[Hourglass]

Well, not to minimize the problem, but the Washington Post writing an article like this is a bit of the pot calling the kettle black. There are parts of DC which, when I visited a few years back, were poster children for urban decay and lawlessness.

Anyway, speaking as someone who hasn't lived in Vancouver for some time but returns maybe once or twice a year, it appears to me, that over time, the situation in the DES has gone from bad to worse. It was always a gritty area -- even when Woodwards was around (a long time ago, my Dad used to run a medical clinic in the area -- I don't think he'd even consider it now). But I remember driving by the corner of Main and Hastings a couple of years ago and being absolutely appalled by what I saw. Vancouver??? It felt more like south-central LA.

Beyond the safe injection site, has the Four Pillars drug strategy actually been implemented? It appears to me that Vancouver (and in particular the DES) is taking the brunt of the burden. Why aren't other communities in Vancouver and around the Lower Mainland sharing responsibility?