I miss you.

Abbot street; an old opium den. The Sun Ah hotel.

The elevator shaft once brought up. the heroin.

Now your blankets and trash are discarded in the rusted abyss.

The distinct smell of crack and meth house mixed with cigarettes, mold and bed bug spray.

Yet when times were rough indeed we still strived to achieve our dreams through tears and fears and thick and thin.

I watched over you and you watched over me. I miss you dearly J bird; rest in peace.

I’ll meet you in a ghetto in the sky and we’ll put a studio in our trap.

Vegan mango fruit juices and topical tropical psychedelic ganja.

I promise you I’m doing good down here and thinking of you my friend.

For me it’s almost like there’s no one left and I can’t wait to see you instead.

We can view the memoirs of our lives mixed and mastered plastered onto the sands of time.

Where do Angels go when they die? I hope to see you again; in the ghetto in the sky.

To JBIRD

LOVE NINA

Street Photography; Vancity Storm.

photo by @the_werst_

via Image: Coaster #5 — Jak’s View of Vancouver v.3

Vancouver “In-Site” / Harm Reduction and How Its Saving Lives.

What is Insite?

In 2003 Vancouver launched In-Site; A facility located in the heart of Vancouvers  Downtown East Side in which injection drug users would be provided with clean needles to inject in a supervised setting. The goal of in-site is not only providing a safe way and place to inject; they also strive to provide other health care services for those struggling with addiction and HIV / AIDS. Funded by Vancouver Coastal health Insite faced many legal barriers and still to this day operates in a rather legal grey area in the attempt to maintain the facility in harm reduction model techniques and advocacy for treatment. But the numbers don’t lie and a great change was brought upon the most vulnerable community in British Columbia.

Vancouvers Aids Epedemic:

 “When you walked around the West End, it would hit you in the face how many people there were with AIDS. In the mid-1990s, we were diagnosing up to 800 people a year, now it’s more like one per week here in B.C.” – Dr. Julio Montaner;

During that time period BC  and in particular in the Downtown East Side, we saw an HIV/AIDS epidemic never seen in North America before. Vancouvers large port city has an extremely large open drug market; as well as having the mildest climate in Canada. The open drug market mixed with  affordable housing in DTES Single room occupancies makes Vancouvers eastside a breeding ground for crime and substance use.

Since the opening of In-Site

The new cases of H.I.V. infection have dropped substancially … “B.C. has had such remarkable success arresting acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS, that in the past 25 years, new cases have steadily dropped and are now 90 per cent below what they were at the beginning of the epidemic.” – BC Centre For Dissease Control.

Speaking from personal experience in the surrounding areas; the visible injecting / scattered needles and drug crime did drop substantially as well.

This video uploaded in 2006 shows the severity of this areas situation and how In-Site combats the issues first hand.

 

-Nina

Still Dancing by Jonathan Labillois / Todays DTES Womens Memorial March

Annual Downtown Eastside Women’s Memorial March

WHAT: Press Conference for 27th Annual Women’s Memorial March
WHEN: Tuesday February 14 at 11:00 am
WHERE: Carnegie classroom, 3rd floor, Main and Hastings

MEDIA PROTOCOL: Please note there will be NO MEDIA PERMITTED in Carnegie Theatre during the family remembrance between 10:30 am to noon. Media may record the march that begins at noon at Main and Hastings, except NO recording of the ceremonies that take place during the march.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Carol Martin: 778-302-3367
Myrna Cranmer: 604-215-0264
Mabel Nipshank: 604-809-6504
Evelyne Youngchief: 778-888-1687
Rebecca Brass: 778-223-2843

For French media interviews, contact Cori Kelly: 778-709-6494

For general media inquiries or to set up further interviews, contact Harsha Walia: 778 885 0040

February 8, 2017 VANCOUVER, Coast Salish Territories- The February 14th Annual Women’s Memorial March is held on Valentine’s Day to honour the memory of all women from the Downtown Eastside who have died due to physical, mental, emotional and spiritual violence. Now in its 27th year, the march brings courage and commitment to end the violence that vulnerable women in the Downtown Eastside face on a daily basis.

