Comments on: Misery Road: Vancouver’s Third World http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795 Photo essays of all things good in life. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 18:09:51 -0700 hourly 1 By: rodger ward http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795&cpage=1#comment-79831 rodger ward Sat, 04 Sep 2010 23:21:59 +0000 http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795#comment-79831 I lived on east Hastings for for years,I came to be there from Hamilton Ont,addicted to crack and eventually heron,Hastings is unlike anything you have ever seen,unless you lived there,so many people addicted to crack,heron, and mentally ill.it was hard to make out of there. But I did I went to treatment and got cleaned up.now I live in a very nice place on the sunshine coast with my very pretty wife and were extremely happy.If you are trapped and you wont to get clean there are people who will help you do it, but you have to want it, I live a good life now, and you can to. I lived on east Hastings for for years,I came to be there from Hamilton Ont,addicted to crack and eventually heron,Hastings is unlike anything you have ever seen,unless you lived there,so many people addicted to crack,heron, and mentally ill.it was hard to make out of there. But I did I went to treatment and got cleaned up.now I live in a very nice place on the sunshine coast with my very pretty wife and were extremely happy.If you are trapped and you wont to get clean there are people who will help you do it, but you have to want it, I live a good life now, and you can to.

]]> By: Mannkind Charity » Photo-Experience of the Downtown Eastside Vancouver, BC http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795&cpage=1#comment-67833 Mannkind Charity » Photo-Experience of the Downtown Eastside Vancouver, BC Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:35:26 +0000 http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795#comment-67833 [...] http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795 [...] [...] http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795 [...]

]]> By: lulz http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795&cpage=1#comment-67831 lulz Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:40:55 +0000 http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795#comment-67831 I live in the DTES. It's always been a shithole down here. If you read the 'Vancouver history' book, E. Hastings was the original Skid Row, because they skidded logs up to a mill and the streets were full of derelict bars even 100 years ago. As for hard drugs that came with the chinese immigrant labourers who brought opium with them. The needle exchange has nothing to do with increased injection use, it merely stops aids from exploding from junkies sharing needles. If you want to clean up the DTES do the following: 1) reopen Riverview, or a large mental health asylum. most addicts and drunks down here are insane. 2) change the criminal code of canada to stop 'non returnable warrants'. basically if you get arrested in Ontario or Winnipeg or anywhere, you can flee to BC's downtown eastside to avoid prosecution in that province. 3) Expand Insite. They need crack smoking rooms, rooms for any drug you want to do to get these people off the street and beside a counsellor/nurse that can help them. 4) Continue the 'free heroin' trial. For 2 years a society handed out free heroin to the worst addicts who were written off by hospitals and detox centres. They found that 95% of them started to lead normal lives and stopped crime completely. 5) Stop the police from thuggishly exploiting the area to their amusement, putting junkies in jail only results in increased prison crime. You can buy any drug in prison, the hacks/guards ensure nobody detox's. I live in the DTES. It’s always been a shithole down here. If you read the ‘Vancouver history’ book, E. Hastings was the original Skid Row, because they skidded logs up to a mill and the streets were full of derelict bars even 100 years ago.

As for hard drugs that came with the chinese immigrant labourers who brought opium with them. The needle exchange has nothing to do with increased injection use, it merely stops aids from exploding from junkies sharing needles.

If you want to clean up the DTES do the following:

1) reopen Riverview, or a large mental health asylum. most addicts and drunks down here are insane.

2) change the criminal code of canada to stop ‘non returnable warrants’. basically if you get arrested in Ontario or Winnipeg or anywhere, you can flee to BC’s downtown eastside to avoid prosecution in that province.

3) Expand Insite. They need crack smoking rooms, rooms for any drug you want to do to get these people off the street and beside a counsellor/nurse that can help them.

4) Continue the ‘free heroin’ trial. For 2 years a society handed out free heroin to the worst addicts who were written off by hospitals and detox centres. They found that 95% of them started to lead normal lives and stopped crime completely.

