'Put me in the zoo...
I want to be in there with you...'
No.
'With all the things that you can do the circus is the place for you.'
Dr. Seuss

Pink Carribean?
Good stuff?
Okey dokey...where do I begin?
How about here.

What I have learned...

(while 'David' has been in Vancouver at Insite
(what's that now...six years or so?))

is...
a drug high
AND that THING that guy is doing there by the door before Dominic lets him in...
well...

they are not ACTUALLY caused by the DRUG
per se

I can name some of the people who know how to make us have such highs and lows
and physical reactions
(I may not know their REAL names...but I've met some of them and shopped among others)

and
what is causing those things
is usually 'm'olatile
and often a cocktail
(a combination of many things)
heat,cold, sexual stimulation, over stimulation and ABUSE and poisons of various sorts...

I do not understand why someone would not listen to me explain to them that an addiction to drugs is not our OWN doing...it is ENTIRELY someone else controlling us from somewhere (I do NOT believe in space monkeys...but I do think we have forgotten all of the talk of mind control and supreme beings from the second world war...I think we are only complacent because we are being made to be so...if we are in the complacent group and not the lets make this group drug addicts group)...

I do not understand why they will not listen to my OUT LOUD voice telling them to stop when they will wander around in the street chatting to an 'interior' voice that tells them to shoot up...

What is that?

What I do UNDERSTAND is why David looks different while he is injecting the drug in front of the mirror.
(I would love to discuss this with Dominic some day...if he does NOT yet get it...)

It is THAT reality that David needs to get in touch with.

that spiritual facade that invades/evades us all.

we are only here on this earth for as long as we can stay alive
maybe we come back
maybe we don't
maybe we get to live in heaven with everything we ever dreamed of when we die
maybe we spend eternity wandering through our worse moments here on earth
maybe we have to do that until we figure out how to fix those moments from the beyond

unless some of us have keyed into this and are able to do that from the here and now...
I believe I can do that, btw...and have reached a pyschological plateau I had never imagined possible...
I have ultimate trust in my faith also...and a new strength of self and conviction that I feared presenting to others in my youth...
I believe people in the street have ALL achieved this and CANNOT get body and soul to meet properly...
for whatever reason...

"Out of body and soul, and just when I thought Id made it his images start taking their toll on me"
Luba (everytime I see your picture)

...until we accept our spiritual being and that of others and see our worth and place in the greater picture...

until we acknowledge that none of us were meant to be big stars or wealthy people...that we were just meant to live clean and healthy lives with those who matter to us and to whom we matter....

until we separate bogus and bug-us from what we are and who we are with and want to be with...

until we always treat those we are with as though we are brand new friends in some sort of an educational or work environment...

until we force away the angry demons who control our speech...

until we name those things and reject and denounce them (I call my annoyance, Paul, for example...its a name I came up with 'somewhere' and it works...I feel an inner twinge of fear everytime something goes wrong and I 'think' his name...and that twinge is NOT me...

calling it the devil will NOT work in today's society, partly because it is not ACTUALLY the devil, unless he is reincarnate multiple times, in regular and inferior people around us.

even the religious have been conditioned to denounce obvious religion as embarrassing...if any of us actually control anything we say anymore to be able to actually denounce something verbally on our own (...why I prefer writing)...

maybe we'd be more effective at doing what David is doing there in the mirror if we were SOBER and tried it.

(ie/I can achieve the same electric guitar sensation, without the stomach upset, by IMAGINING colourful bubbles of air, vitamins and white blood cell matter coursing through my veins...like those Sesame Street videos...like imagining how you felt when you heard the O song...or that Bowling song by Raffi...drugs cost money...and it is COLD outside...and I get cold also when some of you are cold...honestly.)

'I told you
That we could fly
cause we all have wings
But some of us dont know why'
(Never Tear Us Apart - Michael Hutchence)
I don't think Michael knew why...he was starting to know why but he didn't make it to the end of learning to fly.
It is not about what you can get from learning to fly...it is about what you can MAKE RIGHT by knowing you are able to do it and NOT using it.

When I was in university one of my professors taught us about Marshall McLuhan and about the world wide web...which would make us all free.
I know it will.

Mc clue-in

"my baby loves a bunch of authors"

I'm an RN on the medical ward at St Paul's Hospital. I, like many of my colleagues, belive InSite works. We care for a lot of people who've come in from the Downtown Eastside (DTES) with illness and infections that are directly linked to unsafe injection practices. We may not support or approve of drug use, but we hate to see suffering and pain, and we hate to see people die.

If the simple value of human life isn't enough for you, consider the monetary savings. Every clean injection at InSite means less risk of abcesses, reduced HIV and Hepatitis transmission, and less chance of endocarditis. All of these illnesses require the use of thousands (hundreds of thousands!) of health care dollars.

I'm a nurse with a conscience, and I support InSite.

As if common sense was not enough, and as Canada is a signatory to the UN declaration of Human rights, people living with addiction (mental health) are entitled to safety and the basic necessities for living, regardless of their ability to provide them for themselves. The Harper Conservatives know the facts, yet they are cynically playing for the "law and order " vote by using drug addiction as an "anti crime" issue.

Here is the latest...
busy day...
yet my mind drifted back to the interview from time to time...

Two things I have been 'reminded' to mention...

1. I will word this first one slightly differently..it is about people using needles at the facility instead of at home in front of their children...about how that is a good thing...I did not like the way it was presented in my head...it goes against some of the things I believe in...but I can FIND a useful lining in the concept I am supposed to discuss....
It is never good to hide an addiction from those you love, or claim to love, or are responsible to or for, or connected to...even if its only a theoretical connection in YOUR mind.
This day in age, or perhaps it has always been so, there appears to be one definition of relationships and families that we are presented with...and live by...OUTWARDLY...but there is a whole subculture of morals and values and understanding of responsibility in a relationship and towards children that does not get adequately defined or discussed.
It is easy to ignore this REALITY, to hope we do not end up in a poorly defined relationship...or worse still, a poorly defined relationship WITH children...but ignoring a problem or facing it and hiding it or sweeping it under a rug...does not make it go away...it does not make us UNDERSTAND it...and, if we do NOT understand it...we cannot DEAL with it and find some acceptable way to cope with it within the boundaries of our legal and moral fiber.
So, as much as I, and many others, would like to imagine that there are no parents (women as well as men, apparently) who use drugs regularly in-hiding in their homes...or right there in front of their children...(forget the street for a minute)...there are. Many...more and more, from things I have read and heard...are professionals...access to money to buy drugs...and high stress levels...combined with exposure of 'university' graduates to the whole 'fraternity' subculture (even in Canada)...has made Canada's 45 and under population a prime target for the pain and strain drug hit. The drug pusher you knew in college is probably still in the loop, right? You have been conditoned that it is week to take drugs for pain and stress, so you do not approach your doctor...or he or she has refused. So, you now hit the next option...the guy on the street...the guy in the neighbourhood bar...because that pain in your upper spine, or lower back or your right leg...or your headaches...well...they just won't go away. That nagging feeling you get everytime you think about the work you have not completed, or the husband you have not brought home to mother, the child you did not choose to have or feel able to have, the nagging voice of the boss or the mother or the mother-in-law in front of you, or on your phone, or, worse yet, in your head...24-7...well, not everyone is content with putting on their headphones and blasting the Cranberries "You Always Put Me Down" until the feeling goes away and they are back to themselves again. Not everyone is YET able to separate the FORCES of evil from the actions of SUBMISSION to evil. Until they are able to do this...we need to welcome them to our hearts and hearths for awhile.
I found myself wondering, today about life in Vancouver. I'd never thought about the city before...its on a fault line for goodness sakes!
I was wondering about schools and public transportation...housing. I was thinking about how difficult it is to get around today unless you are willing to take public transit...or it is available to you...unless you have the sobriety or TIME to drive to Insite...if you are a user...who is not living in the street..and need supervision and a discreet and knowledgable place to use your drugs...a place where you will be cared for during the addiction, and taught alternatives to drugs, methods to come off of drugs and coping strategies to keep yourself from beginning to use again.
Does the city need more Insite locations? Do Canadian cities need more of these locations...situated in mini-malls or office buildings which house a variety of medical or 'anyone-could-be-doing-anything-in-here" businesses...to keep the descent to the street at a minimum?

And from there, I thought of other related issues...$400 per month for a tiny room (where one bug killed MAY net one demon gone...but, ALAS there is no inside toilet)... Can the city handle that? Is there a fear being spread that some warlord, I mean, landlord, might, wth the advent of the Olympics, try to buy out the area and rent it for even higher prices?

Is there also a fear that the drug culture may be trying to set up a mini-Amsterdam in the area?...for profit during the Olympics? Is there a way to move a new branch of Insite to neighbourhoods where some or all of the clients, now homeless, could be housed and cared for and provided services (dollar stores, grocery stores, medical care, schools) in a safe, clean environment...a move that would be publicised and carried out by the Insite group...a neighbourhood where 'doing drugs' would be acceptable in the controlled location...where neighbours and support staff would be aware of clientel, their homes, their work habits, their family members (when Insite gets this working effectively they could pass their formula on to small communities with similar problems)...The neighbourhood need not necessarily be in the public eye...a factor that would work for those who do not want the eyesore,or fear of needles on the street or witnessing inapporpriateness, or illness or death right out in the open. It would reduce the 'subsidiary' crime industries of the sex and stolen property trade in the downtown business core and serve as an act of faith in light of the question as to the legitimacy of the whole existance of a program which seems to encourage illegal drug use among people in these busy areas of the city. It can NOT be good for business, yet there appear to be some businesses attempting to exist in the area...are they suffering or are they subsiding off of some residual effect of the homeless and drug addicted? That should be checked too. �ô (alt13)

All big coastal cities have old army barracks...and old buildings that could be remodelled...a real government program might serve to get clients working on fixing up the spaces, learning skills and staying in the neighbourhood with those they have come to know...or branching out on their own. ("When you're all alone in a tough world like this"...you don't need people looking down on you for taking up a space in front of their restaurant...you need someone to help you find and pay for and upkeep your own spot on our planet. You need someone to help you find your VALUE...we all have something...).

A safe neighbourhood...people on the street are running away from demons, usually...how sad that they have to end up in a cold and lonely...even dangerous place to accomplish that.

"I will be your Father figure, I have had enough of crime?" George Michael

oh me too,
Sami Brown
('I'm sick and tired of waiting with nothing to do')

I am sorry but I do not agree with this. I cannot believe drug users get free needles and anything associated with their drug of choice. I know they do not provide the drugs. How come diabetics has to pay for their own needles,swabs, and test strips. Most diabetics cannot even qualify for health insurance. My sister has been a diabetic for almost 30 years, 4 needles a day. There has been nobody handing her free needles. I know the people at the center are only trying to help but I wonder are they only enabling these drug addicts. I think the money should be used more wisely. There are a lot of children out there who go to bed hungry.

Thinking about the television show "North of 60" and how they showed the plight of native children and adults who arrive in the big city and get lost to the streets. Thinking about people from all across Canada...who move to the west coast, for whatever reason...and find themselves in a similar situation. Only thinking about those two groups for some reason. Why? I almost always, in the past, thought about Asian groups when I pondered the Vancouver drug scene.

And, so...

I am supposed to ask about the proximity of Vancouver to China.
I am supposed to ask about the use and abuse of the Chinese...
be it for the railroad in the old days (an elderly man passed me with a very noticable railroad hat on earlier today and, then later, I spent some time laying down a 'traintrack' walking path from Wendell, in the game Animal Crossing...I learned a few years ago that EVERYTHING MEANS SOMETHING...I am LUCKY to have noticed this, of course)...or the drug trade of today.

I am researching the word 'wake up' in the languages of some of the places I 'dream' about...and I always come back to the Chinese symbol.
S'queer. I have always had a GREAT interest in all things Chinese, an interest I feel has been stimied (held down) during this past several years.

I was getting my daughter ready for bed and suddenly thought about the years and years of abuse of Asians in Canada...and all of the stories I'd read of them being buried along and under the railroad track/canals in the United States.

I am supposed to remind us to wonder about the Asians who arrive on boats (registered and unregistered, along the coastline) and if they are being helped...due to language issues.

Then I thought about Nick Nolte...in a vague sort of way...and about David in that really neat little store...(someone gave me a pretty gold cash register in the video game a day or two ago...I love that game, Animal Crossing...very RELAXING...you can fish or pick fruit as MUCH as you like...to buy as much as you like...people GIVE you things just to be nice...and you give them things...there is still letter writing going on....you get to be really pretty and can buy really cute and 'prophetic' clothes...Dominic should get a tv and a Nintendo system for the outreach centre...some puzzles, clay and crayons and colouring books too...these things are very RELAXING for adults who have some free time...and will help them fine tune and see the need for gaining motor control again...and the benefit).

FX

"Quand le soleil dit 'Bonjour' aux montagnes...
I can still hear her voice, though she's gone."

Ëèíäà

"I'm on the road to find out" CAT Stevens

ON PAIN

With an increase in 'spiritual reflection' as I neared the 40 year old mark...I found myself wandering down alley-ways to things I'd learned in my YOUTH from friends.

