Re Chopping Wood In Northern Canada
31 Mar 2012
I recently suggested the best treatment for OxyContin addicts was Course 101, Chopping Wood in Northern Canada. I asked for a reaction and got it, a ton of e-mails!
ML writes, “The things I love about Canada, our compassion and understanding, are also the things I dislike. The back of the hand approach is surely needed. I totally agree with everything you said in the column. I hope others in powerful positions take notice.”
GT responds, “I’m a corrections officer. I’ve also seen inmates joking about how they’ve fooled doctors to get large supplies of methadone. I agree with your idea of chopping trees or have them suffer withdrawal in a segregation cell.”
From Oshawa, “The methadone clinic here is a joke and the busiest place in town. Most have tattoos, body piercings and enough money for cigarettes. But there was no money for a palliative centre when my Mother was dying of cancer. Thanks for bringing this out into the open. You seem to be the only one that does.”
From Niagara Falls, “I agree 100 percent. Self-destructive behaviour needs tough love. After working in mosquito infected northern Canada there would be few repeat offenders.”
“Wow, what a column! I’m a police officer in southwestern Ontario. I deal with narcotic and prescription use every day. The public has no idea of the extent of the problem and the enormous cost to taxpayers to subsidize needle exchange, methadone clinics and druggies who hope to support themselves by getting disability benefits. They claim to be disabled, but you should see them run when they believe they are about to be arrested!”
From another police officer, “I see useless buggers sitting around half stoned on everything from OxyContin to gas fumes. They avoid work and responsibility and then we have misguided people intent on saving them. The bastards who push drugs on our children should be tossed over Toronto’s Bloor street aqueduct. The way things are going we soon won’t have a country left. Bravo for calling a spade a spade.”
From EC, “Your column is the height of arrogance. You have no experience treating addicts. You, Sir, are the problem, and your pomposity is staggering. Get one of your colleagues to write a prescription for 90 OxyContin and then stop cold turkey, and you’ll be singing a different tune.”
Another critic says, “You probably think depressed people should suck it up. I suggest you shoot up OxyContin for a few weeks and see how hard it is to get off it”.
Some sent scripture from the bible along with this advice, “Chopping wood in northern Canada would make addicts strong, but do nothing to overcome their addiction. Your suggestion is quite shocking and shows you know nothing about addiction.”
From Vancouver, “Your article will have the politically correct crowd in a dither, and bravo for speaking the truth. There’s nothing like exercise to sweat the bad stuff out of your body”.
Some readers were enraged that addicts get needles free and diabetics have to pay for them. Others were tired of the “poor me syndrome” that has to come to an end. And several readers volunteered to help me find a lumbar camp site in northern Canada.
There was no disagreement on one matter, the need for more palliative care centers to care for those nearing the end of life. Readers were furious that so many loved ones had died in agony. As one reader remarked, “A friend recently died of cancer, and being run over by a herd of elephants would have been kinder and an easier end to his life”. Many questioned how we could spend so much money on injection sites and methadone clinics and ignore this other pressing need. Many suggested we should finally get our priorities straight.
An editor once told me it was the job of a journalist to make people think. This column did it. For the record, less than five percent of readers wanted to tar and feather me. The rest showed that people were fed up with our soft approach to addicts and believed it was high time for a reality check.