5) Stop the police from thuggishly exploiting the area to their amusement, putting junkies in jail only results in increased prison crime. You can buy any drug in prison, the hacks/guards ensure nobody detox’s.

]]> By: PDS on the Rhetoric of Blogging: Ideas and Advice « The Well Wrought Urn http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795&cpage=1#comment-67548 PDS on the Rhetoric of Blogging: Ideas and Advice « The Well Wrought Urn Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:11:22 +0000 http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795#comment-67548 [...] Photo blogging or photo journalism- Disposable Words [...] [...] Photo blogging or photo journalism- Disposable Words [...]

]]> By: Austin http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795&cpage=1#comment-67138 Austin Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:56:04 +0000 http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795#comment-67138 Thanks for the comments, I'm glad to see this topic strike a nerve and provoke a bit of a discussion. No one I spoke with in the DTES seemed the think that needle distribution actually *encouraged* hard drug use -- if people are curious to try they'll try -- although I'm sure you could find studies that would tell you otherwise. As for the concerns about identity, I always used pseudonyms for people whenever there was anything questionable going on in the photograph. I never paid anyone but I bought some meals (at the venerable Save On Meats!) and did guy one guy change to "catch a bus", whatever that means. Thanks for the comments, I’m glad to see this topic strike a nerve and provoke a bit of a discussion.

No one I spoke with in the DTES seemed the think that needle distribution actually *encouraged* hard drug use — if people are curious to try they’ll try — although I’m sure you could find studies that would tell you otherwise.

As for the concerns about identity, I always used pseudonyms for people whenever there was anything questionable going on in the photograph. I never paid anyone but I bought some meals (at the venerable Save On Meats!) and did guy one guy change to “catch a bus”, whatever that means.

]]> By: old_nobody http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795&cpage=1#comment-66929 old_nobody Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:12:17 +0000 http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795#comment-66929 Public domain stuff about the DTES in Vancouver Canada: http://picasaweb.google.com/vancouver.pix http://www.youtube.com/urbansociopathology http://www.youtube.com/publicdomainarts Feel free to help yourselves. Thnx. Public domain stuff about the DTES in Vancouver Canada:

http://picasaweb.google.com/vancouver.pix

http://www.youtube.com/urbansociopathology

http://www.youtube.com/publicdomainarts

Feel free to help yourselves. Thnx.

]]> By: Camille McOuat http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795&cpage=1#comment-66923 Camille McOuat Wed, 07 Oct 2009 06:09:24 +0000 http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795#comment-66923 Informative. I am doing a photoessay on United We Can (the binning depot on Hastings near Carrall) right now and I am having difficulty finding good information on the development of the downtown eastside's drug problems. Ken Lyotier, who started UWC, cites the closure of Riverview in the 80's and the introduction of the needle exchange program as factors that strongly exacerbated existing poverty and addiction in the dtes. Did you find in your research that the needle exchange program resulted in more hard drug use in people who previously used softer drugs ? Also, I am confused as to why a drug dealer would agree to have their photo and name made public. Is the court system so soft that they do not care, or do you pay people to take their photos ? Informative. I am doing a photoessay on United We Can (the binning depot on Hastings near Carrall) right now and I am having difficulty finding good information on the development of the downtown eastside’s drug problems. Ken Lyotier, who started UWC, cites the closure of Riverview in the 80’s and the introduction of the needle exchange program as factors that strongly exacerbated existing poverty and addiction in the dtes. Did you find in your research that the needle exchange program resulted in more hard drug use in people who previously used softer drugs ? Also, I am confused as to why a drug dealer would agree to have their photo and name made public. Is the court system so soft that they do not care, or do you pay people to take their photos ?

]]> By: Mannkind Charity » Photo-Experience of the Downtown Eastside, Vancouver BC http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795&cpage=1#comment-66086 Mannkind Charity » Photo-Experience of the Downtown Eastside, Vancouver BC Tue, 08 Sep 2009 06:15:58 +0000 http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795#comment-66086 [...] http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795 [...] [...] http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795 [...]

