I have been trying to write all this up for a few days but as when I figured it out, the cruelty of the decision to make this happen takes my breath away, stops my heart, spins my head and leaves me sobbing uncontrollably

so its slow going

Its more than a relief, its a profound and humbling gift that my work is largely ignored by drug policy people while making an impact with its intended audience, the wider and deeply concerned public. I think this is important and is what will change the direction of policy.

i believe that to be the case because this is a public health emergency, a life and death struggle about whether to include or exclude drug users in the public. its not about drugs at all: its about power.

Its also why I am not employed & paid or acknowledged in the drug policy field, an inward facing circle of fragile egos who have made ineffectiveness a virtue & incorporated it into their political analysis & strategy as tactical cynicism

or maybe its for saying stuff like that

but really, what is the excuse for not recognizing this as a horrific and scandalous action? how do activists and advocates and scholars in the field not grasp that the government withheld data, allowing lies to become common knowledge and the dehumanization of living drug users to become a central plank of the campaign platforms of every right-wing federal & provincial political party in Canada while the “left” courageously said absolutely nothing and thousands of people died is something people in the world get angry about?

“thats just how it is down here,” they shrug. but this isnt about “here”. nobody should be treated as people are in the downtown eastside – not by government, not by anyone. to expect nothing of government is tactical cynicism, which is morally unacceptable and reveals a lack of understanding that a large part of the public cares about this, they care a great deal.

The government knows that. Because if the public didnt care, the government wouldnt have bothered withholding the information.

∴

the horror of this.