What's the dumbest thing you heard said today?

[Arctic Acorn]

Words fail me:

Give free booze to homeless alcoholics: study
LINK

B.C. liquor prices should be increased to reduce illness and injuries, and alcoholic beverages should be given free to homeless alcoholics, addiction researchers at the University of Victoria say in a wide-ranging report.

MORE AT LINK

That's it, I'm moving to Vancouver.

"Technically, no, I'm not homeless. I like to call it 'Urban Camping'. Hey, where's my free dram!?"

 

[Old Sweat]

Seems to me it's the same mindset that hands out free needles and drugs to addicts.

 

[PMedMoe]

Seems to me it's the same mindset that hands out free needles and drugs to addicts.

Needles I can understand, to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, but free drugs?  Crazy. 

 

[Searyn]

I just checked my email and I had a letter (two actually) from the FBI in washington DC. They were kind enough to let me know that they had just finished a thorough investigation and I am now able to receive my $2.5 million inheratance money from a relative of mine they never named. And lucky me all I have to do is send a cheque or money order to somewhere in Africa that includes the cost of the processing fee's, and any applicable taxes on $2.5 million.

Screw the CF I'm going to send the money, receive my $2.5 mill and retire at age 25.

Thank you FBI

 

[mariomike]

Give free booze to homeless alcoholics: study
"The price increase would have to go hand in hand with introducing alcohol harm-reduction programs for homeless problem drinkers, who could otherwise resort to hazardous sources such as rubbing alcohol or mouthwash, said the centre's lead researcher, Tim Stockwell.
Stockwell said similar programs in other jurisdictions, including Ontario, are proving worthwhile."


The City of Toronto has been operating wet hostels since the late 1990's. They get one drink per hour, until somebody decides they have had enough. This came as a result of a coroner's inquest.

 

[Michael OLeary]

Needles I can understand, to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, but free drugs?  Crazy. 

Sadly, the economic argument comparing the cost of handing out the drugs to the costs of dealing with the crimes they may commit to finance their own purchases falls in support of drug programs.  At least you get addicts to self-identify and can target them for rehabilitation and treatment programs.

If it stops one old lady from being mugged for her social security cheque .....

 

[Sapplicant]

Words fail me:

Give free booze to homeless alcoholics: study
LINK

B.C. liquor prices should be increased to reduce illness and injuries, and alcoholic beverages should be given free to homeless alcoholics, addiction researchers at the University of Victoria say in a wide-ranging report.

MORE AT LINK

Someone must've forgot to inform us that, apparently, we all are now our brothers' keepers. This kind of reminds me of the municipal politician in Kelowna who wanted to give free crack to the homeless in exchange for their services at the local dump.

Here's an idea... Make it illegal to sell mouthwash to the List-o-bums! Fines for stores that do. Don't make the majority pay for the minority's shortcomings. Coming from someone who has been without a roof before, you CAN change your ways, it's all about the decisions YOU make. People who don't want help can't be bothered.

If it stops one old lady from being mugged for her social security cheque .....

Ccw, ccw, CCW. Allow the good citizens who are vigilant to be good citizens who are vigilantes. If I were to see a little old lady being mugged by some scumbag, I ought to be able to put a pistol to his head and march the guilty ******* down to the local precinct.

 

[wildman0101]

Searyn,,,
Got said/same E-mail.
Damn I'am allready retired.
Damn,,, I'am heading to
Switzerland...Hot Damn.
Scoty B

 

[mariomike]

Someone must've forgot to inform us that, apparently, we all are now our brothers' keepers.

We called them concerned citizens. There was a dramatic increase in sidewalk Samaritans when 9-1-1 was introduced, and again a few years later when people started carrying cell phones.
You can let winos get a little juiced up in a  hostel, or transport them to a hospital. You can't leave them in the gutter where you found them. You can, but the coroner may ask why. Besides, they will just keep calling you back. Non-transport is a liability issue for the City.
The program in downtown Toronto is operated in conjunction with St. Michael's Hospital. The ER nurses seemed to appreciate the wet hostel idea. It made my job a little easier.

As far as not selling certain products containing alcohol, such as mouthwash etc., to winos, The Department of Public Health has been trying to do that for decades, with limited success.

 

[GAP]

Manitoba restricts sale of the stuff (hair spray, lysol, etc)...has to be behind the counter

 

[Container]

In Iqaluit the Vanilla Extract was locked up when I was there in 2006. We had a fella we used to deal with all the time that would run into a store pry the top off the hairspary and start chugging trying to get as messed up as he could before we showed up. He was incredibly violent when using hairspray. Not that bad on regular alcohol.

