Unsolicited I might add, and paid for with mine and your taxes…oh the joy of being a citizen in Toronto – the city that never stops giving, and giving, and giving…
crossposted at Dust My Broom
Friday, August 08, 2008
I got mail.
Some people go to their mail boxes and get bills, letters, maybe a flyer advertising what is on sale at the grocery store or at Canadian Tire but I am a citizen living in the centre of the universe – dead centre, so this is what I get –
Unsolicited I might add, and paid for with mine and your taxes…oh the joy of being a citizen in Toronto – the city that never stops giving, and giving, and giving…
crossposted at Dust My Broom
Unsolicited I might add, and paid for with mine and your taxes…oh the joy of being a citizen in Toronto – the city that never stops giving, and giving, and giving…
crossposted at Dust My Broom
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12 comments:
So, lecture after lecture, you convince your kid that drugs are dangerous, for losers, and should be avoided. And this arrives in the mail, prompting the logical conclusion; yeah, they're sort of bad, but the city wants to help you do them...
Yup, that about sums it up, and the only thing I would add is the city wants you to help you make this terrible thing safer.
After all the years of study of addictions and recovery, you would think we would learn the very worse thing for an addict to have is anyone act as enablers.
The city did not mail anyone a crack kit. Someone obviously put it in your mailbox.
Perhaps not a good use of time to make an issue out of an event that did not occur.
Where is the postage stamp?
What the heck? Do you live in Regent Park, or at Jane and Finch? :)
Alex, neither - although, I am on the edge of Cabbagetown.
Anon - I have no idea where you live but everyday I go to the mail box and its fill without all kinds of things which are delivered without a stamp. If you don't think its a big deal read Morgan Swift's comment and give your head a shake.
I work in the neighbourhood in question and know for a fact that no-one mailed you a crack kit. I find it disturbing that you would post false information.
What would be the point of mailing crack kits, with no explanation, to random individuals?
The kit is from Street Health. Maybe you should call them and ask them if they mail out crack kits before you make these kind of accusations.
Anon, what I find disturbing is your lack of reading comprehension skills in a country, which has free public education for decades. I never said anyone mailed me the safer cracker kit. I said I found it in my mail box. How it got there is a mystery but got there it did – and unsolicited I might add.
You wrote:
"And so the City of Toronto sent me a safe crack kit in the mail"
http://dustmybroom.com/content/view/4991/1/
So, excuse my poor reading skills. I just assumed that when you said the City SENT you something and that you found it in your MAILBOX that you were suggesting it was mailed to you.
Best to just admitt you made an error and perhaps correct it so people stop accusing the city and/or Street Health of mailing crack kits.
There is no need to be rude and condescending.
Anon, you do realize you are commenting at The Last Amazon, where I am both the writer and publisher of this blog - nu?
Secondly, if you read what exactly I have written at the Last Amazon, I do not name or suggest anyone who delivered said 'safer crack kit' to my mail box at The Last Amazon.
I will admit to being perturbed by a number of comments and/or bloggers who go from point a) and project a conclusion located way off at point d) So much so, that I have sent emails suggesting the following updates:
1) My mail box is accessible by the general public.
2) I do not police my mail box.
3) I have no idea who sent/mailed/stashed/stored a safer crack kit in my mail box. It could be the City of Toronto, it could be a Street Health outreach worker, it could be a crackie or even a crack dealer. I simply do not know and neither do you unless you have been stalking my home mail box or you put it there.
4) I literally came home Friday night, opened my mail box, and viola – a Safer Crack Kit. I have no idea where you live but while crack addicts run rampant through the neighborhood, and many times I have had had to shoo them off from behind my hedges when the smoke from their pipes was wafing through my living room windows or kick them off my porch, I never would believe the day would come when the city would finance a program which would act to facilitate their addictive and destructive behaviour. Nor did I ever expect to find a Safer Crack kit in my mail box. It may not be a first for you but it is for me.
The real issue is not who put the 'Safer Crack Kit' in my mail box, but the fact the City of Toronto funds such dubious undertakings with municipal taxes in the first place without the concern for where these mobile 'safer crack kits' are used/stashed/stored. And just as importantly, it shows very little regard and actively undermines the parental message most of us try to teach our children; which is – there is no safe or safer way to use crack-cocaine. Nor would I be surprised to learn most crack heads first toke came from someone who assured them there was a 'safer' way to use crack cocaine.
