Always appreciate your writings Justin, but in skimming the article ( I still need to read and process more fully) a few things jumped out at me that have frankly become triggers. I thought
the “ War on Drugs” phrase had been retired from the language around substance use disorder so was a tad dismayed to see it mentioned several times i…
Always appreciate your writings Justin, but in skimming the article ( I still need to read and process more fully) a few things jumped out at me that have frankly become triggers. I thought
the “ War on Drugs” phrase had been retired from the language around substance use disorder so was a tad dismayed to see it mentioned several times in the piece. I gained so much perspective for the challenges of these fellow citizens when years ago I read, “ In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts” by Dr. Gabor Mate who worked for ten plus years in the DTES.[ Highly recommended reading, he is a Canadian physician who has lived in Vancouver for years]. Only then did I truly begin to understand the long histories of trauma for these folks and Felleti’s landmark work on ACE ( adverse childhood experiences). I view so many on these initiatives as bandaids, and think of the book by Dan Heath, “ Upstream”. Heard him speak at the CAEH ( Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness) in 2019 around the futility of the majority of efforts to solve complex issues as we employ downstream thinking as it produces “ results”, bang for our buck yada yada. The truly good work lies to tackling issues upstream which means being courageous enough to break the old paradigm of downstream thinking.
I don't think the "war on drugs" has been retired, because it's never truly ended. It has become more limited in some places, and it has changed tactics and directions, but the war is still being fought.
I think the takeaway needs to be that the war on drugs must *actually* end in order for progress to be really made.
Always appreciate your writings Justin, but in skimming the article ( I still need to read and process more fully) a few things jumped out at me that have frankly become triggers. I thought
the “ War on Drugs” phrase had been retired from the language around substance use disorder so was a tad dismayed to see it mentioned several times in the piece. I gained so much perspective for the challenges of these fellow citizens when years ago I read, “ In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts” by Dr. Gabor Mate who worked for ten plus years in the DTES.[ Highly recommended reading, he is a Canadian physician who has lived in Vancouver for years]. Only then did I truly begin to understand the long histories of trauma for these folks and Felleti’s landmark work on ACE ( adverse childhood experiences). I view so many on these initiatives as bandaids, and think of the book by Dan Heath, “ Upstream”. Heard him speak at the CAEH ( Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness) in 2019 around the futility of the majority of efforts to solve complex issues as we employ downstream thinking as it produces “ results”, bang for our buck yada yada. The truly good work lies to tackling issues upstream which means being courageous enough to break the old paradigm of downstream thinking.
Hey Sheil!
I don't think the "war on drugs" has been retired, because it's never truly ended. It has become more limited in some places, and it has changed tactics and directions, but the war is still being fought.
I think the takeaway needs to be that the war on drugs must *actually* end in order for progress to be really made.