The Women’s Memorial March Committee is hosting a press conference on Tuesday February 14th at 11 am in the Carnegie Center’s 3rd floor classroom. The march begins at noon on Main and Hastings.

The February 14th Women’s Memorial March Committee was founded when a woman was found murdered on Powell Street .For 27 years, the Committee has been a leading voice on the issue of violence against Indigenous women and has raised local, national, and international attention. Despite a national inquiry being launched on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, the reality on the ground in the Downtown Eastside has not changed.

According to the Women’s Memorial March Committee “Increasing deaths of many vulnerable women from the Downtown Eastside still leaves family, friends, loved ones, and community members with an overwhelming sense of grief and loss. Indigenous women disproportionately continue to go missing or be murdered with minimal action to address these tragedies or the systemic nature of gendered violence, poverty, racism, or colonialism.”

In Vancouver, friends and family members led by Indigenous women move through the DTES and stop at sites where women died or were last seen to offer prayers, medicines, and roses in remembrance.

Featured Vancouver Graffiti Artist; Demos NWK

“Emotionz – Graffiti Mentality”

Stunning Mural By Jenn Brisson; Downtown Vancouver

My Ideas on Curbing the Fentanyl Crisis

1. The G Code

Drug Cartels and Gangs more often than not live by strict codes. If these groups were to strictly enforce a code against the use of fentanyl it would save lives AND make them more money. Gangs can’t make a profit off of people that are now dead because of their product and would avoid police by doing so. By banning the cutting of products with fentanyl in your groups; you will avoid bad publicity, retaliation for deaths as well as the police.

2. Drug Testing Kits

I’ve seen several documentaries over the past years of people creating stands at concerts so that people may test their drugs before use; non for profit agencies spreading awareness and substance harm reduction. If we were to implicate this same ideology in our vulnerable neighbourhoods it would at least give people a chance to know what they are about to take. We need to make these tests free and largely available to the public.

3. Chinese Import of Fentanyl

Large amounts of the fentanyl found in Canada can be traced back to chinese manufacturing and shipping. Canadian Law Enforcement and International leaders need to crack down on the Chinese imports and come down HARD. Our children are dying here and world needs to take notes on the big players; wheeling and dealing with the lives at risk. Who is at the top of the fentanyl food chain? And cut it off at the head.

4. The Pill Press

Banning the sale, shipping and distribution of the pill press may not solve this issue but it would be a big step in the right direction. The current premier of British Columbia Christy Clark did not want the pill press banned. We should write our leaders and subject them to strong disapproval of how they are handling this crisis. Shame on you Christy Clark.

5. Publicity

The more warnings in media about drug sources and drug awareness would make people think twice about what they put in their body; The Canadian government needs to spend money promoting drug awareness in Public places. In the poor neighbourhoods I go through the most prevalent advertisement is Alcohol. BY FAR. I am not impressed and would rather see a more productive approach to what is subjected to our eyes and our minds.

6. Drug Education

Education on all drugs; being so prevalent in todays society perhaps  should be a year around curriculum. This curriculum should be designed and maintained / up-kept on a regular basis to save the lives of this generation and generations to come in a pill filled society. Abstinence of drugs in our schools has never been successful and perhaps harm reduction is a proven tactic to prevent addiction / drug related deaths and increase treatment.

7. In-Sites

Vancouver was one of the first ( If not the first ) In the world to implement safe injection sites. A place where drug users can be assisted / monitored / watched while they inject and can stay in the facility while they are high. It was implemented in order to curb an H.I.V. epidemic in our community which was ranked one of the worst per capita in the world. AND IT WORKED. It saved thousands of lives and new In-Sites are in the works.

8. Legalization of drugs.

The war on drugs did not work. It created a systematic enslavement and increased addiction and poverty in specific communities.

Lets Just BE REALISTIC. And follow suite accordingly giving us a standardized use of drugs before this gets out of control… Oh wait it already is

Please share this post / comment your thoughts on this subject for discussion.

-Nina

Bank Of Montreal; Main Street Vancouver