It’s an intriguing subject, substance use zoning. It very quickly becomes another means of discrimination.
The smokers are not allowed to hang out with the caffeine users or the alcoholics (at least in bars). The alcoholics are not allowed to hang out in either of their spaces. The dopers are not allowed to hang out in the bars, the cafes or the smoking districts.
Where do we think the drug addicts are going to go?
It’s hard to care about people that you don’t know dying in your community. I saw a person getting ready to use behind a large rock on the pole line. I was walking my dog.
My first response was to give him his privacy and walk past but my dog had a different idea. As I retrieved my overly friendly dog, I asked the person if the stuff they were using had been tested or if I should stay around.
It was an awkward moment. He chose not to use in front of me. Instead he talked to me about his relationship to a small waterway by the side of the pole line.
I understand that we don’t want substance use to be an example to young people. But do we need to create a hierarchy amongst the substance users, too?
Please, let’s start to talk honestly about substance abuse.
It doesn’t matter that your substance of choice is legal. All legal substances have negative consequences when used extensively or excessively, just like the illegal ones. All substance abuse has an effect on the people around you.
And it’s not just substances such as sugar, heroine or caffeine that affect you and your loved ones. Behaviours can be equally destructive or disruptive; rage attacks, online gaming or shaming can have significant negative consequences.
I am trying to be more open and less afraid. It means I talk to more people who aren’t like me. It means I ask awkward questions whose answers assure me (or otherwise) that a person is safe. It means I feel able to act responsibly when someone is in distress.
Everybody needs to find their way through this addiction mire, starting with their own addictions.
Pat Thompson is a Powell River resident.
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