There is a worrying trend of elected officials trying to place the blame for decades of failed social policy on those who have experienced the most harm because of them.
Social service and health agencies desperately working to mitigate the impact of the toxic drug supply and and the housing crisis on communities are being vilified as not caring about the impact on neighbours and businesses, when that is simply not true. We have not been given the resources.
We asked for more primary care resources and were denied.
We asked for more mental and substance use health resources and were denied.
We asked for more case management, more drop in spaces, better access to public washrooms, showers and were denied.
We asked to bring the people who smoke drugs inside, out of the public view and into care and were denied.
We asked for resources to employ people who use drugs and to redevelop leadership in this community that we have lost to the toxic drug supply and were denied.
We have been set up for failure.
The Homeless Addictions Recovery Treatment (HART) hubs are not a bad idea. We know this because people who use drugs have been asking us for better access to treatment, more housing options and opportunities to work for decades.
However, because recovery is not linear and because relapse can be fatal—our recovery efforts must be built on the solid clinical evidence base of harm reduction.
The HART Hub should be built on top of the CTS infrastructure, not replace it.