[emge]

I agree the homeless are not the primary problem downtown. However, attacking the problem from just one end (trying to attract more people to balance out the demographics) is one thing.

But on the other hand, there's many more productive things you can do with those who are willing to be helped.

Weed isn't one of the biggest problems, but I sure know a lot of lazy white people (I'm white too) who know that making money by dealing weed is the easiest way to get by. In London, in Toronto, in St. Catharines, in Hamilton. I've had a grow-op a few doors down from my house in St. Catharines and relatives into this stuff as more than occasional recreation.

For example, I've had friends who have gotten sober and off the street - in their late twenties, after years of struggle. But they still don't know how they'll pay for school or make rent if they don't deal weed. And its very hard to get out and do honest work when you know weed is an easier (and relatively safe) option compared to the worse problems they dealt with before.

But even for them, I don't support them dealing weed. And I spent a lot of time encouraging them that its better to get a job and separate yourself from that stuff. It's a bad crowd and tainted money, and it is associated with harder stuff, whatever "weed is the least of all the evils and shouldn't be given the time of day" stuff I might theoretically agree to.

So sure, there may be bigger issues than weed, but it's a perception thing. If I see open weed deals happening, I know other types of drug deals are happening, even if I see them less frequently. Seeing any type of drug deal happening is intimidating to people downtown.

I don't know your background - I think you've mentioned you live on the Mountain and you're a student, so perhaps all you've seen is relatively harmless recreational use by some buddies or yourself or co-workers or family, etc.

But even among Mohawk students, there's some guys in one of my husband's classes whose parents actually bought them a house on the Mountain so they wouldn't have to work during school. The guys basically decided to spend our money on weed.. and they failed out. Pot didn't start their terrible attitudes and poor choices and poor use of time. But the accessibility of it - and acceptibility of its use among college students - didn't help the situation.

There's a lot of teenagers who live on their own - some people I know work with them. Some are in and out of group homes. It's very common for kids who aren't living with their parents to pool their assistance money they get for food and shelter, cram into a house, and spend the rest of their money on weed. They'll be living 3 to a room just so there's more money for pizza and pot. Sure, life's been tough to them, but they need help and skills, not permission and accessibility to use the most convenient escape mechanisms available.

And if you know anything about the psychology of addiction and escape mechanisms, it does function as a gateway drug. No, I'm not going to say anything ridiculous about how everyone who starts with weed ends up a heroin addict, but some people do turn to harder stuff - and yes, you do see crack addicts walking barefoot and bowlegged down the street sometimes in downtown, whether that's at Queen/King, Bay/King, Gore Park or Wellington/King.

Sure, marijuana may be a small evil, but it isn't totally harmless, and I don't want to see open drug deals downtown - nor do parents of small children, those who hope to attract businesses, and a lot of other people, as "enlightened" as they may be. I've also done dreadlocks for about nine years now, and that's quite interconnected with 'cannabis culture' as it were, and I still don't want any part of that stuff. And not in my downtown.

We can do so much better as a city. But not until we start dealing with all the problems, not just the worst ones that are relatively harmless.