These friends were not part of my day to day friendship group...they were sort of PERIPHERY friends.

A spiritual and moral council. of sorts...I shared with them things I'd learned in Health and Drug Education and they told me that I'd better study hard...and find the most effective ways of studying to retain information...because they'd learned somewhere (through TIME, perhaps?) that it is not only WHAT you learn...it is HOW you learn...and HOW you learn to HOLD ON to that which you have learned.

Having been a loner in my teens and early twenties...I had a very clear INsight into the working of my mind and IMAGINATION...my spirituality. My views on God were still very Church and family-controlled...for on each of our peripharies we will, when taking the time to explore our inner 'feelings,' discover elders of our Church and School somehow tied to us on that FRINGE of our 'self'-control.

I did not explore religion. I attended Church and behaved exceedingly correctly (in THOUGHT, WORD and DEED) but did not truly EXPLORE or attempt to UNDERSTAND the very realm of my SUBCONSCIOUS until I reached my late thirties. (I was, perhaps, too busy quashing inappropriate thought patterns being suggested in my head by the elders on the fringe...too busy and well-behaved to ACTUALLY venture out there and see WHY they would need MY head for such ATTROCITIES.)

Voice One: "...if I could meet'em I could get'em but as yet I haven't met'em"
Voice Two: "...well that's why I'm in the shape I'm in"
-CAT Stevens (Another Saturday Night)

Indeed, the older I got, the quieter the outer fabric of my moral fiber became (old people die?)...and I began a, perhaps frightening, now that I understand it, descent into just letting the world 'GO ON AROUND ME'-

Indeed, I became a drug addict WITHOUT the drugs. I settled into a pattern of 'fighting' with my 'inner voices' (some of whom I have met in the past few years) in a very CHILDISH manner....over mundane daily things...and they settled into moving into the people I allowed around me...to 'gain control again' because they were not achieving any satisfaction from me at 'home base.' (It may very well be that I do not say much at all and am HEARING other people try to decide what THEY would do with me were I their very own dolly...that MAY help Dominic to help his clients...)

Is this why Ghandi and Mother Theresas,... Jesus, himself, chose to spend more time alone? Is this why Monks do not marry? Should we not be given the heads up on this at an early age?

Some free spirits, who live in the streets, 'with their big black boots and their old suitcase' (Everclear-Watch The World Die), have caught on to the spirituality that engulphs us all. Perhaps they have tried to explain it to us...perhaps they are all in institutions for having done so. Perhaps they are living on the streets and under the bridges, not sure what to do to avoid being incarcerated, on the one hand or tortured spiritually, on the other.

"Back through the years
I go wonderin once again
Back to the seasons of my youth
I recall a box of rags that someone gave us
And how my momma put the rags to use" - Dolly Parton (Coat of Many Colours)

Perhaps they ran to the streets because only a certain type of person will live in the streets...and running to the streets is better than giving up the fight altogether...making for the woods or hiding, until you die, in a hole or tunnel. Perhaps, we, in our age of PUBLIC this and PUBLIC that, need to venture back down the 'corridors of our youth' to find our own spirituality...to REFLECT on our relations with those around us (family, friends, caregivers of any sort...the woman who cleaned the tables at a restaurant we frequented may have been placed there by some greater power to instill in us some great value or question about life...she may have worn something of said something or moved like someone we'd met before or have since met or seen portrayed in song or film.). We need to ask ourselves WHAT our true purpose on this earth is...and what we have LEARNED from those around us...if EVERYTHING means something...and we may be the ones to show it...we will certainly NEED and WANT to be sober to do that.

We are not JUST here. There is ALWAYS a purpose...or WE would not be clinging to life each day on a cold street. Some people can be ill for years and years...they can 'let nature take over'...and still they do not die? WHY? At some point they have to accept, or have already accepted (on some spiritual level..perhaps the one that is here with me?) that they are part of SOMEBODY's bigger picture and they have to sober up and THINK about what that part might be.

It is at this time that they, themselves, may remember their childhood. Their IMAGINATIONS. Their SPIRITUALITY. Perhaps they will hold a memory about dealing with pain. Mine came from my dear father...who once tried to hold my pain for me. It didn't work. I was sure it would work and he was sure it would work and the particular pain I felt on that day was INTENSE but I had to cope with the pain myself. It was my own....or at least not connected to him.

We will discover, when we sober up and spend some time at SELF REFLECTION...that not ALL of our pain belongs to us. Some pain feels like it is somehow removed from us...some pain seems to come to us with the face of another person...( a ghost? Perhaps...the songs all talk about it that way... but it could be the spirit of another living being)...we need to find our inner light, our inner flame, our connection to all that is ours under God or Allah or the great Spirits of the Land, as we believe in them... (much?/alot.) and locate the pain...imagine ourselves erasing it...using our IMAGINATION...our mental acuity...FOCUSSING...on cutting the pain away.

To do this properly...we HAVE to CONCENTRATE...ALL the great thinkers and meditators would tell you this if they were the SHARING type.

So we have to be sober...when you are not sober...you (to coin a song by the 'great' Uncle Cracker ) tend to 'drift away'...not only do you NOT get to the doctors office...you do not get to finish coping with your pain WITHOUT drugs ( I have become very adept at it, btw)...and someone may offer you drugs while you are 'LOST IN SPACE.' Then the battle is lost again.

'Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit¡¯s dead, there¡¯s something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?' -David Bowie
'coming, coming home'

"the hopes and fears of all the years, are met in thee tonight" O Little Town of Bethlehem

wake up-aufwachen-kielzog omhoog-§Ò§à§Õ§â§ã§ä§Ó§à§Ó§Ñ§ß§Ú§Ö §Ó§Ó§Ö§â§ç-ÐÑ-Ä¿Ò™¤á¤Ê¤µ¤¤-despertar-r¨¦veille-toi

The Calico Cat

(Does Dominic have a DVD player at the outreach centre?)
FX

I could not imagine living on the street,
although, I anticipate that, with today's economy, where so many people are clinging to their last cent (in hard cash OR credit), poor David will become the new go-to guy when we all start arriving on the streets of Vancouver. It IS warmer there and they have a reputable out-reach program...my only fear is that people will choose to shoot-up to find a caring soul who will help them find a room off-the-streets. "I worry...I weigh three times my size." John Mayer

In an age when so many people die, so young, of heart disease and stress related illnesses and cancer...in an age when more and more families are moving far and wide from each other...losing touch...only affording to have one child...leaving the child with no large family support system...in an age of 'aloneness'...this episode of the Fifth Estate is the closest thing I've seen here in Canada to that 'a thought from the Mormon's' commercial' we all clung to in our childhood.

I never hear of compassionate works anymore, unless someone is advertising their pay-as-you-go service in the same breath.

In vivid 'dreams', at night, I find myself wandering the streets, night streets, day streets. Cold streets. I can taste the antifreeze someone has swallowed. I find myself offering advice on how to get them to absorb or throw-up the antifreeze...I wonder why I do not suggest going to a hospital. I am frozen in my 'dream,' thinking thoughts that do not get verbalised, dialing phone numbers that do not get properly dialed, speaking to people who do not speak back, justifying things that are happening to 'me' as if I have chosen to do them...when I am supposed to be doing nothing more than sleeping.

I wake up feeling as though I have lived another life. I wake up tired, without the energy to live my own life as I would normally do.

How many people, who are down and out, living in the street, may be too TIRED to put the effort into their OWN lives? How much do these people need an EDUCATED and COMPASSIONATE...HUMANE government to help them understand and rectify the problem...on ALL LEVELS?

VERY MUCH SO

"is it cloak and daggar...could it be spring or FALL...I walk without a cut through a stain glass wall..." Heart

It is FALL-X - Max'im

If Insite promotes harm reduction and the street drugs can be dangerous (the cocaine announcement, for example), why not just give them the drugs rather than let the addicts supply the drugs themselves? Isn't this consistent with harm reduction? Isn't this the next step?

I have had some time to peruse the other comments here on the board.

Speaking to the comment about the facility which allows women to use illegal drugs with clean needles in their rooms...and...WHAT?...bring 'Johns' there?

There is a difference between scratching an itch and tearing your skin to pieces.

My view of insite is that it is a place to 'lure' drug addicted, confused and ABUSED citizens of Canada...in off of the street...to get to know them and begin 'first line care'...

NOT, to help them begin their side-line illegal business - which is what the other nameless facility appears to be doing...

The Canadian government NEEDS to fund MORE programs like insite...but it, apparently, also needs to set up a firmer cross country school system...EDUCATION people...lets take care of almost all of this before grade six with STURDY programming...morals, values, drug and sex education...

AND

monitor WHO IT IS EXACTLY they are ALLOWING to work in these PUBLIC outreach programs...

Honestly...

I get sick sometimes thinking about how much we have lost with the NEW WORK ETHIC...here in Canada.

Max'im

If we had a registered addict program in Canada…

Men and women wouldn’t have to sell their bodies or steal for a fix.
Most hard drug dealers would be put out of business as the only customers they would have left would be anyone who is not in the registered program .
Addicts would not be presented with “road-blocks” when trying to end their addiction.

If we had more Safe Injection Sites…

No one would have to use addictive drugs out on the streets.
HIV and hepatitis rates would decrease.
Needles would not be left behind in parks and children’s playgrounds.

If cannabis was legalized…

The millions of adults currently using cannabis for recreational or medicinal reasons would not have to buy it from dealers of other more dangerous drugs.
It could be sold at establishments licensed to sell alcohol, tobacco and cannabis which would generate a LOT of tax dollars that are currently being given (partially) to criminal gangs.
The safety and efficacy of cannabis could be researched and controlled.
Just as most people don’t try to grow their own vegetables or tobacco, most cannabis users would prefer to buy it legally and pay taxes. This would drastically reduce the number of hazardous “grow-houses.”

Money that is currently being spent on the anti-drug war, which is making organized criminal gangs richer and richer, could be used instead to finance addiction education and rehabilitation. Also additional tax monies would be generated.

Tougher laws will only make things worse by making organized criminals even more wealthier. Violence and addiction rates will increase as drug profits go up.

Today I was looking at recent pictures I'd taken of the sand in the river near my home.
Everyday objects, embedded in the sand, suddenly taking on a life of their own.
Buildings lining the river, each with its own history ...through cracked windows, you hear the echos of the past...the potential for stories of lives of yesteryear having touched these landmarks.
Standing on a cement tunnel which I discovered emptying into the river from one of the old buildings, thoughts of spies and spirits and hidden treasures ran through my mind.
So much joy in one half-an-hour walk...so much more to behold on another future visit.

A year or so ago now, in the spring, I spent some personal time researching native tribes of Canada. One of the most interesting, useful and cathartic findings was that of 'river reading.' I had already learned 'somewhere along the way - a Blue Rodeo song, perhaps' that spirits (if you believe in that sort of thing) travel along water ways (as rivers are easily visible from the skies and were, in some form or other, perhaps used by these very spirits years and years ago in their own lives)...
If you are very observant...you may be able to stand near a river or on a bridge and read writing or symbols in the water. If you listen as you watch, or think about what some of the shapes may mean to you or to the world around you...you may hear the very voices of the past.

Life is good.
Sobriety is important.
Hanging on is good.
Insite is good. Insight is good.(that IS a...what is that big word I just lost again?...that is a...yes...a homophone).

***
Stairway to recovery

The stairs to recovery
To heaven?
On earth.

So much here to experience
So much that holds worth

The dried leaves on the ground
The faces in the trees
In the rocks�criver sand
Each new discovery brings glee.

A friend needing a chair
For your visiting time�c

A treasure to you, more than them?
A step up�c
Though sublime.

Trust is so precious
Companionship rare
Quick hellos and remarking
Of others telling wares.

Give a safe connection
A meaningful hug
Keep it fairly distant
Hold �eship separate from drug.

For still will there be those dreams �ein our sleep?�f
Of walkers and floaters
Flying sisters?
$ reap.

Were I awake in that dream,
Seven shelves?
�cnot enough.

For Chewbacca�fs not Sasquatch
And Friday 13th stair-climbers
Ruin the beauty of Halloween Eyes�c
On the rough. (roof)

�ô

L P-hish

I'd like to reply to Julie in Saskatchewan who writes in part:

"I'm tired of the CBC sugar-coating BC radicalism and self-employment projects like Insite. I believe in the natural order of life and yes, if people who want to kill themselves, kill themselves, then so be it. That's why God gave us free will in order that we make our own bed and have to lie in it."

First: Given Canada's social values, expressed in universal health care (born in Sask I note), what is more "radical"? Helping people in need, or choosing to leave them to their fate as you suggest?

Second: Why should we listen to any criticisms you have of the Insite program? I don't really know if Insite's specific methods are the best way to help addicts, but you have up front declared that you are ideologically opposed to helping people in need at all. So how could your criticism be of any value? If I don't like Thai food, would you ask me to recommend a Thai restaurant?

Not to pick on Julie, but I think she is simply more forthright in expressing the true nature of conservative objections to Insite. It's not that they think Insite is doing various things in a less effective manner. They think helping addicts at all is a poor endeavour.

