Down But Not Out/addiction

Digital photoArt by Ronzig depicting homeless people and their squats plus articles and commentary by Ronzig about crack cocaine, heroin alcohol and other addictions. What is being done and what needs to be done and the support systems in Toronto. Stories of addiction and its effects on the people addicted and on society as a whole. You can comment on content seen on this page by going to the bottom of the page. Every page on the site will have a comment section at the bottom.

Tom: Have you had any personal experience with 'harm reduction',  do you have any feelings you might like to share?

Ronzig: Hi Tom. As far as harm reduction experience is concerned, here's a couple of stories that should interest you. I got my hep C by sharing a needle with someone I was pretty sure had it. At the time we were under the Gardiner and I needed a bump of heroin to get down from a 7 day crack run. I was on the verge of a heart attack and needed to slow my pulse down. I asked her to leave a little in the needle when she did her hit  to help me down. Not being a regular heroin user, I didn't have any fits of my own. Well, I got down and ran for another day on crack and later confirmed that I'd contracted hep C.
One of my street daughters got an apartment in a building with a large population of heroin addicts. Most of them were HIV+ and they all shared needles on a regular basis. Of course she's HIV+ now too.
The point being that where drugs and addicts are concerned, the risk of disease is not a big worry. Life for most of them sucks and dying is not such a bad thing to look forward to. There comes a point where you just don't give a shit if you live or if you die.
It would be interesting to see the results of a study of people who have contracted these diseases to see how many of them were pretty much aware of the certainty of contracting the disease at the moment that they actually got theirs. This is one aspect of harm reduction that needs to be addressed. How do you instill the importance of protection on someone who just doesn't care? How do you go about making clean equipment available when and where it's needed? For when an addict has drugs to do he's not likely to wait to find clean equipment if the alternative is right there.

Tom: I really like, am intrigued by the point of your two stories. I do not want to lead your think, so let me ask - allowing some people do not give a shit and dying just may not be such a bad idea ... then what, so what do we do? What can we do? Would that be part of harm reduction?

Ronzig: As for how this aspect of addiction relates to harm reduction, I'm sure that at present it doesn't, BUT IT SHOULD!!! There are all kinds of ideas that could help with that part of the problem. Right off the top of my head, I'm thinking of putting kits in dispensers like they do with rubbers and having the dispensers and disposal units situated right at the places where the drugs are usually used such as in alleys, under bridges etc. Of course they would have to be FREE of charge, but if the kits could be accessed 24/7, right at the locations where drugs are being used and not be subject to the addict having to deal with asking for them (Privacy is a part of the problem), there would be a substantial increase in usage and a parallel reduction in the spread of these diseases. Considering the cost of treating these diseases, this would make economic sense as well as humanitarian sense.
The greater issue of addicts who lose hope and feel that death is an attractive alternative, requires a much broader treatment. Educating the population to have a little empathy or sympathy towards the addict and not completely exclude him from all aspects of the society would go a long way towards remedying the hopelessness that addicts live with. The greatest punishment that early societies designed to punish members who broke the rules of the tribe was ostracization and this often resulted in suicide. This is currently the normal way society deals with the addict. And when the social support structure is removed and the addict has no-one but other addicts to turn to for human contact, the desire to keep going evaporates. I don't suggest inviting addicted strangers home for dinner, but if people began to see addicts as people who are suffering rather than vermin who need to be avoided, that simple change in social attitude would make a world of difference. I know that it's difficult to ask non addicts to change their attitudes in order to benefit the addicts, but that small change would make a world of difference and I believe would greatly increase the success rates of rehab programs. The benefits to society would be a 2 edged sword cutting through this epidemic. If addicts begin to feel wanted and loved by society, they would regain hope and start trying to get back more sincerely. This would result in less money being wasted on failed rehab programs and on medical expenses to deal with drug related diseases and at the same time it would bring more addicts back into being willing and able to contribute to society. I've often said that the worst part of being a homeless addict is EXCLUSION. If addicts were treated as part of society they would try harder to be worthy of that status and less likely to seek an end.
One of the reasons I work as hard as I do is to show society that there are human riches being squandered because of attitudes towards addicts. There are plenty more like me out there who would make valuable members of society if they were shown that they were wanted. Just knowing that you're wanted is in my opinion the most important element that is missing that makes rehab success rates so dismal. A government funded advertising program that stresses the value of the humanity that is being shunned could make all the difference in the world.

Tom: A way to actively value people as a starting place for harm reduction? Where would we start, what would that look like? Schools? Teachers? professors? Policies?

Ronzig: Yes Tom, all of these would factor in. If tolerance was an important part of school curricula from early years thru university teaching appreciation for all humanity including racial, religious, cultural, economic and physical & mental health, the addict could be worked into the equation quite easily. The resultant reduction in hate crimes and increase in the assimilation of all groups into the community as an extended family would certainly set the stage for a previously unheard of level of co-operation and respect throughout the community.