]]> By: Clarence Neault http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795&cpage=1#comment-54182 Clarence Neault Sat, 27 Dec 2008 03:20:47 +0000 http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795#comment-54182 During my last visit to this area in 2003 I found a lot of gentrification in the West End. I had watched this happen to the Robson Sreet area in the '70's. I do not think that this area can be gentrified. Hastings and Main has been Canada's drop off point for too many decades. The temptation will be to give it a paint job and hide the sins of the city; brush them under the rug and nudge them into an even darker corner. Perhaps the city in partnership with the rest of Canada might do better and treat the sicknesses in this community. Give treatment to the citizens who choose to live there. They are Canadians, too. The area has become an addictions and mental health institution without standards or walls or caregivers. Throughout my itinerant citizenship in West End Vancouver over three decades, I always saw people who were eccentric or had a mental illness or a drug illness. They were tolerated or cared for, but never feared. We have come a long ways backwards. We have an opportunity to treat the sick and bring back this community of transience. We can return it to all Canadians; those who choose to use it, and those who have few other ready options. Hastings and Main is an inland port for Canadians: Canadians on a budget escaping from a life that is not working or looking for adventure or just a change. They are still Canadians. They could be us, or someone close to us … they are us. We can judge ourselves by how we treat our fellow Canadians. During my last visit to this area in 2003 I found a lot of gentrification in the West End. I had watched this happen to the Robson Sreet area in the ’70’s. I do not think that this area can be gentrified. Hastings and Main has been Canada’s drop off point for too many decades. The temptation will be to give it a paint job and hide the sins of the city; brush them under the rug and nudge them into an even darker corner. Perhaps the city in partnership with the rest of Canada might do better and treat the sicknesses in this community. Give treatment to the citizens who choose to live there. They are Canadians, too. The area has become an addictions and mental health institution without standards or walls or caregivers. Throughout my itinerant citizenship in West End Vancouver over three decades, I always saw people who were eccentric or had a mental illness or a drug illness. They were tolerated or cared for, but never feared. We have come a long ways backwards. We have an opportunity to treat the sick and bring back this community of transience. We can return it to all Canadians; those who choose to use it, and those who have few other ready options. Hastings and Main is an inland port for Canadians: Canadians on a budget escaping from a life that is not working or looking for adventure or just a change. They are still Canadians. They could be us, or someone close to us … they are us. We can judge ourselves by how we treat our fellow Canadians.

]]> By: cindy http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795&cpage=1#comment-53243 cindy Tue, 16 Dec 2008 04:30:59 +0000 http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795#comment-53243 Remember that this is the warmest place in Canada and a lot of people from other provinces and countires come here. So, as long as we view this as a Vancouver problem it will not be fixed. This is a Canadian problem and the federal government and other provinces need to also take responsablilty. As well, many people in the east side have mental health issues and since all the mental health institutions are closed they will not get help. Also, most mental health doctors will not commit or force treatment. The Court do not consider these people crimminal, they are viewed as victims of circumstance and not posing a risk to society. The Court are not willing to get involved and Crown is reluctant to prosecute. If they do prosecute it is for drug traficking and drug traficking only results in probation regardless of the past criminal history or quantity. Hence, you are looking at a perfect storm of a Country not caring. Remember that this is the warmest place in Canada and a lot of people from other provinces and countires come here. So, as long as we view this as a Vancouver problem it will not be fixed. This is a Canadian problem and the federal government and other provinces need to also take responsablilty. As well, many people in the east side have mental health issues and since all the mental health institutions are closed they will not get help. Also, most mental health doctors will not commit or force treatment. The Court do not consider these people crimminal, they are viewed as victims of circumstance and not posing a risk to society. The Court are not willing to get involved and Crown is reluctant to prosecute. If they do prosecute it is for drug traficking and drug traficking only results in probation regardless of the past criminal history or quantity. Hence, you are looking at a perfect storm of a Country not caring.