Every human life is valuable. I have worked as an Outreach Counsellor for years and someday hope to work at a health care facility like InSite. I have so much respect and gratitude for everyone involved with InSite. Thank you for paving the road for the future of health care!

Well done! It is important for Canadians and our government to realize that the use of Insite curbs the spread of HIV and Hep C and by doing so protects the health of all Canadians.

I was shaken to the core of my being after watching the show you aired on Saturday evening entitled "Staying Alive". My heart goes out to the people of the streets in Canada.
We as Canadians should be less quick to pass our judgment on these forgotten and often condemned individuals and more willing to be compassionate.
Addiction is not a moral issue. It is about what happens when we as individuals become sick physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually.

Are we as Canadians prepared to turn our backs on people who become ill and condemn them to jails, institutions and death? Have we as a society become so "busy" with ourselves and our own problems that we have forgotten our fellow men and women?

Thank you to the individuals who had the courage to tell their stories. Thank you to the volunteers and the staff of Insite. Finally, thank you to the Fifth Estate and Hana Gartner for shedding some light on the darkness of their world.

Here David...

Rework this song...
fields of war...streets of life...

Billy Joel
"We met as soulmates
On Parris Inland
we left as inmates
from an asylum
and we were sharp
as sharp as knives
and we were so gung ho to lay down our lives.

We came in spastic
like tameless horses
we left in plastic
as numbered corpses
and we learned fast
to travel light
our arms were heavy but our bellies were tight

we had no homefront
we had no soft soap
they sent us playboy
they gave us bob hope
we dug in deep
and shot on sight
and prayed to Jesus Christ with all of our might.

We had no cameras
to shoot the landscape
we passed the hash pipe
and played our Doors tapes
and it was dark..
so dark at night
and we held onto each other
like brother to bother
we promised our mothers we'd write

(chorus)
and we would all go down together
we said we'd all go down together
yes we would all go down together.

Remember Charlie?
remember Baker?
they left their childhood
on every acre
and who was wrong,
and who was right?
It didn't matter in the thick of the fight,...

We, held the day,..
in the palm of our hands
They, ruled the night
And the night, seemed to last as long as six weeks
On Parris Island
We held the coastline
they held the highland
and they were sharp
as sharp as knives
they heard the hum of the mortars
they counted the rotors
and waited for us to arrive"

and they all went down to the River.

MY THANKS TO HANNA AND HER TEAM FOR A WELL MADE, VERY SAD STORY.
AS AN OUTSIDE OBSERVER I SEE MANY SIMMILARITIES WITH EXTREME GAMBLING AND EXTREME DRINKING PROBLEMS.
MOST LIKELY HAS A LOT TO DO WITH DEPRESSIONS OR OTHER MENTAL PROBLEMS. INCITE ACTUALLY IS JUST A COMFORT ZONE FOR THOSE PEOPLE, SORT OF A COMMUNITY CENTRE. SO I CAN SEE THE ATTITUDE THE FED GOVT IS TAKING. GOOD WORK PEOPLE !!

I agree with Geoff from Ontario. Where are the successes? Will the Fifth Estate go back and see if Taz is "three times a charm" and staying sober or was she just looking for a warm bed again for a few nights? Also, why could Insite not provide Methadone to Shelly when she was so desperate? In my opinion they have just aided in someone's failure. They knew who she was, they knew she had bee clean, they knew she was falling off the wagon and they aided her. Is that Insite's staff's form of job protection?

Let me guess the posts by people saying we don't care they're wasted tax dollars would just not be politically correct enough to be posted? Then again most people that I know that don't care wouldn't waste their time watching anyways never mind even responding. I've worked in the DTES and have been threatened to be stabbed by some junkies needle because I told them to get the heck out of the doorway and go shoot up in the alley. Spend the money on child/youth education and programs that help them stay away from drug use. I'm so sick of going to work on the bus and having to see that wasted tax dollars at main and hastings.

As a mother, I am thankful for the presence of Insite...a clean place to inject for those who cannot control (or rid themselves of) the 'need' to use drugs.

Insite appears to be a place out of the public eye, where users are not modeling INAPPROPRIATE behavior to children or impressionable or troubled adults.

There will be NO dirty needles,dried blood or drug remnants left lying around on the pavement or grass or benches...there will be NO visual aid for that nasty voice in a person's head to encourage them to use... "look buddy...as bad as things are going for you with the loss of your job or you money or your parents or your girlfriend...its just as well you walk over there and shoot-up with that guy in the alley...right this minute...while you have that twenty in your pocket and noone else to share it with."

INSITE...in a little storefront...out of sight...out of mind. No visual aids or frames of reference for that monkey on many a shoulder. Not, that is, unless a person is already walking into the clinic...and, once they are inside, Dominic can handle that monkey, for them and with them.

Watching Dave Brodrick's interview for the second and third time here online (after having seen it on television a couple of evenings ago) I am thankful for the advent of internet television broadcasts. I cannot help but wonder how many people, in the street, and on drugs, are victims of having 'been diagnosed' with AIDS.

How many, at an early age, for example, would have been told (as we were all told in the early nineties, by the media and/or that monkey on our shoulder) that once you have AIDS or HIV, you can't work in a restaurant, or a hospital, or with children...and if you do...people will constantly be evaluating you for cleanliness and transmission risks. You, especially if you are attractive and visibly unattached, will have to 'out' your illness to every second person you meet, to explain away why you are not dating or more involved with those around you.

How strong and self-assured must a young person be to do that?
At an age when young people fall victim to the forces around and WITHIN them which cause them to experiment chemically and sexually,security and clarity of self,
confidence of relationships with others and strength of conviction and belief in a higher power have not yet been well-developed.

We spend our first forty years, following the life-pattern layed down for us by government and church, the expectations to follow and conform mindlessly. ...the requirement that we complete all 'coming of age' milestones in a timely manner, as depicted in television shows and novel after novel available to our children in school libraries.

Without a strong and dynamic parent base, without an example of family members who have dared to refuse, to nonconform and to REFUSE and YET still remain intact, unbullied and self-assured, our children, our young adults are always only 'one evening out with friends', 'one kick in the shins by failure' away from their first venture into the world of drugs and/or sex.

The first attempt at some uncontrolled substance can lead to a lifetime of addiction. Those characters portrayed in movies and cartoons, those evil electric eel-like characters who pop up with temptation around every turn in those shows that are so predominate on today's television...Those characters are based on real-life characters...characters perhaps payed for by the drug trade to roam the streets and infiltrate our chidlren's friendship groups...to set up another 'sure-fire' customer.

This is why Insite should be providing controlled, prescribed drugs to the addicted and monitoring 'drugs-used,' in addition to needles required for injections...those who are down on their luck...whose short term 'bad' memories have been erased or 'fluffed' due to stress or pain or the angst of realising that due to one incident of unprotected intercourse, they will never be part of a marriage or a normal life or ever have healthy children.

Arrest those who use on the streets, arrest those who use illegal drugs. Arrest those who commit crimes or are lewd in public. Help those who come to a treatment centre asking for HELP.

Of course (and I remember 'discussing' this one with 'someone' years ago) tax dollars need to be used for 'other things.' As I explained then and will explain now, dollars put into videos and volunteer speaker programs, pamplets and volunteer emotional support systems (that make up well-organised prevention strategies) save money that will now NOT have to spent in the 'CURE' (rehabilatation and beds payed for while victims of the system SLOWLY die).

This would lead to less financial support of later- stage illness programs requiring degreed psychologists, doctors and AIDS specialists (AIDS, without prevention stratgies for drug users, can show up later in the 'game' from dirty needles and sexual exploits during drug highs--if we do not offer help...like a family would...child care for those seeking employment...an inexpensive place to live)who do not come cheaply in Canada's tax- funded medical system.

One salaried program-organizer per outreach program (with an arts degree) versus seven teams of medical intervention specialists (on doctors salaries) for dying drug addicted and AIDS patients. I don't know.

At a young age, without the right support, a person could feel overwhelmed...give up...hide away...find more obvious reasons to avoid others and be avoided. A person WITHOUT a strong and understanding family unit is a target for all things that may be made wrong for a person in this world.

Strong as they may be, without someone to report to or to be responsible to or for, they are more open to being freely used as society's EXAMPLE or giving up on a bad day.

They have no advocate to step up for them and question medical reports, or peer pressure...they have noone to blame or use as an excuse to avoid certain lifestyle choices. They have nowhere to GO FOR HELP.
Help that might just keep them healthy and requiring less waste of our tax dollars in later illnesses stemming from the abuse of one's body in alternate lifestyles, illnesses such as AIDS and CANCER.

Those who try drugs will try them at a party, in a car, in a back field with their 'friends.' Those who become 'hooked,' who lose their support system, may end up in the street. When you are too cold to think straight you may be too cold to process the necessary steps needed to adequately meet your own needs (Imagine how you feel after spending an hour or two in the fresh autumn air sitting on a bench at your child's soccer practice...or standing in a cold arena all day long for a hockey or figure skating tournament...Now, pretend that you don't get to go to your heated minivan afterwards...or to your warm home...that you have no family nearby...or none left at all...How many of us have EVER formed the type of friendships...HONESTLY...that will see us through a detox or AIDS?...

It is bad enough that Canada no longer has an effective unemployment insurance system...Why do we not take the fearful childlike hand of the lost and lead them step by step to their appointment...to their cure...As the woman said, 'they are ALL somebody's daughter or sister or neice'...and they are now alone...

Were I to not live long enough to be here for my child...I would like to think that the time I spent NOW worrying about her safety and security...would have led to a nation with better social programs...

(so many children, rich man-poor man, experience these troubles after their parents are dead and gone...ALONE)

We cannot enforce caring..we cannot even ensure that the most sincere, hardworking and empathetic end up in the caring positions, but we CAN set down a series of laws and policies for establishments like INSITE allowing those who work there to be able to ALWAYS and CONSISTENTLY be LEGISLATED to EDUCATE and help their clientel CONSISTENTLY, from worker to worker, help location to help location...from government administration to government administration...from COAST TO COAST.)

Taz, all the best to you in your fight to stay clean. Many of us have travelled that road and stayed on it. You're right it has alot to do with association. When you leave that life you have to leave those people behind. That may mean no friends for a while. But Ive known others who have done it, even moved out of town to get away from the temptations.They started life new some where else and with experience avoided that life style and the poeple who are in it.It isn't easy, but worth it.

Sammy if you have all the answers why hide in anonymity? I am sure it's very easy to just claim answers but not back them up with actual links to what reports you are talking about. Like your comparison to Portland, they have a huge budget compared to insite, they also don't just deal with extreme hardcore users like Insite does. As of March 8 2008 Portland had it up for vote to just send addicts to prison without any treatment at all. Money I guess is not unlimited there also. Insite is by no means a replacement for treatment, they would love to see a well funded treatment/housing program like Portland has setup up shop. Vancouver gets most of the drug addicts in Canada because of the warm weather, but little of the money. We should only have to pay for BC addicts but end up with limited budgets when addicts from elsewhere are added. You go along cherry picking examples and claiming answers. Where has forced treatment worked? what about relapse after they leave treatment, you can't lock people up forever. I had heard they did forced treatment in Sweden. Harper sent one of his minions there, hoping his drug free fairy tail could be true. Reality even Sweden has needle exchanges and harm reduction. One thing they did achieve was a spike in overdose deaths and Sweden still has drug addicts. Now if you really were around the DTES like you say you are, you would have noticed the sheer number of ambulance sirens that have dropped since insite started. I lived in gastown for awhile and even I noticed that. No one ever bothered to see how much money we have saved from having the ambulances/fireservice not go out to so many overdoses. Come on Sammy get out of the shadows, and show yourself for the person with all the answers which you say you have. Otherwise I would just say you are a shill for either the VPD which needs drug users to keep the crime rate up and the pickings easy to fill their day with simple drug arrests or one of the rightwing "experts" that usually comes from the Abbotsford/Fraser valley bible belt. Unlike you, I look at insite as a way of dealing with a small but extreme portion of drug addicts. They are a "junkies community centre" as one of the junkies put it, which is a far better way of luring someone to treatment than running after them with the police.

I wonder if the mayor supports this center only to clean up the city for the olympics. And then after... well you get the picture

While on a visit to Gas Town in Vancouver from Toronto last year, my husband and I studied a map in search of Blood Alley for a recommended restaurant. Recognizing we were lost, a tall, gentle man stopped to offer directions and, concerned about our welfare, offered advise: "Walk around through the other end, don't carry your camera or purse in the open; there are junkies down there, so be careful," he warned. We were dumbfounded and nervous, I admit, and touched as the man wished us a nice evening and went on his way.

We recognized that good samaritan as Dave while watching your documentary, Staying Alive, and we were devastated to learn of his tragic past, his deteriorating health and his dream of a "happy" ending. We walked in and immediately walked out of the restaurant Dave directed us to, the contrast of privilege too much to bare, and forced ourselves to walk the length of Blood Alley at dusk past kids, the age of our own, huddled together shooting-up. To this day we are shaken by that scene of human tragedy.

