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What a lot of beggars do with your money...
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| Spin Laden |
SOURCE: OTTAWA CITIZEN
John Mason is just $3 away from his next hit.
Two $1 coins sit inside his black toque, lying open on the pavement outside the Shepherds of Good Hope on Murray Street. He sits, wrapped in a large green jacket, on top of a cardboard box, waiting for passersby to drop their change.
Clink. Clink. Clink. Clink.
Mr. Mason is waiting for his next hit of crack cocaine -- much cheaper than its cousin, cocaine, but as it's smoked, with many of the same effects.
Community groups, backed by police, are concerned with increasingly aggressive panhandling. And more problematic, they say, is the fact panhandlers are using the money people drop off to buy more crack.
"I used to be into booze," says Mr. Mason. "but it's all about the crack now. It's cheaper. It's hard to explain how good it feels."
Drugs are life at the shelter. Across the street in the small courtyard framed with a wrought-iron fence, about 20 or so people gather. They talk, they laugh, they deal drugs. It is like any afternoon as the panhandlers dot the pavement, some weaving in and out of traffic, looking for loose change.
Community groups want the public to stop handing out money, because it's not helping the problem.
"When people give to panhandlers, they are hoping and thinking that the money they give the person is going to assist the person in going to buy food, or accommodation, or bus tickets, whatever the case may be," says Rideau-Vanier Councillor Georges Bedard. "But in reality, they are often feeding these people's drug habit."
"There are estimates that a good panhandler can easily earn about $60 in an hour," says Mr. Bedard. "So in 15 minutes, maybe you can get $15 or so that assures you to have a couple of hits."
"You get your money, you go and get your drugs, you go do it up, and you're off for maybe 20 or so minutes and then you return and do some more panhandling."
That's Mr. Mason's method. He usually tries for $10 -- enough for at least two hits of crack, maybe three. Sometimes, the patience wears thin, he admits, and he goes and buys a hit of crack after making between $3 and $5. It's about the size of a crumb. He says a good day means he gets about 10 hits.
There is always someone to buy from in the Byward Market area where almost all the homeless shelters are located. The dealers themselves know the shelters well, with some even using messengers -- people who stay at the shelter -- to set up deals between dealers and the homeless who use the shelters.
Even more cruel are the folks who start selling the crack for next-to-nothing, or even give it away. Once someone is addicted, that price skyrockets.
"That's what you call a loss leader," says Mr. Bedard. "It's very common."
Kim Chadsey, executive director of Operation Go Home -- an organization that works with street children in the city -- is particularly concerned about increasingly aggressive panhandling.
"They're either verbally aggressive, or physically get in your face. They are the ones that get into traffic. They're the ones we need to address."
Ottawa police Staff Sgt. Paul Johnston said the large majority of aggressive panhandlers use the cash to feed their drug addictions, especially crack.
Instead of giving money to an aggressive panhandler, Mr. Johnston recommends making a donation to a homeless shelter or treatment program.
"Give to a social service agency, because 100 per cent of the time the money goes to help them," says Mr. Johnston, who oversees the Central East neighbourhood unit that patrols the Byward Market and Rideau Street.
Crack has been prevalent in Ottawa for about the past three years, but in the past year there has been an explosion, according to community groups and police.
The question is what to do about the situation and whether the push to stop people giving money to panhandlers will help the crack problem.
Mr. Bedard says several things, in addition to encouraging people not to give panhandlers money, will have an impact on the crack issue. He says there needs to be a push to shut Ottawa's crack houses, as well as adding a dedicated police group to work in the downtown area where most of Ottawa's crack houses are located.
"There are a lot of things that can be done, but unfortunately we, as a municipality, certainly don't have the necessary resources to implement all of these things," he says. "We need more money from the provincial and federal government."
But Mr. Chadsey says people need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture.
"This is a systemic societal issue. We need as a society to find out why, and keep going backwards in our questions until we come to our very first why. Why did they start taking drugs? What led them to that point? And then throw money at that." |
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| Jessdub99 |
| Not trying to hijack ur thread but did you see South Park last night? |
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| Spin Laden |
No.
I think I was too busy doing bad things to myself while watching "Search for new Cat Dolls" or whatever it's called. |
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| Frenchie |
That's what I thought of when I read the title.
"Spare some change"
"Here's 20 bucks"
"got any more"
And I don't think it's a surprise what people do with the change we give them. The only way to make sure they get some food or a coffee in them is to actually take that 2 dollars and buy it for them yourself. |
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| Spin Laden |
Speaking of drugs, now that Mel S and Mariela are gone, Chelsea's my new drug.
re: article above, very shady that some dealers sometimes give that free hit, eh? |
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| Marcolissimo |
My gf used to live really close to that intersection. Hated driving though it everyday... cause I never give them money, it's too obvious what they're gonna do with it.
ty thing is, there isn't much they can do about stuff like this. They can clean them one week, they'll all come back the next. |
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| Spin Laden |
| Did you go see Armin yesterday? |
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| Marcolissimo |
| Nah, BeB was enough. I'm getting old man, can't keep up with the TA party animals no more:( |
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| Spin Laden |
| yup, me too. $60 on a Wed for Armin, no thanks. |
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| lol internet |
| We should just place all the bums and convicts on their own island far away. |
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| Spin Laden |
| Newfoundland? :p |
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| Djsketchbag |
| Man no one better these guys about the 5 o'clock free crack giveaway!!! LOL |
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