 

[ModlrMike]

Manitoba restricts sale of the stuff (hair spray, lysol, etc)...has to be behind the counter

We've had several significant fines levied for selling these items in bulk to known substance abusers.

 

[mariomike]

In Iqaluit the Vanilla Extract was locked up when I was there in 2006. We had a fella we used to deal with all the time that would run into a store pry the top off the hairspary and start chugging trying to get as messed up as he could before we showed up. He was incredibly violent when using hairspray. Not that bad on regular alcohol.

Now they call it Excited Delirium Syndrome.

Manitoba restricts sale of the stuff (hair spray, lysol, etc)...has to be behind the counter

That is a good idea. But, from what I saw years ago when I visited, and have read since, Winnipeg still has problems with homeless alcoholics, as does Toronto. All the cities seem to have the same problem, to some degree.

 

[Sapplicant]

We called them concerned citizensnosy people. There was a dramatic increase in sidewalk Samaritans People doing the least amount possible and patting themselves on the back, saying "I'm a hero now" when 9-1-1 was introduced, and again a few years later when people started carrying cell phones.<--stop a REAL crime in progress with a cellphone, let me know how it turns out. Police response time is not adequate when something only takes seconds to happen.

You can let winos get a little juiced up in a hostel for free because people with jobs now have to pay more for their libations. Nope. Sorry. Not buying that. Pun intended. Or transport them to a hospital in an ambulance or police car because a "hero" called 911 on the smelly dude with long hair and a beard who passed out and pissed himself. You can't leave them in the gutter where you found them. Yes, you can. When the coroner asks, tell him you're not your brother's keeper. Non-transport is a liability issue for the City. Those bums sure have great lawyers                                                                   

The program in downtown Toronto is operated in conjunction with St. Michael's Hospital. The ER nurses seemed to appreciate the wet hostel idea. It made my job a little easier. Once again, you've managed to twist a topic into a chance to talk about your job. My hat off to you, you're REALLY good at that.

As far as not selling certain products containing alcohol, such as mouthwash etc., to winos, The Department of Public Health has been trying to do that for decades, with limited success.Because they're doing it wrong.

 


I have absolutely NO sympathy for people who've chosen that life for themselves. Giving them free booze is NOT the answer, give them the tools to better themselves, is. "Here's a wheelbarrow full of asphalt. Go patch some potholes. We'll keep an eye on you and pay you at the end of the week. The addiction counselling and talk therapy is free as long as you keep working"

 

[lethalLemon]

 


I have absolutely NO sympathy for people who've chosen that life for themselves. Giving them free booze is NOT the answer, give them the tools to better themselves, is. "Here's a wheelbarrow full of asphalt. Go patch some potholes. We'll keep an eye on you and pay you at the end of the week. The addiction counselling and talk therapy is free as long as you keep working"

Brilliant. MilPoints for you

 

[Container]

Sapplicant-

What was the point of this rant? Wet hostels are a good idea- it used to be that medics had to take drunks to the ER. Which would cause a massive drain on the healthcare system. Which woould affect people who actually needed the health care system. Creating a place for homeless people with alcohol problems to go alleviates that. MarioMike was a paramedic- thats his frame of reference. Obviously when something borders on his experience he frames it from what he saw.

If a cop can pick up a drunk and drive him to a wet hostel instead of my wife and kids having to step over him in the street I think its a good idea. Or the alternative of keeping the hospitals stuffed with drunks, as a "social welfare" experiment- it pays to be your brothers keeper.

Im not sure where you are headed with 9-1-1. Police response aside for "real crimes" its still community members and concerned citizens who are calling. We need those calls and that is worth a pat on the back. Recently a man bled to death in a city street while people walked around him. he had been stabbed trying to stop an  assault. Give me the people who call 9-1-1 over the non-nosy people.

People in emergency services are there because they ARE their brothers keeper. If a person in these fields feels that he is not than he is in the wrong job. I can think a person is a piece of crap waste of skin and still feel empathy- and concern for them.

As for giving free booze to drunks- thats just plain stupid. I would suggest its a band-aid solution. As for the lawyers of homeless people- they do have people ready to spring up and do their legal bidding if a cop and a paramedic steps over them.

Attack a paramedic for talking about how a story affects paramedics- I suppose yoru experience with substance abuse in transient homeless populations is worth alot more and should be respected instead. 

