Knitnut.net.

Watch my life unravel...

Categories

Archives

Top Canadian Blogs - Top Blogs

Local Directory for Ottawa, ON

Subscriptions

The Crack Kit Community Forum: Part Two

Part Two was the Open Mic – questions and comments from people in the audience. It was actually pretty interesting, because there was a real mix of attitudes and opinions. Until this point, I got the sense this was one of those “preaching to the choir” things, since everybody seemed to agree with each other.

There […]

The Crack Kit Community Forum: Part One

I’d estimate the turnout at about 200 or so. Even though it was held in Council Chambers, as far as I could tell there weren’t any councillors there.

My note-taking skills are rusty. I’d try to write something down verbatim because it was so interesting or eloquently stated, but by the time I’d faithfully recorded […]

Blizzard’s still blowin’

I think Ottawa must have struck a nerve with Christina Blizzard, given that she felt it necessary to write a second column defending her right to write the first column.

Apparently she got ‘countless’ e-mails from people who agreed with her. (This on the heels of having witnessed ‘countless’ people sitting around downtown Ottawa smoking crack […]

The real reason I support the crack kit program

I used to be a drug addict on the streets of Ottawa.

That whole period of my life is a bit hazy, but it started in my teens and lasted a few years.

Amphetamines were relatively cheap and plentiful at the time, and they were my drug of choice.

I wasn’t in good shape. I […]

Is City Council smoking crack?

What the hell is the matter with Ottawa City Council, eliminating the crack kit program? I have nothing to say about it beyond what I said in December. Except this: Council’s short-sighted, uninformed, pointlessly moralistic non-solution betrays a fundamental lack of understanding of the problem.

Related Links:
In Swaggerville, O’Brien snuffs crack pipes with a sneer (Kelly […]

Is a crack addict’s life worth $2?

The crack kit program distributes free drug paraphernalia to crack users. The kits contain items that reduce the spread of disease among addicts. The program is funded, at least in part, by the City of Ottawa.

It’s controversial.

Those who oppose the program argue that it condones and encourages drug use, adds to the problem […]