Good grief, Adam, I don't know where you find all your powerful Canadian drug addicts controlling policy, but you sure do spin a tale about how things are going down in Canada now that we've given away the farm to people using drugs. I'll concede that in some pockets of the country, there are words on paper somewhere that do say something high-level about consulting people who use substances and bringing them to the table when things fundamental to their lives are being discussed. The reality is so very, very different. What troubles me the most is that I know you know that, but yet you write this fiction. The gap between policy and reality has always been a huge one, but I don't think you'd find a bigger one anywhere than the one between what we say about substance use and what we do. I can't even begin to emphasize enough for whoever is reading you (though I know they won't believe a word of it anyway) that there is so little truth in your exaggerated and hyperbolic descriptions of how drug policy is created and enacted in Canada. And in the scant places where there actually is policy that sounds humane and helpful toward people who use drugs, it's largely ignored on the ground anyway. So don't sweat it, little buddy. Your side is winning, and always has been. I know better than to pack in a bunch of facts, stats and reality checks here, because none of that makes a bit of difference to you or the readers who actually buy into what you write. I'd just be another one of those loathsome "progressive harm reduction advocates" trying to defend the powerful drug addict lobby (!!). But I do hope you wake up one day and realize your role in causing real harm to people with your stirring the pot to make sure that any tiny sliver of kindness and evidence-based practice is swept away on a tide of ugly politics and public opinion. You know the truth but make your living on lies. May that weigh on you.
Good grief, Adam, I don't know where you find all your powerful Canadian drug addicts controlling policy, but you sure do spin a tale about how things are going down in Canada now that we've given away the farm to people using drugs. I'll concede that in some pockets of the country, there are words on paper somewhere that do say something high-level about consulting people who use substances and bringing them to the table when things fundamental to their lives are being discussed. The reality is so very, very different. What troubles me the most is that I know you know that, but yet you write this fiction. The gap between policy and reality has always been a huge one, but I don't think you'd find a bigger one anywhere than the one between what we say about substance use and what we do. I can't even begin to emphasize enough for whoever is reading you (though I know they won't believe a word of it anyway) that there is so little truth in your exaggerated and hyperbolic descriptions of how drug policy is created and enacted in Canada. And in the scant places where there actually is policy that sounds humane and helpful toward people who use drugs, it's largely ignored on the ground anyway. So don't sweat it, little buddy. Your side is winning, and always has been. I know better than to pack in a bunch of facts, stats and reality checks here, because none of that makes a bit of difference to you or the readers who actually buy into what you write. I'd just be another one of those loathsome "progressive harm reduction advocates" trying to defend the powerful drug addict lobby (!!). But I do hope you wake up one day and realize your role in causing real harm to people with your stirring the pot to make sure that any tiny sliver of kindness and evidence-based practice is swept away on a tide of ugly politics and public opinion. You know the truth but make your living on lies. May that weigh on you.