental health crisis, or struggles with substance abuse, lack the perspective to see that they need treatment. We do need more access, but we also need proven strategies to help convince someone to seek treatment (and to stick with it).
It’s a difficult puzzle to solve, and I really empathize with any family or individual who is in this situation.
Here I am paying sales tax on kratom like a cuck!
Some people are genuinely in pain, e.g. those with osteoarthritis, and opioid treatment, e.g. methadone, could reduce their suffering, good for them!
This will save money and reduce crime. I could not care less about being socially minded, but this just makes sense.
Absolutely an important step along with safea supply
Is there any NA city that implemented this that actually reduced overall drug abuse and homelessness? I always assumed the “you can do it!” Group was always loud via survivorship bias.
I just hope we’re not throwing good money after bad.
Best example I’ve ever read or seen first hand is in what they did in Portugal.
Every other example in North America is basically the same … they did half measures, expected results in weeks or months and never bothered to see what would happen in years or even lifetimes. Everyone always wants quick answers … but no one ever wants to admit that social problems like this will take decades and lifetimes of support, work and assistance to see positive results.
There is no quick fix … if there was, we would have used it and been successful by now.
El Salvador fixed it’s violence problem in 1 year, their methods are just not something Canadians could stomach as a solution I think.