]]> By: Cityspk Blog » Blog Archive » Vancouver - Downtown Eastside http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795&cpage=1#comment-52195 Cityspk Blog » Blog Archive » Vancouver - Downtown Eastside Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:26:09 +0000 http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795#comment-52195 [...] Vignettes of the disenfranchised and dispossessed who call Vancouver’s troubled Downtown Eastside neighbourhood their home. From the blog of filmmaker Austin Andrews. [...] [...] Vignettes of the disenfranchised and dispossessed who call Vancouver’s troubled Downtown Eastside neighbourhood their home. From the blog of filmmaker Austin Andrews. [...]

]]> By: Joanna, CKO » Blog Archive » Vancouverism http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795&cpage=1#comment-32463 Joanna, CKO » Blog Archive » Vancouverism Mon, 30 Jun 2008 06:53:54 +0000 http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795#comment-32463 [...] an odd thing for other cities to aspire to be. A ghost-town of glass towers located just steps away from the nation’s poorest community. Condominiums priced beyond the reach of the city’s residents. Empty buildings that have an [...] [...] an odd thing for other cities to aspire to be. A ghost-town of glass towers located just steps away from the nation’s poorest community. Condominiums priced beyond the reach of the city’s residents. Empty buildings that have an [...]

]]> By: Chanah http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795&cpage=1#comment-31780 Chanah Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:54:33 +0000 http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795#comment-31780 Hey Arwen - Hepe is gone for a song like old Hong Kong in the DTES. I mostly write about fortune telling, but once in a while I talk about what it's like here. I think the average lifespan is down to 36 years (we're nearly equal to Kinshasa on that scale; it doesn't get much worse), and if there are support systems that help people out of this hell - they're failing left, right, and centre from everything I've observed - and experienced. We're not all drug addicts (though sometimes I wonder, since I seem to be the only person who can't join in on those conversations), but if you have the misfortune to end up in the Downtown East Side for whatever reason, you no longer count as a person - that I do know from first-hand experience, and from watching so many people die of neglect, starvation, exposure. How the hell anyone would get off drugs in a place like this is beyond me. Not that anybody cares. As Kafka so perceptively wrote: When it's you against the world, bet on the world. If you want to see what happens after people have been crushed under that particular wheel, take a stroll through my neighbourhood. Though I don't really recommend it. Brilliant photo essay. I only hope and pray that we somehow survive the Olympics, and get sane again. But meanwhile - it has to be documented. Has to. File it under 'civilisation; one of the most affluent countries in the world'. Hey Arwen -

Hepe is gone for a song like old Hong Kong in the DTES. I mostly write about fortune telling, but once in a while I talk about what it’s like here. I think the average lifespan is down to 36 years (we’re nearly equal to Kinshasa on that scale; it doesn’t get much worse), and if there are support systems that help people out of this hell – they’re failing left, right, and centre from everything I’ve observed – and experienced.

We’re not all drug addicts (though sometimes I wonder, since I seem to be the only person who can’t join in on those conversations), but if you have the misfortune to end up in the Downtown East Side for whatever reason, you no longer count as a person – that I do know from first-hand experience, and from watching so many people die of neglect, starvation, exposure. How the hell anyone would get off drugs in a place like this is beyond me.

Not that anybody cares. As Kafka so perceptively wrote: When it’s you against the world, bet on the world. If you want to see what happens after people have been crushed under that particular wheel, take a stroll through my neighbourhood. Though I don’t really recommend it.

Brilliant photo essay. I only hope and pray that we somehow survive the Olympics, and get sane again. But meanwhile – it has to be documented. Has to. File it under ‘civilisation; one of the most affluent countries in the world’.

]]> By: TarotByArwen http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795&cpage=1#comment-31335 TarotByArwen Sat, 21 Jun 2008 18:49:07 +0000 http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795#comment-31335 Photos are hard to look away from when they present the hard, cold truth of life. I hope those that are trying to get away from their addictions are successful. Photos are hard to look away from when they present the hard, cold truth of life. I hope those that are trying to get away from their addictions are successful.

