justcaws.com

The Supreme Courts approval of safe injection sites has been cheered by supporters of victims of drug abuse. While I certainly support this decision (it saves lives) it should be remembered that this program is a band-aid solution,

The program is better than doing nothing however – and that is why I believe the Supreme Court allows it to continue. What I was hoping to hear is more from the federal government of what they would do to replace safe – injections sites. Drug prevention is fine, but what initiatives are in place to help current drug users overcome their addiction.

Reducing drug overdoses and disease
are needed, but I believe there would be less opposition to these programs popping up across the country if they promoted their success rates of eventually getting people off drugs. It is hard to embrace a program that is seen by some as allowing people to perpetually tread water rather than teaching them how to swim to shore.

Classic example of this comes from the ban Wal-Mart crowd. Many of the people who would ban Wal-mart to protect jobs, never shop there. Yet they would deprive low-income families in their community from benefiting from the low-cost products made available.

When it comes to solutions we have seen what works. Strong universal public systems (health and education) that provide an equality of opportunity have proven to be effective. Welfare programs that try and correct inequity have not.

Individuals with mental illness and substance abuse issues are a top public health concern. Economic solutions, however do not work with this group because policy success here depends on people acting in a rational manner. While those suffering need support, it needs to come from the healthcare system. Yes more resources will be needed but a compassionate society needs to take care of people who can’t take care of themselves.

Understanding the plight of the sane and sober who live in poverty through no fault of their own need is a first step. Only then can we look at developing targeted public policy for poverty reduction.

But let’s not confuse the working poor with someone with a drug or mental condition. Both groups suffer, but the solutions to prevent their situation and ultimately get them to overcome are very different.

Some possible solutions to follow.

No need for a great introspection into why the Ontario Tories lost the election. You can’t expect voters to take you seriously when you tell them that you will spend as much as the Liberals, cut taxes but that you worry about rising debt levels.

It is no wonder the party was not endorsed by traditional backers like the Toronto Sun or the Globe and Mail.

A policy of lowering revenue while increasing spending is a fiscal disaster waiting to happen. Voters from both sides of the political spectrum quickly assessed that this political math won’t add up.

Big free agents will be out there this winter in baseball. Too bad Toronto is to poor to put a winner on the field. Wait a second …

Rogers Communications that owns the Jays is seen as one of the richest ownerships in baseball and M.L.S.E. is one of the richest ownership groups in the NHL and NBA. 

Salary caps preclude the MLSE from spending, but the Blue Jays have no excuse in this regard. In fact the Jays have one of the lowest payrolls in baseball at $ 61 million ranking them 22 of 30 teams.  Many people often get on the Yankees for spending so much, but their ownership worth is much less than the Blue Jays and yet they spend the money to win. Rather than getting mad at teams like the Yankees,  Blue Jay fans should start asking more of their ownership that is playing them for suckers. 

 Its’s no wonder Toronto was ranked dead last by ESPN as one of the worst sport cities. Not sure about that one, but I am staritng to think Toronto fans are the most gullible.