One particular area where policy should be re-evaluated is in the legal system. Criminalizing an addict who is more a victim of social crimes than a criminal himself has a proven track record of failure. It’s definitely time for a new approach to the epidemic of addiction. That said, we have a sever crisis within the police system Although the official tone is tolerance there is definitely an unstated policy within the various police departments that addicts are fair game to harassment and brutality by the police and this comes right from the top. Police chiefs and senior officers need to be strongly reminded of the responsibility of every officer to treat all citizens with dignity and respect and avoid harassment and brutality under penalty of criminal prosecution as well as dismissal. Police violence, threats of violence and other forms of harassment are common in our communities and that is intolerable. Turning addicts and other minor offenders into virtual slaves of the system thru enforced volunteerism to avoid jail sentencing should be abolished. There is no possibility of human dignity when a person is ordered to work at demeaning jobs for no compensation whatsoever in order to avoid a jail sentence. This only serves to reinforce an addict’s feelings of inferiority and inadequacy. How counterproductive can that be when any hope of rehabilitation requires rebuilding the addict’s sense of self worth and value to society? Being forced to work without pay certainly does nothing to add to his self esteem.

As I have been saying for years, the primary cause of mental health and addiction issues stems from a widespread disaffection with our society. When we as a society learn to stop placing a dollar value on lives, (much higher for some than others,) and affirm that human life is invaluable regardless of whose, we will be heading in the right direction for reducing addiction and mental health issues. People don’t willingly or deliberately choose either of these debilitating states, they retreat into them when life within this society becomes intolerable.

added Dec 22 

Legalization of Drugs

There is much study and debate going on in countries aroung the world revolving around the prospect of legalizing drugs as a means of controlling them and taking the huge profits out of the hands of criminals. I for one believe that this is the only possible route to follow if we are ever going to reduce the social destruction of human lives that the current policies create. 

Four years ago on this date, I left the homeless life behind for good and swore off drugs and alcohol. I've been clean and sober and off the streets ever since. To all the wonderful friends who supported me and helped me to accomplish this, I want to say THANK YOU.

October 1, 2009

Four years ago on this date, I moved into my first real home in 10 years. At first I couldn’t get used to it. I couldn’t sleep and I missed the street. I felt claustrophobic with a roof over my head and isolated from everyone and everything that I knew, but I couldn’t reach out to my past. I had to avoid familiar places and familiar places. There was danger there. I had to regain my strength before I could see my old friends without relapsing.

It’s safe now though and I spend a lot of my time visiting the old haunts and hanging with the old friends. I do this as part of my mission.

When you’re a homeless addict, you feel so very hopeless. Nobody who gets out ever comes back unless they relapse. If a friend hasn’t been around for a while, you assume he left town or is in jail or the hospital or DEAD. It never even crosses your mind that he got clean and sober.

I go back to show that IT CAN BE DONE. I don’t preach about it. I just let them see that I made it. That way I figure that they can hang on to hope. When they are ready they will know that I did it and they’ll know that they can too. That little spark of hope is perhaps all that they need to try once more. Maybe this time it’ll work.

So I visit my old friends, but I have many new friends that are part of my new drug free life, so I am doubly fortunate, thank God.

I see two reasons why there is so much corruption.

1. MONEY. There is such an immense amount of money involved here that the drug lords can afford to buy just about anyone they think can protect them. That means police who only go after the unconnected dealers and leave their bosses alone, thereby eliminating unwanted competition. That means judges who refuse to convict or provide light sentencing to connected traffickers. AND that means politicians who refuse to put any teeth in the legal system.

2. Even more sinister is ECONOMIC SLAVERY. Our socio-economic system is designed to force people at the bottom to work like slaves all their life to keep a meagre home for themselves and their families. They live in perpetual debt with the constant fear that everything they have can be confiscated at any time if they don’t tow the line. The men of power who benefit from this system of slavery direct the politicians to legislate in their favour; the judges to rule in their favour and the police to enforce in their favour. Drugs have become a tool that the fat cats appreciate because it is a means of silencing the people who refuse to accept the slavery. THEY DON’T WANT THE DRUGS TO STOP. To counter the few who do speak out, they have created the myth that these brave souls are PARANOID.

If paranoia means being appalled by the cynicism and corruption that permeates our society at all levels, then I AM PARANOID.

What happened?

It’s common knowledge that substance abuse is endemic amongst the homeless community, but have you ever stopped to wonder why?

I have met pre teen girls whose addicted mothers started them on heroin or crack and put them to work as prostitutes.

I have met young boys and girls who grew up in homes where alcohol and drug abuse were the norm.

I have met children who left their homes because of physical, psychological or sexual abuse and turned to drugs and alcohol to dull the pain.

I have met aging and dying people who should have become revered seniors in our society who are the result of similar situations.

I have met countless homeless people who never used drugs before society turned its back on them and left them to struggle for survival on the streets. When society turns it’s back and life becomes a minute by minute struggle to stay alive, substance abuse is a natural and nearly inevitable result. Every one of us would seek some kind of comfort from the pain of exclusion.

I have met many others like myself who were unaware of the dangers of drug use until it was too late, We thought the warnings were just more lies from the slave masters of our present socio economic system.

I have NEVER MET anyone who woke up one morning and said to themselves, “What should I do today? I know, I’ll become a drug addict.”

Other than homelessness and substance abuse, these people are NO DIFFERENT than anyone else. They laugh, they cry and they try to survive.

Think about it. Should society penalize these victims and condemn them to a premature death or should we do more to find a way to help them?

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