As far as my alleged rude and condescending demeanor, welcome to the blogsphere, and if you think my own online persona harsh, you have a very rude awakening ahead of you.
I am just saying there is no need to be rude. I can understand your points well, and I hope others can too without the insults.
I know it is really difficult to live in a neighbourhood where there is a lot of poverty, crime and addiction. I can empathize with you.
I can not condone referring to people as crackies, crackheads etc.
These are people (sons, daughter, mothers, fathers,) who USE crack. Crack use does not define who they are. It is a terrible and sad addiction.
The safer crack kits are intended as a tool to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and Hep C. One day, when a person is willing and able to stop using crack, they will hopefull be disease free. Disease prevention initiatives benefit all of us. A crack kit costs under $1. It cost millions to treat one HIV infection.
The crack kit also enables health professionals to connect with a very marginalized group of people that are difficult to reach. You must know how difficult it is to reach a person in the throes of addiction since you see it everyday. Support and a connection with a health professional is often the first step an individual will take on their road to recovery.
I appreciate you clarifying your message.
A word of advice Anon, get yourself a moniker. It doesn’t have to be your real name, make-up something. I don’t care but one runs the risk of being taken for another anon commenter.
I can not condone referring to people as crackies, crackheads etc.
These are people (sons, daughter, mothers, fathers,) who USE crack. Crack use does not define who they are. It is a terrible and sad addiction.
Believe it or not I was once like you until I got to know them out of social worker mode.
Once you are in the grips of crack, meth or heroine addiction you give up all pretenses to your humanity. They addiction defines their every waking moment and then some. I have seen it over and over. I’ve seen neighbors smoke up their 12 years old daughters to send them out to turn tricks on the street in order to bring home money to Mommy - so mother and daughter can bond over their crack pipe. It’s not a story which is a one-off either. Get yourself in detox and I will be happy to welcome you back into the ranks of humanity, until then; no way, no how.
The safer crack kits are intended as a tool to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and Hep C. One day, when a person is willing and able to stop using crack, they will hopefull be disease free. Disease prevention initiatives benefit all of us. A crack kit costs under $1. It cost millions to treat one HIV infection.
I don’t know how to tell you. You can counsel them till the cows come home but these are not people who are overtly or even covertly concerned with their health. For the last 18 months or so I kept finding these glass pipes around the yard or broken on my front stairs and I did wonder where they were coming from. Now I have a good idea but I am curious about is why you seem to be not the least concerned with the health of my family and the neighborhood children who are regularly exposed to these pipes.
The crack kit also enables health professionals to connect with a very marginalized group of people that are difficult to reach. You must know how difficult it is to reach a person in the throes of addiction since you see it everyday. Support and a connection with a health professional is often the first step an individual will take on their road to recovery.
These people have chosen a lifestyle which the rest of us cannot endorse. In fact, their presence often constitutes a threat to our homes and families; which is why they are ‘marginalized’ but the bottom line is it is their choice to use crack or get themselves into detox. It is not a matter of you connecting with them, but of them reaching their own personal bottom and deciding to get the hell out of dodge. You have no influence except as another group to scam and exploit. Stop enabling them. And even if you want to continue keeping your finger in the dyke - do it on someone’s else dime and not mine.
Well I guess there is no point debating with you since you know it all. Next time the government needs to develop a new addiction program they should knock on your door! Forget the experts. I had no idea crack users weren't human and that you can't work with them. I guess there are a lot of people making up stories. At least you are telling the truth about finding broken crack pipes in your yard. I wish more people were honest like you. It was better before when people used pop cans and sharp edged ginsing bottles wasn't it? What a shame that these misinformed, silly social worker types keep lying and talking about their successful programs. I mean, like you said, you can't reach them. Funny thing many of these programs are peer programs. I wonder how that works?
Thanks for your time. It has been a blast. Thankfully, the large majority of people in this city don't listen to people like you. They actually listen to the people who have knowledge and skills in this area and frown upon people who's opinion on these matters is swimming in bigotry.
One last question. have you ever tried to get intio a detox? Any idea how many detox beds we have in the city? How about treatment programs for crack?
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