From anecdotes of living beside the biggest open air drug market in Canada for a decade, and from watching my own friend's behavior growing up it seems to me th

From anecdotes of living beside the biggest open air drug market in Canada for a decade, and from watching my own friend's behavior growing up it seems to me the biggest problem is being unable to do anything when somebody you know or a family member becomes an addict. You can't force them into treatment, you can't even get the police to find them if they disappear into the streets, and the cycle in and out of jail just makes them career addicts as any chance of normal life seems over to them at that point. Here if they check into detox, even if you are direct family you can't visit them or bring them anything because detox will deny they are there. You can't ask detox to call when they are released so you can pick them up and they don't end up released back on the streets. Another problem is the waiting times for treatment. Real treatment is a long commitment sometimes living for years in a halfway house being supported by other peers to remain sober. An addict should be able to check into treatment and immediately commit themselves instead of waiting for months for a spot to open. Lack of any facility for police to just dump out of control users and have them treated by doctors and addiction specialists is another issue. Often there are mentally ill with secondary addictions or other problems, and the police don't know what to do with them and money is wasted having them ferry around doctors to look at these addicts in jails or playing catch and release after a weekend in jail. A one stop sober shop and treatment option is always requested by police here but it never materializes. Of course all of this costs money nobody will get elected with this spending platform on junkies until the synthetic opiates problem is so large the political will exists to do this. All the addicts I've talked to including 2 of my friends who had a bad addiction for a few years, they all ended up addicts by becoming successful and partying to celebrate it. Anybody who lives in Vancouver if you go to VANDU and listen to one of their meetings sometime this is the same story you will hear: I was successful, I started drinking and partying, I used drugs to help regulate my sleep, or to get sober (cocaine sobers you up) or stay awake to function, I ended up an addict and lost everything here I am living in the dumpster or flop hotel being enabled by other addicts because I stole from every family member/friend and burned all those bridges.