 

[brihard]

 


I have absolutely NO sympathy for people who've chosen that life for themselves. Giving them free booze is NOT the answer, give them the tools to better themselves, is. "Here's a wheelbarrow full of asphalt. Go patch some potholes. We'll keep an eye on you and pay you at the end of the week. The addiction counselling and talk therapy is free as long as you keep working"

I guess some of us just have philosophical differences that won't be reconciled... I'll remain content to be a 'nosy person' who will either intervene or call appropriate authorities to do so when I see someone threatened or in distress.

The day I stop giving a shit about others, however hopeless or helpless they may be, is the day I really need to take a good hard look in the mirror and figure out exactly what the hell is the point? And the day our country/province/community leaves people in the street because they aren't worth enough to as as a society is the day I pack up and go somewhere still governed according to principles of decency and inherent human worth. I don't pay my tax dollars to see our worst off abandoned in the street.

Speaking to specific situations, I'd rather see those tax dollars I pay go to whatever the most cost effective solution is that still helps those people in need without imposing too much of a burden on others. If that means a 'wet hostel' instead of a hospital, so be it. If it means a methadone program instead of someone committing robbery to support a drug habit, right on. We're one of the best countries in the world, but I believe that a community or country is in part judged by how it treats its worst off.

 

[Sapplicant]

Sapplicant-

What was the point of this rant? Wet hostels are a good idea- it used to be that medics had to take drunks to the ER. Which would cause a massive drain on the healthcare system. Which woould affect people who actually needed the health care system. Creating a place for homeless people with alcohol problems to go alleviates that. MarioMike was a paramedic- thats his frame of reference. Obviously when something borders on his experience he frames it from what he saw.

If a cop can pick up a drunk and drive him to a wet hostel instead of my wife and kids having to step over him in the street I think its a good idea. Or the alternative of keeping the hospitals stuffed with drunks, as a "social welfare" experiment- it pays to be your brothers keeper.

Im not sure where you are headed with 9-1-1. Police response aside for "real crimes" its still community members and concerned citizens who are calling. We need those calls and that is worth a pat on the back. Recently a man bled to death in a city street while people walked around him. he had been stabbed trying to stop an  assault. Give me the people who call 9-1-1 over the non-nosy people.

People in emergency services are there because they ARE their brothers keeper. If a person in these fields feels that he is not than he is in the wrong job. I can think a person is a piece of crap waste of skin and still feel empathy- and concern for them.

As for giving free booze to drunks- thats just plain stupid. I would suggest its a band-aid solution. As for the lawyers of homeless people- they do have people ready to spring up and do their legal bidding if a cop and a paramedic steps over them.

Attack a paramedic for talking about how a story affects paramedics- I suppose yoru experience with substance abuse in transient homeless populations is worth alot more and should be respected instead.

The point was about the free booze. It's a band-aid that's gonna hurt like hell when they have to rip it off. I agree, police and emergency services are definitely keepers of the brotherhood. They only make up a small portion, however, of the people who will, according to the initial article, be paying more so that others may [continue to] pay nothing.

My experience with watching people choose to kill themselves one fix at a time is nothing to be respected, but take my word for it. A job, counselling, and therapy would be of MUCH greater benefit than wet hostiles rotten petri dishes and free booze. Those 2 things enable people to continue to enjoy their right to life on earth in hell. I'm fortunate to have been born with the willpower to stay away from the junk.

Drunks should go to the drunktank, not the ER. And a drunktank should be manned with a medical student waiting to pump stomachs. Wet hostiles were created to keep homeless people with addictions out of sight, and out of mind. It's much more convenient for bleeding hearts not to have to witness the degradation of our society. Oh, and for tourists to enjoy their stay and recommend Canada to their friends.

As for the bleeding man, yes. That is wrong. It twists my stomach. It would've been nice if someone had stopped to administer first aid, THEN called an ambulance. See what I'm getting at?

 

[vonGarvin]

Needles I can understand, to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, but free drugs?  Crazy. 

I think I can understand the logic of giving them needles to help prevent the spread of disease; however, sometimes I wish that they would let nature take its course....

 

[mariomike]

Drunks should go to the drunktank, not the ER. And a drunktank should be manned with a medical student waiting to pump stomachs. 

Sapplicant, drunks do go to the drunk tank - Detox Centre, if one is available. If they are mobile and medically stable, that is where they go. If not, they go to a hospital. That is a decision that is made by police and EMS on scene.