]]> By: Where I Live « Confessions of a Freaky Fortune Teller http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795&cpage=1#comment-31249 Where I Live « Confessions of a Freaky Fortune Teller Sat, 21 Jun 2008 04:26:18 +0000 http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795#comment-31249 [...] Buy Smokes, Singles [...] [...] Buy Smokes, Singles [...]

]]> By: Rita http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795&cpage=1#comment-29063 Rita Mon, 02 Jun 2008 15:37:17 +0000 http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795#comment-29063 Beautiful photos of a harsh place. Thanks for making the people real. Beautiful photos of a harsh place. Thanks for making the people real.

]]> By: Jen http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795&cpage=1#comment-28045 Jen Wed, 21 May 2008 07:34:01 +0000 http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795#comment-28045 wow, this post really affected me.. i haven't seen a photo blog like this in awhile, keep it up. wow, this post really affected me.. i haven’t seen a photo blog like this in awhile, keep it up.

]]> By: Jim Ryder http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795&cpage=1#comment-27688 Jim Ryder Fri, 16 May 2008 02:44:51 +0000 http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795#comment-27688 Sir, Have you no shame? Sir, Have you no shame?

]]> By: Jessica Ann MacLeod http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795&cpage=1#comment-27527 Jessica Ann MacLeod Tue, 13 May 2008 17:31:54 +0000 http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795#comment-27527 I am a Mother who lost her only son to a drug overdose on the Downtown East Side of Vancouver. I came to Vancouver to help my son Danny but, to no avail. I have taken early retirement as a Registered Nurse to write a book about Danny's life and to speak at Schools and Churches. The memories of coming to Vancouver from Toronto to search for Danny are still fresh in my mind. I pray every day for the unfortunate people addicted and living on the Downtown East Side. Also I pray to have my book published in the hope that it will help another Mother and her Son. Thank-you. I am a Mother who lost her only son to a drug overdose on the Downtown East Side of Vancouver. I came to Vancouver to help my son Danny but, to no avail. I have taken early retirement as a Registered Nurse to write a book about Danny’s life and to speak at Schools and Churches. The memories of coming to Vancouver from Toronto to search for Danny are still fresh in my mind. I pray every day for the unfortunate people addicted and living on the Downtown East Side. Also I pray to have my book published in the hope that it will help another Mother and her Son. Thank-you.

]]> By: Austin http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795&cpage=1#comment-25613 Austin Sat, 19 Apr 2008 21:04:31 +0000 http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795#comment-25613 Tough call. As much as most of them revile the place and the lifestyle, few have the initiative to seek help as long as there's no one waiting for them on the other side. They'd like to clean up and ship out but wouldn't know where to go, and for many it's that familiarity that's keeping them in that world. There are exceptions, of course, and the support strata exists for those willing to take the plunge and find it. But that's a whole 'nother photo series! Tough call. As much as most of them revile the place and the lifestyle, few have the initiative to seek help as long as there’s no one waiting for them on the other side. They’d like to clean up and ship out but wouldn’t know where to go, and for many it’s that familiarity that’s keeping them in that world. There are exceptions, of course, and the support strata exists for those willing to take the plunge and find it. But that’s a whole ‘nother photo series!

]]> By: carla http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795&cpage=1#comment-25542 carla Fri, 18 Apr 2008 20:36:28 +0000 http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795#comment-25542 Wow... did any of those people say how it would be possible to help them? What do they need to get them out of there and on their feet again? Wow… did any of those people say how it would be possible to help them? What do they need to get them out of there and on their feet again?

]]> By: hexakali http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795&cpage=1#comment-24883 hexakali Sun, 06 Apr 2008 14:57:38 +0000 http://www.sequential-one.com/blog/?p=1795#comment-24883 This juxtaposition of hard-luck-Eastside Vancouver shots with cute red pandas is strongly reminiscent of the simmering-unrest-in-Burma shots with the kitty cats. It's this balance that makes me realize that god is indeed with you, kid. This juxtaposition of hard-luck-Eastside Vancouver shots with cute red pandas is strongly reminiscent of the simmering-unrest-in-Burma shots with the kitty cats. It’s this balance that makes me realize that god is indeed with you, kid.

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