Calgary Herald editorial page editor blames InSite for easy drug access; gets definition wrong

19 posts / 0 new

Fri, 2013-07-19 15:14

Kaitlin McNabb Kaitlin McNabb's picture

Corbella: Vancouver’s easy drug access may have helped kill Monteith

I overheard a group of three young people talking excitedly about how on their upcoming trip to Vancouver, they intended to drop by InSite to try heroin for the first time. I have since long wished I had butted into their conversation and intervened.

[eyeroll]

She knows InSite doesn't sell drugs right? And that it is also not some weird form of lounge to go and sample various hard drugs?

And that also loitering outside of InSite is not allowed, especially when trying to buy drugs?

Fri, 2013-07-19 15:53

Catchfire

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH

I often think, in retrospect, after overhearing a group of Calgary Herald editors talking excitedly about politics, "if only I had butted into their conversation and intervened."

Fri, 2013-07-19 16:50

onlinediscountanvils

I told her what I’d do instead was call the Montreal police and ask them if they knew where the heroin users and dealers hung out. I didn’t have any Montreal police contacts, but called the on-duty sergeant. He didn’t know and neither did the various other police officers I was transferred to.

In other words, show up in most North American cities and even a heroin junkie can’t necessarily find their poison. Even police don’t know where to go in their own city to find the stuff.

Wow... I guess the cops really had no clue where to find heroin. 'Cause they're usually so happy to assist people who are looking for contraband. I know my local station has a community bulletin board where people can post flyers for guns, counterfeiting, contract hits, etc.

Fri, 2013-07-19 17:35

Catchfire

Licia Corbella wrote:
But an anecdote, dating back many years now, proves this wrong.

Bwaaaaa ha ha haha

Sat, 2013-07-20 02:19

Mórríghain

The conservative media just had a bad week; Sun Media closed 11 newspapers across Canada and killed 360 jobs, Calgary and Edmonton lost their Sun-owned free dailies. Licia Corbella, writing for the Calgary Herald, was likely just waving the SoCon banner in an attempt to show the true believers that the end of days was not yet upon them and that they still had a shrill voice.

Sat, 2013-07-20 09:20

Kaitlin McNabb Kaitlin McNabb's picture

Twitter had some pretty intense response unleashed as well.

The other main point to Corbs argument that "InSite and the DTES killed glee star" being "don't you think a millionaire could buy his drugs else where? Your assumptions that drugs are only in the DTES are laughable as well."

Sat, 2013-07-20 12:13

alan smithee alan smithee's picture

First of all,I don't believe that Monteith was injecting heroin.

Secondly,if he was..Insite would have saved his life.

Sat, 2013-07-20 13:02

Kaitlin McNabb Kaitlin McNabb's picture

Right?! Her "op-ed" is completely devoid of actually research and correct information and reeks of poor-bashing.

Drug use and dealing happens everywhere -- and as a friend of mine puts it "identifying DTES with dealing and drug use is just thinly-veiled poor-bashing"

Sat, 2013-07-20 14:34

Mórríghain

alan smithee wrote:

First of all,I don't believe that Monteith was injecting heroin.

Why not? The syringe is an excellent delivery system for heroin. Tracks can be hidden; he was a functioning addict, I suspect he knew how.

Quote:
Secondly,if he was..Insite would have saved his life.

Only if he had dropped in, and why would he?

Sat, 2013-07-20 17:11

#10

Sineed

alan smithee wrote:

First of all,I don't believe that Monteith was injecting heroin.

If heroin is taken by mouth, it metabolizes to morphine before it hits the bloodstream. So he had to be either injecting, or smoking, or else the autopsy results would have found morphine and not heroin.

Given the recent attritions from the Senate, my theory is she's angling for a Senate appointment. After all, sucking up to the Conservatives has worked for journalists before.

Sat, 2013-07-20 19:09

#11

alan smithee alan smithee's picture

I'm not an expert on heroin but from what I know,snorting it is very dangerous especially when you add alcohol to the mix.

Could he have been smoking it?...Sure...Shooting it?..It's possible but it usually takes a toll on the body in one way or another.

But it's not the point.