We are grateful that at the very least the people of Insite look out for Dave. And we can only hope that the Harper government will recognize that the program saves valuable lives.

Wonderful documentary. I would donate to the Conservative party if that's what it would take for Harper to watch it. Maybe then he would change his mind. He obviously doesn't appreciate the science that shows the beneficial effects that INSITE has had, so maybe he can at least appreciate the people. If he doesn't use his brain, maybe he can use his heart. He can't be missing both, right?

Overall it would seem that the efforts of the staff at Insite are moving towards something positive; however I would question the approach implemented in the documentary. This approach included standoffishness, non-confrontational and non-judgmental application of tools that might have helped the addict. One shining example of this was when the organizer of Insite made repeated attempts at finding lodging for one addict that had HIV and was in no way (at this point) ready for rehabilitation, whereas at the same time totally dropping the ball with someone else that was WAY farther along the road to healing. The case I am talking about was the situation where a woman who had been off of heroine for 3 years and was coping with the use of methadone was totally ignored and allowed to reenter the lifestyle. The documentary did not go into details suffice to say that the woman was having trouble getting her doctor to change her prescription or possibly to change the location at which she picks the prescription up at. Maybe this was a psychological barrier that she was experiencing internally or maybe it really was a Fubar of our wonderful health care system; I don’t know. What I do know is that when she came into the office with drugs and the intent to shoot up again the staff should have stopped everything they were doing and make some JUDGMENTS about her case; NOW! She was off the drugs for three years. She was in the process of getting her own place. HELLO, do everything in your power to contact her doctor, go down to her doctor with her etc. I think you get the picture. Instead they cooed at her and helped her to burn down three years of effort in the time it takes to shoot up. This in my opinion flipped the positive efforts way over to the other side. If people where given a vote on whether to disband this service a little detail like that goes a long way in loosing you the war.

I previously leaned on the side of closing this place down, but after viewing your program I have definitely changed my mind. It doesn't take too brilliant a mind to see that having places like this available to the addicted will, in the end, save health care dollars due to the education they provide, and the compassion they display will be very encouraging for those who have the will to withdraw from drug use. What law are they breaking? They are not providing illicit drugs, but clean needles, education and hope.

Did you know that here in Vancouver, if you have anorexia and are in danger of dying of it, that you are certified, admitted to hospital and treatment is forced upon you? (a feeding tube is inserted through your nose into your stomach.) No one waits for the person to have some spontaneous epiphany and want treatment. The anorexic firmly believes that she doesn't need it, or "isn't ready for it,"
LIkewise if you are so depressed that you are in danger of killing yourself you are certified, admitted to hospital, and treatment is forced upon you. Addiction is also a brain disease. Why do treat those poor men and women who are in obvious states of psychosis gyrating down Hastings street, or through the doors of Insite so differently? They are surely killing themselves- maybe just not as quickly, but many will get debilitating or deadly infections or overdoses or just be walking zombies. Are we doing them any favors by enabling them to stay addicted? And before you say that forced treatment doesn't work - check the research.

I also want to thank CBC and the producers/people from the Fifth Estate in doing this amazing episode. It has helped understand better the people who are marginalized every day on the streets of a city in which I grew up in. I believe In-site is helping the addicts and I would sign a petition asking for it to be allowed in Canada if there is one.

drug use-a reaction to inexplicable and/or unquellable pain (physical and/or psychological)

avoidance of drug use-the luck of having a strong family/social/lifestyle unit with a no-holds-barred forbiddance of use

recovery-an education (spiritual, emotional, physical and mental understanding) - what causes pain and how to separate pain of spirit from pain of body
-how to turn inward pain into outward pain
-how to use mind-over-matter to 'gain control again'

INsite -a caring and sincere world will never isolate someone who is having trouble and seeking help. It will always hold their hand.

-the calico cat

Terrific documentary about the people suffering from addiction, homelessness, and marginalization in Vancouver. I believe Insite is the thin edge of the wedge that will ultimately develop into a system that can effectively provide resources to people who need them, and still treat them respectfully and with dignity. My heartfelt thanks to the workers and professionals at Insite, for taking this brave and effective step. People with addictions are not criminals, they are people with needs and not enough tools. Please don't let the feds shut you down.

To Hana & her team - your review of Insite clearly exposed both the challenging life of the addicted and the amazing compassion of those who want to help them.

I have read with interest comments from past addicts, who are now dedicating their time towards aiding other addicts .... " once you walk in their shoes, you understand their needs".

The Insite program will generate discussion across Canada. Politicians in cities and towns will see the wisdom of Vancouver's past and current Mayors - that supporting a program like Insite is the first step in a long journey. That journey includes:
1. having sufficient detox beds for all those addicts who want to get off drugs (the majority, I'm sure!)
2. gaining control of the drug marketplace (yes, prescription heroin!), to ensure quality and to keep the gangsters & pushers out.
3. having addicts' employment & housing needs met.
4. having police focus on arresting drug dealers & pushers
5. and finally, empowering judges to dispense serious prison time to those who make drugs available to the young and impressionable in the first place.

Maybe, it will happen ... perhaps in 20 or 30 years, when we Canadians start to believe in ourselves, and not as a pawn of the USA.

Last comment: I was trully struck by the amazing compassion shown by Darwin Fisher. His empathy, his ability to be helpful and non-judgemental .... what a wonderful human being!

If INSITE is a success then where are the successes? Shelley was described as a success yet she apparently had nine children that she could not care for, was on methadone for three years (before relapsing to heroin), and was on welfare. For a success, show us ONE person who has been off of drugs for several years (including methadone), is off the streets, and has been able to hold a job and stay off of welfare. It appears that INSITE may have crossed the line from being supportive to being so non-judgmental that they have created a cycle of co-dependency that enables reformed addicts to relapse. Please, just show us ONE example where INSITE has helped someone to meet a reasonable standard of success.

Last night it was mentioned that the 'Fifth Estate' reads each email/comment submitted. I believe that that facilities such as 'Insite' should definately be a part of any community with a large drug using population. Street people, more than any other segment of the population, need our support and compassion.
Today is the birthday of a friend of mine who is homeless. I have not heard from them since they left early from a detox program last fall. Before that they were on a methodone program and it looked promising........
In last night's program, it was mentioned that all of the person's treated at Insite had either a story of abandonment and/or abuse in their childhood. That is also the case with my friend.
We must help those in our society who need our help. It is also smart to help the spread of disease, and in the process, perhaps help just one person rise up from the hell that is addiction.
Thank you for airing the program. I hope it will help Insite to stay open.

Thank you, CBC, for your thoughtful piece. I see complaints here about a lack of input from those who believe Insite is a bad strategy. I think that would have made it impossible for you to tell your story coherently, and I'm glad you stuck to one perspective for this show. Too many 1 hour specials try to approach issues from every angle and end up providing a watered down, cluttered view of the issue that fails to add any substance to the conversation. These are purely democratic exercises in the principal that everyone should be able to say something, rather than sticking to a story and trying to do at least one perspective justice. I thank you for doing the later in this piece.

I continue to be surprised by the number of commenters who object to Insite as a treatment modality for drug addiction. It is not a treatment modality for addiction! It is first and foremost a strategy for reducing the amount of HIV, Hep C and overdose deaths in this community. Insite has never been an experiment to try another approach to treating addiction, though it has an attached treatment facility (Onsite). Arguing that Insite does not reduce the number of addicts on the street is a complete misrepresentation of its intended purpose.

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'"

It is so easy to see Christ in the clients at Insite. Dr. Mate truly is our own Mother Theresa and deserving of the same recognition (read nobel prize).

Harm minimization certainly does not equate with the enabling of addictive behaviour. Neither is it a substitute for addiction treatment programs. It is compassion toward those incapable, by virtue of the severity of their disease from pursuing any kind of meaningful recovery. It is for the sickest of the sick.

When we cannot cure, we should comfort, and we should also prevent and treat Hepatitis, HIV and overdose.

I sat riveted, uneasy, and amazed. These are regular people, who through many forms of abuse and neglect, now seek refuge from their feelings of insecurity, insufficiency, and inability - ironically, through their own abuse, and addiction. This "community centre for junkies" should be supported by the Canadian government, and laws need to be changed to facilitate just such support. These are human beings who, through lack of proper social support, have found it easier to let their "bad dogs build a castle." These are hard cases, but they are as deserving of my tax dollars as the next guy. Thank you to The Fifth Estate for bringing this outstanding facility and its people to our attention. Great, gritty, and relevant piece of journalism. The Canadian government must embrace and encourage this service.

Thank god there are people and programs out there designed to help addicts. I do not agree with the Conservative government. This site should NOT be shut down. We need to give addicts options and different approaches to help them overcome their addictions. We don't have ENOUGH help out there!
This is what I suggest that Mr. Harper and his cronies do:
The next time they get on a plane, sit down to a lovely dinner at a fine restaurant, have their assistant order fine stationary for their office, have their socks folded by their maid/valet, or have their pet groomed COURTESY of the TAXPAYERS of this country, that they give a SINGLE COMPASSIONATE AND CONSTRUCTIVE THOUGHT to the less fortunate and think about how THEY can HELP instead of HINDER their success.

Every documentary about addiction, suicide, or depression, shows the correlation between being abused and the inability to take care of yourself.
We blame the Vatican for aiding and abetting pedophiles, but society is still not ready to hold their care-givers accountable for aiding and abetting family members who violate children. And this is why the cycle continues. Doctors, therapists, experts all say the same thing, that the abusers should be charged, but, I have yet to see society challenge the silent criminals. Our mothers, our aunts, our uncles, our brothers and sisters, and our friends and extended family. We want the Vatican to do the right thing, we want the NHL to do the right thing. Why are the silent criminals - our families - off the hook?? Thus, the cycle of creating disposable people continues.

I work in a sro in the downtown-Eastside,and on a daily basis have close contact with the addicted,and work in a similar enviroment as the staff at In-site.I have nothing but the utmost respect and admiration for the subjects your recent episode "staying alive" profiled.People who are employed in similar occupations' are on the front-line in a struggle against not a singular enemy;but plural.Poverty,Mental-Illness,Substance-abuse,and all the accompaning health concerns are more than any fellow human-being should have to suffer through.That they should suffer through all this alone,without any support from a civilized society,this is a abomination.

Sammy fails to mention that he is the addiction councillor for a police union, which are notoriously right-wing organizations that see drug prohibition as the bread-and-butter issue that keeps LEOs employed for as long as they can keep distorting the data by hiring hack Fraser Valley profs to refute what the UBC prof said was good data showing harm-reduction at Insite works.

As usual, another tremendous story by the Fifth Estate and journalist, Hana Gartner.

I commend INSITE and all of their workers, your compassionate dedication warms my soul.
Thousands of others and I love and appreciate you for what you are doing.

It keeps the needles out of the playgrounds and parks and encourages rehabilitation.

I'm disturbed by some of these peoples comments.
Perhaps if they ever have a relative in a similar situation or a child that accidentally steps on a needle in a sandbox they might change their opinion.

I'm equally disappointed with our federal government which has become a common every day occurance.

D.Knights

I thought the most "insightful" comment was the one by Sammy in Vancouver, posted March 14, 2009 05:51 PM. Those who dismiss all opposition to Insight should read those comments by someone who, as an addiction counsellor, seems to know what he or she is talking about. The show might have been more credible if alternatives to Insight had been examined. Dedicated as most of the workers at Insight may be, there are others trying to help addicts in Vancouver.
Those who object to the cost of Insight are missing what should be the point: Addicts do need help. (The cost pales beside money spent on frivolities by governments.) The real question is what will really help. There certainly need to be more well-located detox centres. But the approach taken by Insight seems to be very far removed from the successful approach to alcoholism taken by Alcoholics Anonymous, for instance.

Comments from Mr. Keith Harvey, of Barrie, et al. sound very familiar... I know! "Are there no prisons, are there no workhouses?" and "...then they had better do so [die] and decrease the surplus population." Thankfully most people don't feel this way! Mr. Harvey might prefer the addicts found in Vancouver and every other port city in the world shoot up in alleys or just go off and die somewhere instead, but I doubt the residents of these cities would agree. I have visited Amsterdam many, many times and always stay near the Red Light District. The only time I have ever seen someone using hard drugs was at a rock concert in Toronto. There are no homeless Dutch people and any Dutch citizen who cannot work is provided with an income and a place to live. There are no unsafe areas of Amsterdam, unlike Vancouver, where tourists are strongly advised to not walk from the Chinese ornamental gardens to Gastown. There are hundreds of police security cameras around downtown Amsterdam, as well as foot and bicycle patrols. Rape, sex assaults and armed robberies are almost non-existent.
The main effect of the U.S. led war on drugs has been to raise the prices which has led to more acts of petty crimes like theft, more deaths and more acts of violence by desperate addicts and criminal gangs fighting over the ever increasing profits. The billions of dollars we currently spend helping to make drug dealers and anti-drug crusaders richer and richer should instead be used to provide help to our citizens who need it the most. Tougher laws will only make the problems worse. Even death is no deterrent to someone who feels they have nothing to lose.

