Hi Everyone,
This blog has been on my mind for months yet I didn’t know how to write it. That is until there was a short article in Tuesday’s Star Metro Toronto (a longer article, titled Public Health Threat can be found on TheStar.com). This is what I mean.
Opioid use is not only on the rise, but some people use opioids wherever they want. Like, as the article states, in the library. The person who overdosed was found in the bathroom which is where I am guessing they were “using”.
Does any kind of drug use in the library bathroom sound normal to anyone? Because it doesn’t sound or feel normal to me. Smoking a cigarette in any bathroom in any public space doesn’t sound or feel normal to me. If anyone smokes anything in a public bathroom, a smoke alarm goes off, someone investigates, someone else gets spoken to and people get pissed off. But when people shoot up, leave needles and tourniquets all over bathroom floors in a library, or other public spaces, society installs a Needle Drop Box. I am serious. In some cases, we remove the change table to prevent people from using it while they “use”. I am serious about that too!
You know it is really sad that librarians have to deal with people overdosing. Some library staff are still in high school. Am I the only one who remembers having a part-time job to make extra money? I can’t be. There are and were piles of us who did that so we could save money, get our foot in the door and better our lives. Finding someone who has overdosed, as Thomas Krzyzanowski said in the article, “It’s a lot to carry,” and not a memory everyone wants to have. Not only do I not want to find someone who has overdosed, I don’t want to see anyone “using” either. Finding needles in flower beds, on sidewalks, streets or in parks can drive me crazy.
And the crazy thing is that I understand that some people who do drugs are traumatized. But has anyone thought of the trauma that is being inflicted on people by the traumatized person who is doing drugs or overdosing? I am sure I am not the only person who does not want to be traumatized by someone else’s trauma. Just saying.
Thank you for reading, A. Rebel’s Rant! ;D
by 
by