Had he went to a safe injection site,he wouldn't have died..If he wasn't interested,that was his choice.

The bottom line is that Vancouver and InSite are not to blame.

And I agree,Corbella is probably fishing for a Senate gig...There's big money in being a minion of the Harpercon machine.

Tue, 2013-07-23 16:32

#12

Kaitlin McNabb Kaitlin McNabb's picture

Interested to see if Luicia Corbella will have a follow up or address some of the questions (re: facts) regarding InSite.

Some good response editorials and letters to the Calgary Herald about this as well. Here's one from their website:

Letter: Insite saves by Donald MacPherson director of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition at Simon Fraser University.

Any other stand outs?

Tue, 2013-07-23 17:00

#13

Catchfire

There was an incredulous follow-up interview on CBC Vancouver's On the Coast with Corbella and she doubled down on her claim that InSite is responsible for Monteith's death. She was challenged on her claim that you can procure heroin at InSite and made some fumbling response about what she "really meant." It is a ludicrous example of public rhetoric.

ETA: It starts at around the 1:40:30 mark on Friday's July 19 show.

Fri, 2013-08-02 09:52

#14

Kaitlin McNabb Kaitlin McNabb's picture

So not from the Herald, but from one of it's columnists published in the Province (equally terrible)

Naomi Lakritz: Pot is a dangerous drug and legalization is a dumb idea, Mr. Trudeau

"THC, the main ingredient in cannabis, stays in the body for up to 30 days...THC “dissolves in body fat, then slowly percolates into the blood and brain over days and weeks after a joint is smoked."

As my friend pointed out, this article is the editorial equivalent of Reefer Madness. Moreover, this writer watched Reefer Madness and thought it was an acclaimed scientific documentary.

Fri, 2013-08-02 11:11

#15

j.morgan

Nope, Lakritz is definitely a Herald writer. Her, Corbella and Martinuk hold down the neo-con fort at the paper. Latritz's latest diatribe was about how colonialism didn't influence the Phoneix Sinclair case. "Oh, these heartless colonials, eh? But First Nations leaders believe colonialism was responsible. Deflect, deflect, deflect. Excuses, excuses, excuses," she writes. Of course, just a few days ago the Herald's editorial claimed that the federal government "never systematically killed aboriginals." So yeah, they're in a different world, apparently.

Fri, 2013-08-02 11:38

#16

Unionist

Interesting. After the outcry about her insinuations and pandering, the original article now bears this:

Quote:
Editor's note: This column has been updated for clarity.

I missed the original version, but the part quoted in the OP now reads (I've highlighted the changed portion):

Quote:
I overheard a group of three young people talking excitedly about how on their upcoming trip to Vancouver, they intended to drop by the DTES to buy heroinand shoot up for the first time at InSite. I have since long wished I had butted into their conversation and intervened.

They made the change so fast and guiltily that they forgot to put a wordspace between "heroin" and "and".

I'd love to see what other changes they made, but this one alone is pretty revealing, as well as being a tribute to readers, tweeters, etc. who shouted out.

Fri, 2013-08-02 11:42

#17

Kaitlin McNabb Kaitlin McNabb's picture

HOW ARE THESE PEOPLE ALLOWED TO WRITE GARBAGE LIKE THIS

(rhetorical. I sadly know the answer why)

U, they got SO MUCH "hate mail" "hate tweets" but not so much as hate as say informed opinions about how Corbella just published a piece masquarading as fact based on nothing.

That rush change is hilarious.

Although, it seems like both the Provinces' and Herald's viewing strategies are to publish offensive garbage and then count the page views. So, there's that.

ETA: JM, that quote is ridiculous (ly awful), thank you for sharing.

Fri, 2013-08-02 11:45

#18

Kaitlin McNabb Kaitlin McNabb's picture

Also they should change the ed note to read "this article has been updated for clarity. Still contains no actual facts"

Fri, 2013-08-02 13:38

#19

Sineed

Fact is, if Monteith had used InSite, he'd be alive today. Just like EVERY OTHER person who survived an overdose at InSite. The antidote to heroin overdose, naloxone (Narcan), is quick-acting and simple to give (and it's not a needle into the heart like in Pulp Fiction).