I worked on the DTES of Vancouver for about 4 years in a number of positions including working as a transitional worker in another harm reduction program that allows women to use in their rooms as well as we provided them clean equipment. In addition, we allowed the women to bring their clients into the place in their rooms. It was to help prevent the clients from hurting the women and trust me, I prevented much hurt by these clients a great number of times. In addition, I was able to provide the ability for the women to have a "supervised injection site and smoking crack site" and we never had one death. WE had ODs but no deaths. "The Vivian" is run by RainCity Housing Services Society and it helped so many women who are wonderful amazing people and it was a pleasure to be able to work there.

I also worked in a detox and as a Financial Aid Worker and I had some of Dr. Gabor Mate clients as well as clients that used insite. I also had one client involved in the NAOMI project which changed her life in ways people hadn't thought possible simply by providing heroin maintenance. By her being able to obtain pharmaceutical grade heroin in controlled known doses, she stabilized and actually starting working. She enjoyed volunteering (helping clean needles from the street) as well as had begun to write but her addiction to heroin continued.

Every person on this planet deserves a chance at happiness and love. That is what life is all about and that is what drug use supplies those individuals who have been prevented from finding this happiness and love. They have been prevented by being abused (which is known to actually damage the brain - a scar left behind by a wound, it isn't simply about getting their acts together and taking charge of their destiny - just get rid of that scar from the cut you got on your skin by just doing it), poverty, lack of education, poor upbringing, disabilities, mental health disorders, and most all marginalization and isolation. None of these was something they asked for. It wasn't something they wanted in their lives just like a diabetic or an individual who has cancer asks for it. The only difference is that a person with diabetes or cancer is provided tools that will potentially help them get better.

Before diabetes was in no way treatable until the discovery and development of insulin. Up until this, they were rather helpless. This is how addicts have been in terms of getting treatment for their problem. The understanding of trauma, addiction and the brain has been minimal until recently. With the advent of neuroscience, we are able to now learn that addiction isn't simply about just don't do it, it is about an organic illness of the brain that results in it being unable to regulate itself properly and thus this leads to pain, stress, hurt, anger, and self destructive behaviours as ways at attempting to regulating itself. It isn't about just don't do drugs, it is about how to we heal the brain so they don't need to do drugs? Insite is the first step at potentially finally providing insulin to addicts.

Please spread the word of how important InSite is not only to the community of the DTES but to all of the world as drug use is everywhere and it isn't going away. We need to come up with rational and pragmatic ways of regulating drugs rather than prohibition. This problem of transmission of disease, ODs, and all the other problems that go along with psychoactive abuse and addiction (this includes prescription medications like Ativan and Oxycontin) can't be solved by just trying to prohibit the use of the drugs, we need to take into account what makes people have problems in the first place and that is the abuse. Prohibiting it is like preventing diabetics from having their insulin. In the case of insulin, it still doesn't cure the problem but it helps to reduce the harm that the problem may cause. Even diabetics today get sight problems and often lose limbs. Somehow the diabetic received a pancreas that doesn't work well and an addict has received a brain that doesn't work well, neither are the persons fault. However, addicts are somehow blamed for the brain received.

I wish to thank The Fifth Estate for doing the piece on Insight. It is so important for the public to get a true view of the amazing things going on there. I believe Insight is a truly remarkable program and am disappointed in the Conservative government for being so narrow minded about it.

Thank you for airing the program "Staying Alive" from a "human" point of view. I have been lucky enough not to have the hardship of drug use myself but my only brother has become a serious addict in the past few years and my family has had to watchedhim loose his children, his home, and finally his health. We think of him everyday, not knowing where in Ontario he is, or if he's alive. I watched this program and only wished we had a place like Insite here in Ontario. Then maybe he would have somewhere to turn to instead of a cold dark alley. Right now its practically impossible for an addict to get any kind of help in Ontario, there are very few programs and fewer spaces. The politicians who want to close this facility are politicians who have never had a loved one lost to drug abuse. These addicts are human beings, they were baby's once, and they are someone's sister, brother, mother, father, or friend. Lets try not to forget this. Thank you Fifth Estate for a most excellent job - Well Done!

As I watched the program I could not help but fell compassion for all the broken individuals whos lifes revolve around drugs. Although IN SITE does provide a clean and safe place for "some" of those addicts to use their drug of choice, there is no hope for the future. Their futures revolve around drugs and little of anything else. By continuing the cycle of drug abuse the cycle of hopelessness will also continue. To give these people hope would involve a strong measure of eliminating the drug cycle. This would involve dealing with the root of the problem, from the abused child to the gangs trafficing drugs. I feel that "IN SITE" is a very small bandage to a very large problem. David, Shelley, and Taz are created in the image of God, yet man and society have told them they are worthless and nothing. We create a place and say "hey come here and use your drugs its OK and keep coming back as often as you need" without telling them that God loves them and they are worth something. We should fight the abuse, ensuring that each child knows they are worthy and loved. We has fight the gangs that controls the flow of drugs into our cities and have punishment in our justice system that actually means something and isn't just a slap on the hand. And at some point we need to take responsibility for the decisions we make, it's all about choices. Let's help people make better choices instead of prepetuating the problem. IN SITE will not work, it is only a bandaid solution.

Its saddening to see the ignorance of some people, where is the compassion?
Many of the people on the streets have long histories of abuse and trauma. Many have never experienced stability, love, and acceptance. Look at the reports coming out of Sask and Alberta about the foster care system. People are taken into "care" to protect them from the harm they experienced in their families, they are moved into "care" where there is no security, safety, love, belonging, acceptance or consistency. They continue to be neglected, ignored, and mistreated by a system that provides "care." Counselling is provided to some, but counselling doesnt provide the help with the affects of the abuse they have endured, counselling tends to focus on the immediate problems they are facing.

The few who seek mental health care are further stigmatized, abused, misunderstood, labeled, and alienated. People dont understand trauma and how it affects brain development. One of the misdiagnosed mental health illnesses is borderline personality disorder. Most are labeled with this misunderstood diagnosis which comes with further abuse from the health care providers who cause more harm with their lack of understanding of childhood trauma and how it affects coping skills. Professional discard these people as attention seekers, manipulators and devalued once again. Read Dr Bruce Perry's book on childhood trauma.

Addictions are not a choice!

I would like the Fifth Estate do indepth stories of people who use Insite, only if follow up care is provided as talking about ones history can cause further trauma.

Under the conservative government we are looking at more privatization of health care and services, decreased support and funding for social programs. The conservative government sadly doesnt not value all human life. More work, money and care goes into saving abused, neglected animals than goes into abused, neglected HUMANS!

There are many excellent programs for nurses to work in on the DTES. For myself, workings as an RN, there is no other facility that I feel as effective as I do at Insite. That effectiveness comes on so many different levels, health promotion, social work and giving people their dignity back so they feel like they actually have choices. Thank-you for your compassionate window into my favourite place to serve this strong community. Coral T.

I watched Staying Alive and I was really impressed with the facilities and staff at Insight. It was heart warming to see desperate people have a place to turn to. This is a clean place where they can use the drugs they are addicted to and at the same time be able to talk freely to someone who is trying to help them and understands where they are coming from. Hopefully some will be able to break this terrible addiction - for sure they haven't much hope of this while on the streets alone with their problem - it will only get worse or take their life. I think any government is very short sighted in ignoring the plight of these victims of addiction.

Imagine a child growing up in an environment where they are possibly physically abused, but definitely mentally and emotionally abused. By High School age they have found a solution, an ideology, a lifestyle that seems to work well and helps them deal with the abuse. Years pass, their life has continued to follow a narrow path in spite of teachers and others attempting to convince them otherwise. Facts do not deter them, the majority of those in their country do not agree with them. Their belief system is right and they are incapable of imagining any other world-view.
This is what it is like to be an addict or an idealogue. The only difference is that the addict recognises a need to change - unlike the self-righteous, unempathic and rather pathetic idealogues who insist on their right to live in their distorted world unchallenged by reality. Who also deny the right of the addict to do as they do.
Why doesn't the addict change - get treatment & get a job? Because they have almost as much difficulty imagining this for themselves as the idealogue has of imagining themselves as empathic people able to care about human beings they cannot begin to understand.

I work in recovery in the Downtown Eastside and am currently studying Substance Abuse Counselling. THANK YOU CBC AND THE FIFTH ESTATE! This story needed to be told.

I cant believe that the Harper government is so ignorant and hard headed, that their trying to appeal the decision of the B.C. court, for a B.C. funded project to keep insight open. When are these pencil pushing bureaucrats going to start making decision based on research(witch is favorable to keep insight open) instead of their so called moral values, that don't represent the countries.(minority government!)

I first heard about insight in a report on C.B.C. radio. And i want to thank C.B.C. for bringing this matter to mainstream audiences.

JC, it would be a REALLY good thing if CBC could stop the arrogance and learn what addiction is truly about. I spent years working with addicts in Vancouver. Just some comments: getting addicts on to methadone is NOT the solution / not SUCCESS for addicts, it is for governments and health workers (governments create a form of social control and addiction dr’s can make more $$ and ‘health care’ workers get to buy into some delusion that they are helping people when all they are doing whether helping them to inject or get them on methadone is place them in a perpetual state of nowhere), shame on Gabor Mate for not qualifying some of his remarks on addicts, there is a lot more hope than this film and Insite's solutions.

I can't see how the production of this show is going to help anything - the public's perception of addiction or the solutions being portrayed in the show. What is needed is missed as these kinds of self-serving solutions are funded. There is no properly funded continuity for escape from addiction in vancouver thanks to some arrogant academics at UBC/St.Pauls. these types of programs and the people behind them prevented suitable possibilities in the 1990s. I was there at that time and know some very astute vancouver city officials explored solutions like Portland, Oregon's excellent programs and services but Coastal Health, HIV Centres for Excellence and BC went for shite like Insite and what they perceived was a good solution for any group BUT addicts. So, what we see is no hope, a slanted version of what addiction is and CBC perpetuating another lame view of addiction and what is needed. ‘Staying Alive’ so you can live in constant need of support/helplessness/dependence and/or drugged on methadone so you can look forward to a 300 sq. foot place to live and social services. People who succumb to addiction deserve a better chance than what Insite promotes. I know because I have been there.

Thank you once again to Fifth Estate for a well done show. You bring much new knowledge to the Canadian Public. I have to admit I am negative towards the Insite program. First off diabetics do not get the financial assistance that addicts get. I felt that the Insite program somewhat promotes the addictions by being "oh so understanding of them". Shelley should have been really made to realize what she was doing after three long years. Not just to let her use the facilities once again because she was unable to get meth one, two, three. Let's face it does not every one face challenges daily in their lives. She admitted she has had nine children. Where are those poor little souls and how many drugs did she use during pregnancy? Selfish is the word I would use for most addicts. If Shelley had been responsible and loving to her children maybe she would not find time to waste her life. I have known people born into sad family situations that climbed up and beyond it. Dave had a terrible mother. Why don't we think of the children, and scoop them, when they are babies, out of rotten homes. Insite is a waste of money, taxpayers' money, these addicts got addicted on their own accord and now they want all this help. Tough love is needed here. Take the addicts around to witness people inflicted with horrific diseases that they did not ask for and maybe they will realize their disease is self inflicted. Put the money to help the infants born to undeserving addicts.

JC, it would be a REALLY good thing if CBC could stop the arrogance and learn what addiction is truly about. I spent years working with addicts in Vancouver. Just some comments - getting addicts on to methadone is not the freaking answer, shame on Gabor Mate for not qualifying some of his remarks on addicts, there is a lot more hope than this film and Insite's solutions. I can't see how the production of this show is going to help anything - the public's perception of addiction or the solutions being portrayed in this show. What is needed is missed as these kinds of half-assed solutions are funded. There is no properly funded continuity for escape from addiction in vancouver thanks to some arrogant academics at UBC?St.Pauls. these types of programs and the people behind them prevented suitable possibilities in the 1990s. At that time, I was there and know some very astute vancouver city officials tried to bring in solutions like Portland, Oregon's excellent programs and services but BC and the feds got went for shite like Insite. So, what we see is no hope, a slanted version of what addiction is and CBC perpetuating another lame view of addiction and what is needed.

