Hi Everyone,
The title of this blog was the headline from a segment of CityNews’ Friday broadcast. If you saw this segment, or heard about it, please do not believe everything you see on, or hear from the news. I taped most of this segment and clearly have more than a few issues with it. (Bolded words were emphasized by the speaker.) This is what I mean.
Maleeha Sheikh, a CityNews weather person, sometimes reporter, asks a young woman, who looks like she was stopped, if she has heard of a naloxone kit. She says she has not and asks what it is. The interview is then over and Maleeha goes on to say, “…It’s Frosh Week here at Ryerson University so students are out and about having a good time as they should be, but with all the focus being put on fun Frosh Week Activities, is the issue of drug overdoses being ignored? I spoke to one Ryerson University Student Leader, who says that just last year, in the first 8 months, (the length of a university school year) there were 15 overdoses, 8 of which were related to fentanyl and heroin. So now there’s an increased push on making the medication that reverses overdoses more available.”
Then the screen cuts to Olsen Crow who says, “Students use drugs right. We know that students use drugs. And there’s a stigma around the idea that drug users aren’t students, that drug users aren’t professionals. And I think it decreases a lot of folks from accessing resources and reaching out because they’re afraid of that stigma being broken down, or they’re scared about being kicked out of school, or a lot of things.”
Maleeha asks, “What do you think universitys’ unions ought to be doing?” Here Olsen says that she thinks that because there is such a small window of time, (less than a minute, yet I believe it to be longer, like almost 2 minutes) before someone can die of a drug overdose, that all staff members of all universities should be trained with naloxone.
Then Maleeha asks, “What do have to talk to people about opiods?” Olson says, “So yea, we are really fortunate to actually have The Works, really close to campus. It (The Works) is a public health organization and it is just located on Victoria Street. So you have some of their resources here. Umm it talks about getting trained in naloxone, and that’s basically what we have. Umm it’s the closest umm and easiest way for students to be trained.”
After Maleeha briefly repeats the number of overdoses on campus last school year, and how there could be more since people may do drugs off campus, she interviews some students to see what information they have received regarding overdoses. One young man says there was a booth with information, and where they (students) could get (naloxone) kits. Another young man says that he has friends who use opioids, yet have not overdosed. Then she asks another young woman, “Do you think the university is doing enough to spread awareness about drug use and what the dangers are?” The young woman responds with, “Ummm. I mean, I don’t think they are doing much, but I don’t think it’s that necessary. I feel like we get a lot of information from outside of the university. I think like, as an adult it’s your own responsibility kind of but.” And then Maleeha asks the young man standing beside the young woman his thoughts. He hasn’t heard a lot.
Now that I have pretty much transcribed what I taped I would like to share my thoughts.
The Works is a safe injection site that also hands out free pre-made kits of needles, alcoholic swabs, tourniqets and matches for people to (comfortably) use illegal drugs. I am telling you this because if you have diabetes you have to pay for all of your medical supplies. And a growing number of drug users, drug abusers anf drug addicts use drugs away from, outside of the safe injection site. That is why a group of people have put up posters asking the public to be Needle Hunters. When I mentioned this to someone they said they saw people picking up needles right by a school conveniently located less than 400 metres from THE WORKS! I blogged about this. The blog is called, Should You Be A Needle Hunter?
That is why the city of Toronto now has to pay teams of people who work a small area that they must cover up to three times a day to pick up and dispose of used and quite possibly dirty, you know disease infected, needles. Certain teams only do parks, where others only do laneways, etc. That is why dogs and people are still stepping on needles as they walk through parks. If anyone thinks I am blowing this out of proportion, then you weren’t with me when my friend almost stepped on one when we were walking through a park today!
The Works is still an EYE SORE!! I still looks like a third-world country!! There are always people sitting outside of it strung out, nodding away, drinking alcohol or looking for drugs. Groups of people have even camped out there. It was so bad that a police officer told me that they, the police department, instructed Ryerson University to put up a fence so people can now only camp out on the sidewalk instead of the Ryerson University grounds like they used to. IF it weren’t for the increased number of Ryerson University security guards who STAND right at the thresold of the Ryerson University property line and that of The Works who knows what the front of Ryerson University or The Works would look like. The back of The Works had several groups of people camped out in the laneway. Now there are only a few people who live back there. The side of the building had a tree which has since been drastically trimmed because it was a form of shelter.
The Blaze Pizza restuarant now has a security guard who stands right at the door because, as one of my friends whose child works at Blaze Pizza told me, “A guy went in there, stole about 6 or 7 pizzas sitting on the counter ready to be delivered, and walked across the street to that drug place.” The Wine Rack, beside Blaze Pizza, also has extra security right at their door. It’s a miracle that someone in the area hasn’t been shot (with a gun)!
Just how lucky is Ryerson University to have The Works located near their campus? I mean really, if there were 15 overdoses recorded and there are, according to Wikipedia, 39,000 plus undergraduate students, 2,600 graduate students, and 12,000 continuing education students, then there are at least 53,600 students. That means two things. The first is that 53,585 students didn’t overdose. The second is that from all of the 53,600 students that attend Ryerson, the percentage of students who did oversdose is, 15 divided into 53,600 equals 0.0002798507 or NOT EVEN CLOSE to one percent!
Is that why the first person Maleeha asked didn’t know what a naloxone kit was? Probably. It is not on her radar because she probably doesn’t use drugs! Is drug use and the chances of an overdose just as the the last young woman interviewed said, “…as an adult, it’s your own responsibility…”? In my humble opinion, it is.
If someone wants to do illegal drugs that they know may kill them, maybe they should walk over to one of the many safe injection sites, or overdose prevention sites, all within walking distance of 500 metres or less, and inject themselves there where they will get juice and snacks like a bunch of children in kindergarden before they are sent off into the big bad world!
Drug use is up to the individual. If someone wants to do illegal drugs they should not expect someone, especially someone who doesn’t use drugs, to be trained on how to reverse an overdose, to save their life or expect tax payers to give them free drug kits, have tax payer money spent to clean up after them and give them unlimited medical and dental care.
In my experience the only reason drugs were in the news on Friday is because it was a slow, quiet day for every news channel and CityNews is conveniently located less than 100 metres from The Works and Ryerson University. Despite what the news or the drug advocates will (try to) have you believe, drugs are not that big a part of a students or professionals life. The students, as Maleeha said, should be out and about enjoying Frosh Week. The students should not be worrying about something that isn’t even on their radar.
I could go on but I won’t.
Thank you for reading, A. Rebel’s Rant! ;D
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