05/31/2026
𝗗𝗿𝘂𝗴 𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝗛𝗮𝘀 𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝘅𝗰𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗗𝗲𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀—𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗢𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀
𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘈𝘭𝘦𝘹 𝘕𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭, 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘵 https://tinyurl.com/wsym8rbx
𝘈𝘭𝘦𝘹 𝘕𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘸𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘶𝘥; 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳; 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘉𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘪𝘮𝘤𝘰𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘺.
For years, politicians and their supporters have justified increasingly harsh treatment of homeless Canadians by pointing to visible drug use in encampments. The argument is simple and emotionally effective: if people are using fentanyl, crack co***ne, methamphetamine, or other illicit substances, then society owes them less compassion, less dignity, fewer rights, and fewer public resources.
But the logic collapses the moment the same standards are applied to people who are housed.
Canada has never treated drug use among the middle class, political class, or property-owning class the same way it treats drug use among the homeless (1). In reality, the issue has never truly been about drugs. It has been about who is considered socially acceptable while using them and how to use them as a weapon against those in need of support.
(1) https://tinyurl.com/3kxsrx66
Former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford became internationally infamous after video surfaced of him smoking crack co***ne. Ford later admitted to using the drug while serving as mayor. Yet despite the scandal, the public conversation largely revolved around whether he should resign, seek help, recover politically, or continue governing.
Nobody suggested homeowners should lose access to bathrooms because one homeowner smoked crack (2). Nobody proposed removing housed citizens from parks because some of them use co***ne behind closed doors.
(2) https://tinyurl.com/3788mxcm
Ontario Premier Doug Ford faced allegations published by The Globe and Mail that he had been involved in hash dealing in his youth. While Ford vehemently denied the accusations made in a 2013 investigative report, he never initiated a libel lawsuit against the newspaper.
Again, the broader point remains intact: the accusation did not trigger a societal movement demanding that housed people be collectively punished, removed from communities, or stripped of dignity. That double standard exposes the real issue.
Drug use in Canada is not a homeless phenomenon. It is a Canadian phenomenon.
Health Canada data has repeatedly shown illicit drug use exists across all income brackets, professions, and housing situations. Co***ne use, opioid misuse, methamphetamine use, and other substance dependencies exist in suburbs, condominiums, universities, workplaces, executive offices, and affluent neighbourhoods.
Much of it simply occurs behind closed doors rather than in visible public spaces, and the homeless, by contrast, often live publicly because they have no private place left to go.
That visibility creates a political illusion. It allows some politicians to present addiction as though it originates from encampments rather than from broader social, economic, pharmaceutical, and mental health crises affecting the entire population. The overdose statistics themselves undermine much of the rhetoric.
Research from Ontario’s Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences found that homeless individuals accounted for roughly one in six opioid overdose deaths in Ontario by 2021 (3). That number is devastatingly disproportionate relative to population size and reflects the extreme vulnerability of those living without stable shelter. But it also means the overwhelming majority of overdose deaths still occurred among people who were not homeless. In other words, most overdose victims in Ontario were housed.
(3) https://tinyurl.com/2fyuuuvv.
That fact rarely appears in political speeches. Instead, encampments have increasingly become symbolic targets. Public frustration over addiction, disorder, untreated mental illness, housing shortages, inflation, healthcare failures, and visible poverty becomes concentrated on a population with the least political power to defend itself. The result is policy driven less by evidence than by emotional optics.
Bathrooms are removed because homeless people might use drugs in them. Benches are redesigned to prevent sleeping. Encampments are dismantled without adequate alternatives. Public spaces become increasingly hostile to survival itself. Yet society imposes no equivalent restrictions on housed populations despite overwhelming evidence that drug use exists throughout all sectors of Canadian life.
The contradiction is impossible to ignore. If illicit drug use is enough to deny people dignity, then those standards would need to apply equally to politicians, homeowners, business owners, university students, professionals, and affluent recreational users. Canada would need to start removing bathrooms from restaurants, condominiums, offices, and private residences wherever drugs are consumed.
Of course, nobody seriously proposes that, because deep down, most Canadians already understand the truth: housing, sanitation, safety, and basic human dignity are not rewards for moral perfection. They are foundational requirements for civilization itself.
The debate, then, is not really about drugs. It is about whether poverty and homelessness strip people of their humanity in the eyes of those who already have comfort, privacy, and shelter.
And increasingly, some political movements appear willing to answer yes.
John Ironside, Five Points Media
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Understand the backstory to how our current administration is deceiving the voters and taxpayers of Barrie. By sharing our content, you extend our reach and weaken the power of corruption and abuse of voter-granted authority by a mayor and council who simply have to go.
Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall Exposed
https://tinyurl.com/3vn6d372
Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall’s One Hundred Million Dollar Plan to Resolve the Homeless Crisis Sounds Like a Pitch for Social Murder
https://tinyurl.com/4w2w67yk
Barrie Mayor Alexander Nuttall Accused of Attacking Charities and Those They Serve
https://tinyurl.com/yck5p3n2
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Standing with our Homeless Neighbours
https://tinyurl.com/mw67xksk
Your Civil Rights—If you don't use them, you lose them
https://tinyurl.com/bdue55ta
Clergy Claims Mayor Alex Nuttall Abusive Over Plans To Help Homeless
https://tinyurl.com/84a7crz4
Churches And Taxpayers Stand United Against the Cruelty Shown by Mayor Alex Nuttall and Council
https://tinyurl.com/4fr45cnh
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Sources:
https://fb-news-sharer.pebmac.workers.dev/https://time.com/4448803/rob-ford-crack-video-released https://fb-news-sharer.pebmac.workers.dev/https://toronto.citynews.ca/2013/05/26/doug-ford-denies-globe-report-that-he-dealt-hashish-in-80s
https://www.ices.on.ca/news-releases/staggering-increase-in-opioid-related-deaths-among-people-experiencing-homelessness-new-study-finds/
https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/canadian-alcohol-drugs-survey/2019-summary.html
https://www.statcan.gc.ca/o1/en/plus/8193-illegal-drugs-and-trafficking-canada
https://www.facebook.com/FivePointsMedia/posts/pfbid0mxBQoxYVnM4Ad8mhB6JLLvq9GYPzLkoTbLyQXqVxWnABvorvjaayxn8ngSub98Xfl
https://www.facebook.com/FivePointsMedia/posts/pfbid02ViZyN6gQ7JsoF5dQvfYmGGn6Z2tNaGvWVESY9b4kgJcDNtAEPqd7aeqACPgV2VKhl
https://www.facebook.com/FivePointsMedia/posts/pfbid02mMYGyfy9SSJMSLfZLHaovUUmqYyBLFi66N1YwjpxFfYm9yucbiRJUR4vVRtz5Dgkl