As I watched this show last night I had a lot of mixed emotions. My nephew died down on the East End of Vancouver March 1st of 2001 at the age of 31 of a drug overdose after injecting an eight ball, I have a brother who has been a drug addict for the past 30 years plus has seen many of my friends and other relatives go down this path. "The Devil does not discriminate" many good people have met his/her wrath. After having discussions with my brother over addiction, he agreed with me that it is like a slow suicide mission..not that he wants to be there because he says he wakes up every day wishing today will be the day he stops. He has been to rehab at least 3 times over the years, he is addicted to morphine and is an intravenous drug user with cocaine being his drug of choice, to me he has not tried hard enough.
The welfare system has made it easy for him and many other people by giving them a disability cheque month after month which only goes to feed their drug habit and is why they are disabled in the first place, they weren’t always this way. They should all be given a drug test before they are even allowed to pick up their cheques as so many hard working Canadians have to do before a company will even hire them.
My parents are enablers, even us as siblings have been, my brother is 49 years old and is living with my parents along with his drug addicted girlfriend and doing drugs in their house in the bedroom and my parents have chosen to turn a blind eye to this even though it has ripped a once close knit family apart, so the rest of us four kids and our kids suffer as a result of their blind eye because we feel like we don’t even have our parents/grandparents any more let alone our brother, I worry daily for my parents safety.
My view on the Insite Injection Site is that it be closed down, the users say this is keeping them alive, excuse me but this is not living, they say they are fighting for their lives so if they are fighting for their lives then get clean and go to rehab and try to become a productive part of society. I know first hand that many addicts have had good lives and jobs and are talented, they have children, parents and siblings that they might as well say to them “I love drugs more than I love you” we all miss the person they used to be. It is too bad that they fight for the drugs more than they fight for their own lives or the people who love them and rely on them to be there for them.
The safe injection site is an enabler just like my parents are and that is just not right. The money the federal gov’t puts out for the site should be put more towards rehab centers to get addicts better and living and their family members counselled on how to deal with the void. Think about all the children that have no choice, no say that are born to addicts that will have to be looked after by the gov’t because they are born addicts and the cycle keeps going on and on…..There has got to be change in this world!

I currently live in the Downtown East Side of Vancouver, In fact can see the back of Insite from my balcony. Having lived and worked in this neighborhood since 1996, I have had the opportunity to mmet and work with many of the addicts in this area. I believe that our governments insistance on moralizing addictive behaviour is only pandering to status quo that simply has little relevance in this community, as well as ignoring the imperical data that many researchers the world over have been able to compile regarding addiction. We would all be chastened to dissect our individual lives and honestly acknowledge that many "normal" people have behaviours that stem from our desire to avoid painful truths and cause us guilt and shame. The ability to empathize with the clients of insite is truly within us all.

Hannah and the CBC team,

That was a compassionate and objective look at a divisive subject, great work. Hearing you were tackling that, I did not expect it to have any savory moments at all yet it did justice to the depth of the problem without the anger that often boils to the surface around the public misconceptions around addiction and free-will.

You can't solve a social problem without taking detailed pictures of the individuals involved.

Thanks for doing it.

I love most what Shelley said, "we have beating hearts too". I believe whole heartedly that addiction is a health issue and does not get the respect and compassion it desserves. I celebrate Vancouver for being the first safe place where people can go for support in all aspects of there addictions. I don't think the average person realizes how quickly your life could change either way - so therefore I wish people would stop judging and take a deeper look into the soles of people with addictions.

I found the program very interesting because it had such an altruistic and empathetic emphasis. Much credit to all the workers there at INSIGHT who seem to give their best, heart and soul, to job that is risky and often thankless on a daily basis. Thanks to Hannah Gartner and the CBC staff for giving us insight to Insight. How can we as a society appreciate more the work of the doctor, social worker, nurses and others?

What struck me most about this view of Insite was the lack of true insight and the complete absence of the investigative reporting that the Fifth Estate is known for. We saw no difficult questions. It was as if the producers bought the premise that those in the show have embraced- the harm reduction concept of meeting and accepting the addicts where they are at. The idea that we just have to wait until the addict is ready to make the right decisions and choose to make positive life-sustaining changes. However the disease of addiction has changed them. An addict's brain has changed in both function and structure - it is not the same neuro system as it was before the addiction. Look at Shelly - She is not a success story if she is still hanging out downtown- the vast majority of people who have been as addicted as she was cannot and should not be living in an open drug scene exposed to those potent triggers for relapse. An experienced addiction treatment provider would hopefully have been able to help her see that using motivational interviewing techniques. But the system should also be designed to facilitate that - Is it not insane that you would put a detox or treatment center one floor above the injection site? They look out the window to see all their friends scoring and shooting dope? Perhaps a few might beat those odds and make it - but wouldn't you want to maximize everyone's chances by having a detox out of the downtown? And supported housing - again that can't be in the middle of the open drug scene -Shelly's on-camera relapse highlights these flawed policies.
And I must take exception to the doctor's interview poor Taz - I think it extremely poor therapy to blithely ask Taz (on day 3 of her detox) on camera about her past experience of sexual abuse like he would ask about a previous appendix operation. He goes on to ask her to imagine someone abusing her own daughter, and what if would feel like if that daughter didn't tell Taz. He concludes with "do you get that that was your childhood?" This kind of intense, deeply personal dredging up of past trauma needs to be done very slowly, carefully, and in a very safe and secure environment or the results could be very dangerous.
Also contrary to the show, as an addiction counselor in the DTES of Vancouver I have met treated many patients who were not sexually abused.

Thank you Taz, Thank you Shelley, Thank you David, Thank you Dr. Gabor Mate, Thank you Darwin Fisher!!

I hope that the show "intervention" airs this as a special edition to their program. All too often society ignores the reasons people become destitute. Society does not want to take responsiblity for the cruel world we create. We judge people who are alone in the world. When you have been abused, you are forced to live a double life. One that society accepts and the other one you have to go to sleep with. At some point, you will loose yourself in this game. When will we stop fueling the greedy and start reaching out to the vulnerable. Before a man by the name of Barack Obama became president of the USA, I thought the world was going to end. Now there is renewed hope for the oppressed in the world. Let's build on that. There is no level of society that can be so arrogant as to think they are not a part of the problem. So, let's try and at least create more places like Insight, Onsight. We need more Darwin Fisher's and Dr. Mates out here. The world does not need any more Steven Harpers or "W"s.

And finally, thank you Hannah Gartner and the CBC - for your courage.

Love and Peace

It is unfortunate that the federal government is wasting money fighting Insite instead of supporting it. If they could understand that more funding and support of addiction treatment, prevention, education and harm reduction would do more to solve the problems that drug addiction cause than making more laws and hiring more police.

My deepest gratitude to Darwin and the rest of the people that work at Insite and for those who work hard to keep Insite going. Thank you

I'm tired of the CBC sugar-coating BC radicalism and self-employment projects like Insite. I believe in the natural order of life and yes, if people who want to kill themselves, kill themselves, then so be it. That's why God gave us free will in order that we make our own bed and have to lie in it. I've experienced devastating hardships in my life, even worse than Shelley's, but I choose not to whine and labour others over what I must do myself, which is to grow up and learn to take responsibility. It's a never ending process. When I was in prison, I watched as all the community resources went to coddling the worst behaved and most dangerous. My needs and my families' needs were totally ignored, because we believed in taking responsibility for ourselves.

I think projects like Insite are the brainchild of radical-thinking individuals, who want to empower people hellbent on destroying the good values of our society. I believe that the counselor portrayed as working at Insite was a poster boy and doesn't represent the majority of counselors who work in the Downtown Eastside, who are usually addicts themselves, who chose not to hold a normal job if their lives depended on it. They dream up programs like Insite and others, essentially to keep themselves employed and working in a domain they're comfortable in.

I'm glad the economy is worsening and that people will begin to see that loss-cause programs like Insite should be scrapped. There simply are not enough resources to go around. Maybe then, the natural world order will return and people will have a chance at learning the difference between wrong and right, so they can take responsibility for themselves.

Harm reduction is a well-researched public health policy that has been proven to be effective at lessening human suffering. Insite, as a supervised injection site, is a beacon of harm reduction. The argument that it should be closed because it promotes illegality is a specious one. The War on Drugs led by America promotes drug laws that exponentially compound the harm incurred by drug abuse to the individual, as well as to society. Our current drug laws are the real moral transgression; addiction should be primarily conceptualized and treated as a health issue, rather than a criminal justice one. Providing those who suffer with drug addiction a supervised environment has a number of benefits. First, it can reduce the spread of infectious diseases by encouraging the use of clean needles. Second, it provides the addict with contact with health care professionals who can support them. Third, supervised injection sites can link users with treatment programs, a link that otherwise might not be made. Opponents of Insite often ignore the presence of Onsite, the treatment program in the facility that staff aim to move users into. Supervised injection sites bring users out of the shadows and this reduces harm by lessening the further marginalization and victimization of this maligned group. Banning harm reduction programs like Insite pushes drug use underground and makes addicts even more vulnerable than they already are. Opponents of Insite argue that it encourages or condones drug use and that it prevents addicts from getting into treatment. This is not the case; the lure of drugs is a strong temptation for someone with a history of trauma, homelessness, poverty, and/or mental illness, regardless of whether or not society sends the “right” message. These are the real roots of addiction. It is unlikely that anyone has ever decided not to go into a treatment program because they were suddenly able to get a clean needle and a place to use. Compassion is a difficult practice, but our society needs to develop more of it. This means maintaining contact with people who suffer with addictions by not giving up on them. This basic level of acceptance can allow true healing to begin.

It takes no effort for me to live my life without encountering anyone like the clients of Insite... so it's very easy for me to judge the concept of harm reduction as a waste of money.
I don't feel that way anymore.
This program did a terrific job of presenting these pathetic addicts as living, breathing human beings (as opposed to dismissable concepts such as "junkies" or "homeless").
Seeing them as the real people they are, I can't imagne any other way to address their awful situation than what Insite is doing.
This show has compelled me to really think about it and I am convinced.
The site manager and doctor presented represent what is most noble about us. They have my deep admiration, and my moral (and political) support.

Is anyone concerned about who is putting the "kits" together for this (addicts) group of people. Might be of some concern that the developmentally delayed are doing it. This is not only ethicaly wrong, but where are the tax dollars for them?( As their own agencies get budget cuts) I see something wrong with this.

This is definately a much needed resource as is all others in the health care system no matter what anyone says. My freinds daughter is receiving help in this program and if it were anyone of our daughters or sons that needed this kind of help wouldn't we be supportive of this program?

I thought the show was well-done and was sensitive to the many issues in addiction.
Absolute kudos to everyone at Insite and Gabor and Portland Hotel Society for all they courageously do with love and care.
I am left wondering, however, why no-one on the film crew took Shelley to her doctor so she could transfer her meds, or gave her the five bucks for the street methadone instead of just watching her disintegrate collecting bottles for a good sound-bite. After three years clean, that simple act of kindness on the part of the CBC film crew might have been all that she needed to help her keep clean instead of watching her dissemble on-screen.
I can see there might be issues around this where the crew might have been told not to help, but really, this is what all these folks face all the time and why it is so hard for anyone to break free. They need people who will break the rules compassionately sometimes.

Many thanks to the fifth estate for your piece on Insite. As someone living and working in Vancouver, I am familiar with the DTES and the people who are fighting the battle of addiction; as a resident here, I see it every day. This is not an issue that can be pigeonholed into either treatment or prevention alone, and I don't think that those who oppose a harm reduction model such as this realize that. I have always been a supporter of Insite, and feel that Dave (from the program) made it explicitly clear why this facility and others like it are so necessary: it prevents overdoses, reduces the threat of HIV and Hep C, provides resources for shelter and detox and, I think most importantly, provides support and a sense of community - things which so many of us take for granted.

Shame on the federal government for its court appeal to shut Insite down. Harper, you and your cronies need to wake up.

And to Darwin and all those working at Insite, well done. The world needs more people like you.

THANK YOU!
this is a story that all in the country should see. shelley's quote 'there's an addict in every family if you go far enough back' is very true. we are all people. i werk in the addictions field here in ontario, but i was in the back alleys of vancouver as a user. i am clean 2 yrs now, and werking wholeheartedly to help others that are suffering from the same thing i was.
addiction is not a crime, it is a health issue.
as such, we should do the same for addicts as we do for cancer survivors or people with life-threatening illnesses.
treat all with the compassion you wish to be treated with.

thank you.

Kudos, CBC and Hana Gartner for giving Insite's staff and patrons to tell their story in such a gritty and discomforting way. It was an interesting choice to leave out any interviews with the usual array of experts, pundits and politicians, even to the point of noting Vancouver's four most recent mayors all support the site, and yet not even interviewing them. Nice touch.

For detractors of the place, you can find what you're looking for, since one of the addicts falls off the wagon and does so at Insite. Sympathizers will see that the woman would have done drugs somewhere else if not for Insite anyway. Further, the model of building relationships and finding the best candidates for the "outsite" treatment program seems to be quite viable.

Addiction is so obviously a health problem that needs treatment, not punishment, and Insite is the way to go. The alternative is just to let these people die, and I don't think most people would consciously support that.

I think the first step to opening up the hearts of our nation is to educate people to the pathos of the situations people find themselves in regardless of their circumstances. I am fortunate enough to have a health plan that pays for insulin pumps and rotator cuff surgeries and a job to tide me over if I have to wait for surgery (which also pays for my home, my bed bed and my meals- I am so thankful). If we can feel that kind of compassion even at the highest levels of our government, and that includes you, Mr. Harper, we all benefit in the end by showing that Canada upholds the rights of EVERYONE in our democratic society. My obligation, as a teacher, will be to continue opening the eyes of our young people to the injustices we tolerate in our so-called free society. Kudos to you at Fifth Estate for re-kindling my purpose in life and that purpose is to truly educate our children in order for them to see that even those poor people struggling with addictions rightly deserve respect and equal rights. We need this kind of service, that is an Insite location, in every major city in Canada.

A powerful "insight" that has evoked these feelings of sadness within me...

Our Fallen Angels.
I saw them
wandering helter skelter
shooting death into their veins
our fallen angels.
l
Locked in the grasp
of despair and pain
in a surreal world
our angels lie
The need to live
is stronger than
the will to die
surrounded by misery
our fallen angels lie.

Thank you for last night’s broadcast, a powerful reminder that we, as a "compassionate" people have a responsibility to help those less fortunate than ourselves. Chemical dependency is an illness, not a crime, and the Insite program is a valuable service to help people deal with their dependencies. It’s so easy for us to be judgmental and moralize, rather than taking a good, hard look at our priorities.

As for those who wish to compare addiction to pedophilia, I simply ask "where is your sense of decency?" There is no connection. Your self righteousness is offensive.

I would also like to know why was Insite unable to administer methadone to Shelly, or at least help her find a pharmacy which could fill her prescription? I understand that people must bring their own supplies to Insite, but surely they could have methadone onsite for those who need it. Is this another example of bureaucratic red tape?

I think that Insite is providing a valuable service. Addiction is a terrible disease of which we have very little understanding. Insite offers a safe place for it's clients, help with other health problems and to find shelter. Most of all it is a place were clients are accepted and not judged.
I really admire the staff who are able to devote their time to working with one of the most difficult segments of our population.
I feel sorry that Stephen Harper and his ministers can not see the value of this facility. I would like to see a mass letter writing campaign to try and get them to change their minds.
The money that would be spent on long court battles would be better used to keep Insite open.

Excellent job CBC. All provinces need more physicians like Dr. Gabor Mate! ...and less conservative values.

Kudos to Hana Gartner and the Fifth Estate production staff. This is a story worth telling and retelling. You successfully portrayed small embers of human life being kept alive and sometimes being fanned into the flame of recovery. The immorality of addiction lies not with the addict, but in failing to his recognize her disease. Instead, we blame her in order to distance ourselves both spiritually and emotionally from that pain. Those who fail to identify with that pain reap the rewards of denial: a society replete with violence, child neglect, poverty, illness and death. These outcomes are a far bigger waste of our tax dollars than any harm minimization program ever could be. I was impressed with the way Insite is integrated with a detox on the floor above and a recovery program in the floor above that. Don't eliminate InSite. Give us one hundred more like it.

To the few small-minded people who have replied here (D.L. and Mr.&Mrs.C.), I can only say, "How shamefully you sit in your shamelessness."

WOW!! The Fifth Estate never fails to impress me. Staying Alive is no exception. It was powerful; the people you profiled in this program will stay with me for a long time. I have grown up watching this show and a lot of CBC programming. Now in my mid-30's, it is clear that this type of media/journalism has helped shape me and my attitudes. I thank you for that.

oh yeah sure!

I would like to respond to the comments posted here by Greg Downer (Toronto) and LFlett. Specifically to Lflett I would point out that in Canada we do have obesity clinics (in the USA as well) and that canadian taxpayers do pay (at least in part) for related diabetic treatments. Your comment about the pedophile clinic is out of context, but I would point out here that their is psychotherapy available in pedophile cases (albeit usually in jail after having been convicted). The difference between pedophilia and drug addiction is that the drug addiction problem is more widespread and creates an immediate public health risk that is substantial (ie risk of aids, needles laying in the streets, drug-induced hallucinations etc, petty crime to pay for the drugs, etc. etc.) You do not see anywhere near the extent of this problem as you do with pedophilia. To Greg Downer from Toronto I would like to point out that his statement "This is a demonstration of very poor prioritization" is absolutely correct. This was the arguement that the Physician in the program was making. It is a matter of social priority. As he aptly pointed out, if there is 6 billion plus for the Olympics, then surely there is enough money for not only insite but the other programs you mentioned (diabetes pumps, rotator cuff surgery, etc.). Our entire health care system is based on good principles, but if public health care is to continue to succeed it must be adequately funded. The question should not be whether insite should be funded at the expense of diabetes care but rather why cant we fund all effective public health programs at the expense of frivolous things (ie olympics, sponsorship scandals, and political waste, etc.). At any rate, as a student of Biology and Sociology at the University of Calgary who has looked in to the urban impact of the drug culture, and read some of the available literature on insite, it is clear that this is an effective program as it reaches out to people in a way that doesnt turn them off from seeking treatment (ie forcing treatment, arresting and criminally prosecuting them, forcing religion, etc) and I sincerely hope that political ideology does not trump this. One final point to be made is that while this may appear to be effective in all cities, it must be instituted on a case by case basis. I dont have the link here, but one scientific review of Insite I read showed that four criteria must be met for such sites to be successful (vancouver is considered successful) but when looking at Montreal (which previously considered getting one) and in Europe (where some exist, unsuccessfully) it is evident that safe injection facilities are only successful in certain conditions in certain cities. Thank you for reading.

I agree with the doctor on the program, that the system we live in causes so much stress on people and if you're already a disadvantaged person it can be overwelming. It's good to have programs that help these ones. Sure some abuse the system but if you can help just one person it is worth it.

I frist have to thank 5th Estate for this program on Insite. It was another eye opener for me once again. I lived the life on Hastings and Main 6 years ago. Insite had just opened when I walked away and got myself clean, thanks to help, from good friends that cared about me. Not everyone has someone in their life down there that has the help and support that I had and still have.
I come from a good home, parents that cared worked hard and I never had to deal with any bad demons in my past. I was an only child and grew up fast. I've been addicted to drunks and achole since I was 9 years old. I'm not proud of my past but I'm livingto tell that anyone can get off drugs.
I'm all for Insite and there should be more around the bigger cities. I came close to death 3 times in my life from shooting speedballs, that became my choice of drug, coke and herion mixed.I'm thankful to be alive today, I believe it wasn't my time to go, now that I look at my past.
I start my schooling next month for Addictions Worker, I have never looked forward to something so much in my life. If i can help 1 out of a hundred that means the world to me. I work with the youth now that are addicted to Meth, and that drug is got to be the worst I have see people on. I have did every drug out there.
People think only the poor do drugs, wrong!!!! There are so many out there that are in the closet with high end jobs, I was one of them. I do agree with the doctor when he talked about stress, it is a big factor in addiction. Relasp is so true for most. Before I ended up on the streets I had cleaned up 3 times in the past. I would always say never again will I use. I always broke that rule untill now. When I got off the streets and cleaned up 6 years ago, I never said that. I'm much stronger today, with goals and dreams to help others.
To the folks out there that judge us, you don't have a clue the reasons behind drug use. Do you really know your boss, close friend, neigbour, etc.... Everyone has addiction of somekind, it may be, sugar, cleaning, shopping, food...etc We just have a addiction that so many people put down.
I will say one big problem that we do have with trying to get off drugs is the fact that the system fails big time in how it is ran in BC. You get into detox and then have to wait months to get into rehap.That is a wrong way of helping someone and the wast of tax payers money. BC has a 5% rate of sucess and Ontario has a 25%. Now look at Europe, they have 75% rate. That tells it all.
It will be a very sad day if Harper gets what he wants. Closing the Insite will cause alot more problems than they think. I can go on and on I have alot to talk about, but it's time for you of those that are reading what we have to say, I hope it opens up your views to really start thinking that things need to change in the whole system of help for ADDICTION.

I caught this program on and watched it online again. Of course public health programs like these should be kept going. Their budget is a tiny drop in a huge bucket of health care government spending (a lot of which is not 1/2 as effective in prevention as this program potentially is). Some people commented on how their tax $$$ are spent on funding this. Well, guess what? 100 times more $$$ would be spent on dealing with the same addicts in the health care system. Just go to an emergency room sometimes and see how many people are treated there for drug-induced psychosis, overdoses, infections etc. Reality is, the costs are going to be there whether Insite exists or not. Reality is that addiction is not going anywhere and people who oppose programs like these seem to have a problem facing reality. The costs are going to be there, they just would be more hidden and out of sight, and probably higher. Hence, it is HARM REDUCTION, PEOPLE!!! It is not trying to promote drug use or make it easier for addicts to use, it is trying to prevent spread of other diseases that are a drag on health care system just as much. YOU ARE MISSING THE POINT!!! Why not deal with it out in open and hopefully provide some meaningful help. I feel for these people. Nobody should judge since they do not know how their life would turn out if they were faced with the same challenges that these people are facing. And yes, our health care system should be addressing prevention of other diseases such as diabetes and obesity but let's not therefore take it out on this particular group of people that also need help. Let's address that with the people in charge of our health care.

I commend the Fifth Estate for another outstanding program. I had tears in my eyes several times during the broadcast.

To Stephen Harper: "The best test of a civilised society is the way in which it treats its weakest members."

Addiction is not a moral issue, its not a legal problem, its a social problem a HUMAN problem, a symptom of the hardships many people have to face in their lives.

We ALL have demons, we are all wounded in life, but some of us are protected by family and friends and a community that help us weather the storm. While some others aren't so fortunate leaving them with broken wounded souls. They become so worn down that they give up, they believe they don't matter to anyone not even to themselves.

Hana Gartner did a wonderful job in her interviews with Dave, Taz and Shelly. She treated them with respect and kindness. Condemnation, pity & judgment would only press them down further.

I think that individuals like Darwin Fisher and Dr. Gabor Mate deserve the Order of Canada. They care enough to offer hope to people who have lost hope. They are helping people at a point in their lives when they can't help themselves. They don't give up and write people off as lost souls when they may try for a better life and stumble along the way. They care enough to do something.

Let's think of it this way: if Insite was not there, the spread of HIV, Hep C & other diseases would be spread to a much greater degree (let's read the stats) Here we have addicts, as sick as they are, making their way to a centre that they recognize as a place where 1) their risk for death is by far eliminated in doing what they'd 'do anyway' -they want to live! that's the first step in us hearing them and helping them! and 2)in the midst of their painful lives actually doing something to NOT spread disease to others - excuse me? that is pretty responsible and leads me to believe that more 'services' would and could be accepted by addicts (human beings by the way) starting with centres like this. Let's look at the good and continue to improve on what's working.
Last summer, I visited someone(no longer a needle user) who stated that they keep a stash of clean needles on hand to encourage those around them (Downtown Eastside)to stay clean while using drugs- I was amazed at this person's concern while struggling with their own addiction- it was a priority because they know the stats of the spread of disease- why isn't it for our government? Get rid of the DRUG CARTELS and then we won't have this arguement to deal with, in the mean time, these are the little guys in much pain...
C.P. McGuire

Massive cudos to Hannah Gartner on Staying Alive. [I am a huge curling fan. Your story ran during the fourth to eighth ends of a duel between the best curlers in the country, but the curling seemed a little hollow as I flicked back and forth. I eventually gave up and kept it tuned to CBC.] If Stephen Harper, who on many issues seems to be doing a fairly decent job, so far, continues to insist that this haven for the most downtrodden of the downtrodden -- among whose company any of us or our kids could find themselves, in the blink of an errant eye -- he really ought to take a look in the mirror and ask himself what his life would have been like if he'd been sexually abused or beaten as a kid. Like most of us, he wouldn't be able to fathom it -- lucky for him and rest of us who can't, either. This isn't about politics or ideology or religion, it's about doing what is right: doing something about people's lives. Hopefully your story will have changed his heart -- and his mind in the process.

As someone who lives and works in Vancouver's East side with people with mental illness and addiction issues, it is so nice to see an in depth show that illustrates some of the complexities around addiction, poverty, homelessness, and the results of abuse and trauma; and to see Darwin as the face of the help. I speak from first hand experience of being a colleague and friend, that Darwin is an awesome individual, compassionate, dedicated, and intelligent enough to look beyond cookie-cutter concepts when dealing with the human experience and the mind-numbing ignorance of certain politicians and others who would rather write our citizens, our families, off - letting them suffer and die instead of protecting them as children and supporting them as adults.
Perhaps the same people that can abuse and discard their children are the same ones that don't want them helped once they are an addicted adult? As for those of you worried about taxpayers money paying for harm reduction programs such as InSite, the truth of the matter is that these programs cost a lot less than the alternatives.
It's not always nice to wake up to things that aren't pretty and reaffirm selfish judgement, but we all need to do it if our society is going to be livable and humane for all and each of us.

I didn't realize that drug addicts get around six hudred a month in welfare cheques. And what do you think that money is spent on? DRUGS! obviously! That's what our tax money is spent on.Know they have their own community center to take their drugs with coffee. HA!

Thank you for the very intimate look at Insite. I found your documentary extremely well written and informative and the title, "Staying Alive", well chosen.
I live in the greater Vancouver area and volunteer for a Christian ministry that is involved in helping women get off the streets of downtown Vancouver and Surrey.
Our volunteers go to where the women work the streets, make contact with them, pray with them and give them hope of dealing with their addictions. They do this all by handing out a bag of candy and a prayer and go from there.
Every Tuesday morning in the downtown eastside of Vancouver the ministry provides a nourishing breakfast for the women from the streets.
This ministry also operates a recovery house for the women that are addicted to drugs, giving them a safe place to detox and recover.
Everyone that works in this ministry is a volunteer and no one receives any monetary compensation. The ministry receives no government funding of any kind from any level of government and must rely on donations from the public.
The reason that this ministry does not receive the funding that Insite is desperately trying to hang on to, is because this ministry is just that: a Christian ministry and it's foundation for recovery is total abstinence.
It would be nice if a ministry such as ours would receive the funding and recognition that Insite does as it is my belief that the service it provides is vital to the women that are able to access us.
I would implore you to consider doing a story on organizations such as ours who believe in love and not methadone to help addicts recover.
We do more than help addicts "Stay Alive", we help them to LIVE.
For more information, go to: www.agapestreetministry.org

What an amazing show, about an amazing program - Insight. I cannot ever imagine what it would be like to live with an addiction, out on the streets, facing so many challenges each day. Stephen Harper has obviously never been the the Downtown East side. I hope that he saw this Fifth Estate episode, reads the comments and changes his mind.
Addicts are human beings and deserve help, human contact and understanding just like everyone else.

I have been a supporter of this safe injection site for a very long time. As it is said, injection sites are there, make them safe. Move the people from the back alleys to a safe site. My heart goes out to everyone who is involved.
More of this places are muchly needed, and not only in Vancouver. I am very passionate about it and do hope that those people in high places will listen, learn and open their minds. Give people hope, and a safe place to inject. Don't treat people down and out like criminals, but like human beings who are loved and cared for!
Thanks for a great program on the Fifth Estate tonight.

Excellent program and honest, fair, humane treatment of this essential service in the continuum of services to this community. I have worked in this neighbourhood for over 12 years and it is a unique, vibrant caring place - I can imagine for people who have never been here, it can be unnerving to witness the level of addiction and harm. InSite is providing a safe place - a "community centre" for addicts, like "Dave" put it. Kudos to all who continue to defend its place and to those like Darwin and Gabor who understand the need and the complexity of it.

Bravo to both CBC for covering this story, and to those people who work at Insite and make a difference.

They come in and shoot-up, no intention to clean up and get off whatever drug that is being used. We get to listen to their tear jerking stories, yet whatever problem took them to drugs has only been made substantially worse with their love affair with drugs. Allowing a place like Insite to operate is like promoting drug use, it's okay, we understand and accept you. That one woman, Shelly I think was her name. I got the impression she was off the drugs for three years then had a bad day and went back to her heroine addiction. They compound their problems by contracting HIV, now they have to take drugs for that and their illegal drugs will probably reduce the effectiveness of the HIV meds. These guys are like any other law breakers, we mollycoddle them to bankruptcy. I disagree with a provincially run crack house. The economy is coming down around our ears, hard working people losing their jobs but yet money and staff is available to help these individuals that only want to get high and escape the world they rely so heavily on to help them. If they want help it's drug rehab or stay in your alley and the drugs will take care of you there, just as effectively as going to a place like Insite, only cheaper.

Caught the tail end of this episode and had to watch the rest so I was happy I could online. I've always enjoyed Fifth Estate - very informative. I think that Insite is doing a wonderful job, it is something that should be kept in business and there should be more of them all over Canada/US. I think it would be very helpful. What an eye opening show. Thank you!

Thank you for this program. The people who run Insite deserve more than just a simple 'thank you' - they are courageous, dedicated people who deal with a side of life most of us never see - or if we do, hardly understand. It's not for us to judge - there but for the grace of God. I cannot imagine what it is like to struggle with addiction but those people deserve a place like Insite and something that offers them a ray of hope and somewhere to turn. If all of us reached out to just one person, how many lives could we turn around? Bless Insite, and all who use it.

What an inspiring document!! I have been to east Van. and have seen first hand what people go through every day there. They are someone's child, how can we ignore them and shut them away in allys?? It is our responsibily as society to do what we can for them. Where is Prime Minister Harper's heart? My next email will be to my MP we have to keep Insite open Canada.

Thank you so much for this story CBC. Very well done. I am overwhelmed with respect and gratitude for the staff at Insite for the compassion and kindness that they show these people. I wholeheartedly agree with the comments above about the importance of programs like this. As Canadians we all value our healthcare system. This is the most important and fundamental healthcare that drug users need. I disagree entirely with the commenter above who said the government should prioritize better. You are asking for the wealthy to be cared for and the poor to be given nothing. This is Canada. We don't do that here- at least, we like to think we don't. If Harper has his way, that's exactly what we will be doing though.
Once again, thank you Insite. Know that we are behind you.

Thank you CBC for humanizing the INSITE programme. No doubt this safe injection drug facility is a contentious issue among the Canadian public.

The physician (I forget his name) mentioned that several of these addicts come from abusive and broken homes, which I think speaks to a larger health care issue in Canada which should be addressed sooner rather than later.

Those who work in health care (myself included) recognize that the "band-aid" solutions that are the current norm in our system do not address the big picture. Health is a contextual issue and the sooner we invest money in downstream determinants of health the better. As a society - we have failed all of the addicts visiting INSITE. We need to invest in these downstream determinants of health - but in the interim, the least we can do for those who the system has failed is to minimize harm (i.e. reduce their likelihood of contracting an infectious disease, overdosing, etc.).

Please stop calling them addicts and terms such as this. THEY ARE HUMAN BEINGS!!!

Thank you so much for your program tonight about "InSite". I think it's a hugely important resource; a model which should be adopted widely.

Anyone who says addicts don't want to stop their drug use is only half right- they don't want to stop because the demons that chased them into drug use in the first place are scarier and harder to confront than living on the street, prostitution, and spending almost every waking minute planning your next fix.
What kind of a life is that, and why should these people be denied effective help?

May InSite be victorious in their upcoming legal battle, and may they set a shining example for public health initiatives everywhere!

Nice to know the working poor are supporting this program in B.C.
Why not open an obesity clinic? Tax payers can pay for the diabetes treatments and stomach staples. If they do not want that, we can feed them Big Macs before they opt for these programs.
How about a pedophile clinic? A Safe enviroment of free internet of video and pictures of naked children. Provide counciling only when they seek it.
Lets take the abnormal and provide them a group of more abnormal thinking people and put them in a nice sterilized room so they can feel normal. All absurd as like the Insite program!
An insight into distorted thinking. Let's embrace the addict and justify his/her use of drugs because they are victims rather than rulers of their own destiny
Tax Payers can pay for that!
Drug addicts should be instituionalized and retrained to fit in the community rather then to pander to their drug addiction. If they refuse, arrest them and force treatment.

I am a student in my first semester of college to become a Drug and Alcohol counsellor. By luck I turned my t.v. on and found this episode of the fifth estate. I found it to be an incredible insight into harm reduction centers and methods. Centers like Insite are long over due, especially when you look at the rates and spread of HIV and other infections. I like especially how open Insite makes itself, it doesn't put any pressure on the people coming in, and doesn't try to push change on people who aren't ready. Yet Insite is so ready to help them change when they feel they're ready.
This joke of the Harper government wanting to close places like Insite is .....esentially (from what I see) anti-canadian. The idea that the people who want to practice harm reduction have some sort of character flaw or personal deficiency is such an outdated position from the moral model of the olden days it's rediculous. I could go on about this all night, but to say it succinctly, if the government would just stop and look at the research, they would discover the social, ECONOMIC(b/c you know that's what they really care about) and overall good! places like Insite do. Well if they did that they wouldn't be trying to close harm reduction clinics, they'd be opening them.
Best of luck to everyone!

I am an addict in recovery. I have spent time in Vancouver at Main and Hastings and I know all too well the power of addiction. All it would take is for those who don't agree with the program to have a close family member become addicted; to be able to feel the pain it causes. As one of the women on the program said, these are all human beings with a mom and a dad. Unfortunately for most addicts, it was a poor upbringing that brought them to addiction, but for those like me, who had a loving mother and father and an upbringing that has wonderful memories, it was just a wrong turn in my 20's. As with all addicts, I said that I would never become one,that I could handle getting high, but once you put that first needle in your arm, your are an addict for life and fight every day to stay clean. I am a University grad with a very good job and thankfully, had a union to protect that job while I went to rehab for 3 months. I talk to high school kids about the dangers, try to scare them with my story. The government says it is a waste of tax dollars, but how much tax money did they spend to fight this law and now to appeal it. That is the wasted money. If 3 or 4 consecutive mayors of Vancouver were behind these types of programs, it is because they are at the heart of the problem, not in Ottawa, like Harper, with his fancy lifestyle and his puppets towing the line. This is an illnes just like mental health. Forty years ago nobody wanted to help them, but with education and understanding, they are now looked at in a different light. This will eventually happen with addiction as well, once those with their heads up their ass are voted out of office. I have no use for Harper and his politics. He obviously lives in his perfect little bubble. I pray that one of his children never becomes an addict because they won't get any help from their father.

Watched this program & i KNOW all too well how many peoples we loose each yr to OD's & accidental drug over doses,HIV-AIDs, The HEPs-A-B-C-D-E,& I KNOW insight is forsight that is just right!THE HARPER GOV IS DEAD WRONG IN IT'S DECISION TO APPEAL THE RECENT B.C. JUDGMENT!HARM REDUCTION WORK'S IF YOU WORK IT SO WORK IT YOUR WORTH IT!THE WEED LAW'S ARE ALSO IN NEED OF DECRIMINALIZATION OR LEGALIZATION-This is too long over due!

All I can say is omg.... those poor poor people... I was flipping channels and found this on. I was glued to this show.... could not change the channel. I knew that east Van had problems... but to what extent I had no clue. It's not that I am blind to this problem and turn my head to it... it's just that here in Saskatoon you see it but not near as bad as there. My heart broke just watching these poor people just try to survive and get by. Some others may say "well all they have to do is get off the drugs and get a job and all would be fine." NOT SO my friends. I truly believe that each and every one of these people that go to Insite want to clean up, want to work, want to have a roof over their heads. WHO WOULDN'T? The thing that gets me is the gov't with their heads up their butts and their stupid thinking that giving a single person UNDER $700 a month/welfare and that is supposed to pay rent, food, utilities, and transportation. How in the hell are they expected to make it on that.... and if they don't have a fixed address.... they can't even get it... as they can't mail the check anywhere. I wish I had alot of money... I would donate so much to Insite.... and to the other programs Onsite is it? I would love to tell all those people to keep doing what they are doing... (staff at Insite) and to the people that use the service... keep your chin up and I pray and hope that someday you will achieve your goal of cleaning yourself up, have food and warmth of a place to call home. I feel so fortunate just to be able to come home to a warm bed each night, food on the table, and a bathtub whenever I need or want it. I will never feel sorry for myself ever ever again. Thank you CBC for playing and doing such a story... Please keep us posted and updated on these people if you could. Good work.

I thought this programme was inspiring as well. I hope that the Government realizes more programmes like this are needed across the country. Addiction is a terrible thing to happen to anyone.

Fascinating program. I am a pre-service teacher and we have been studying the drug problem in Vancouver in my grade 12 Urban Issues and Interactions course. I will be showing my students this episode to show them how important programs such as Insite are to our society. There are many programs such as these around the world and they've been proven in harm reduction. This program definitely shows the human face of the problem and it pulls at my heart-strings. I wish them all the best of luck.

First of ayl say hello to Shelly. I admire her and tell her she CAN DO IT. Just because you relapsed that okay you had 3 clean years and you will do it again and this time for longer. Dave, you will do it I know you can. You are a great person.

For Darwin, you are a true angel for all those you try to help. Keep doing what you do.

Your special isn't even over yet and I just had to comment. I want to extend my gratitude to everyone at Insite. CBC I think you have done a great job of putting a human face to the issue and I don't know how anyone could watch this and not feel inspired in some way. Real people, real pain, real hope. I hope the Conservatives can open their eyes and their hearts. It's not perfect, no solution will be, and Canada has an opportunity to be at the forefront of empowering people to make positive changes in their lives and Insite is a SHINING example of what can be, what SHOULD be.

I am extremely disappointed that my hard earned dollars are being spent on the Insite program!! Programs like this should only be covered when all other areas of our health care system are adequately funded. This is a demonstration of very poor prioritization.

My sister developed diabetes at age 16, by no choice or fault of her own. The government does not cover the cost an insulin pump for diabetics. The insulin pump is the most effective tool to deliver insulin, but apparently we can't fund diabetics.

I have a friend who is a farmer in his 60's. He was diagnosed 21 months ago with a torn rotator cuff, no doubt from decades of hard farm work. My friend still doesn't have an appointment for surgery!! Because he is self employed, he isn't entitled to EI or Workmans Comp., so he just has to keep on working, everyday, in pain.

There are thousands of others across this country who are in the same kind of circumstances. Needing treatment, but not recieving it. I think that this is an extremely unfair situation. But we have funds for drug addicts!!! Disgusting!!!

Have not seen the show yet but will watch it tonite.Can hardly wait for all the neocons to wade into this.
As someone who knows of what I speak this is a health problem ,not a law and order problem.Addicts are human beings who need compassion not incarceration.