Letter to the Editor: No Hard Drugs in Cobourg – Let’s Talk

Pete Fisher
1 year ago
• Categories: Letter to Editor

To whom it may concern

I am writing this letter to explain the position and views of the group:

No Hard Drugs in Cobourg. Let’s talk.

I started this group to create a safe place to have conversations about current drug issues with a bit of moderation in the comment section that you cannot achieve in many other typical sections of different groups and pages.

The tipping point for me was when members of the community decided to go against the grain, local bylaws, municipal government, and public opinion.

I never expected to be a large group. I honestly thought it would be about 20 to 30 people with similar opinions to mine that the “normalization “of drug use is happening more and more, and it needs to stop. Even if I initially thought it was only going to be a few people.

But to my surprise, well over 200 people joined in only a couple of weeks or more and membership requests. Continue to come in every day.

This group quickly grew to over 200 people in less than a month, starting out as a public group, where anyone could read and comment without membership in an effort to show transparency of the group.

After a short period of time with such a large number of members and nonmembers commenting, it’s starting to get a little out of hand so I change the group to private Internet effort to curb the negative energy in the room.

We are a group of like-minded individuals that just want to see a better way, that don’t support continued use of hard drugs.

That don’t support continued drug use due to normalization efforts such as illegal unsanctioned overdose prevention sites.

Having three children to protect fuels me; these issues I am passionate about. One with special needs, empowers me; these issues concern my family, and as I am passionate about my children’s safety, I need to keep myself up to date.

I hope to gain more knowledge, new insights, and, most importantly, more support for our vulnerable community in the proper ways.

Because as I have said, since day one,

“We don’t hate the people that use drugs; we hate the drugs that exploit people.

 

 

Below are a couple of member testimonials.

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I joined this group because I am very concerned with the current state of our town and the people who call Cobourg home.
I am fiercely opposed to feeding drug addicts more drugs in different spaces. Ie. tents, safe injection centres, etc. I feel this perpetuates their difficulties, trauma and addictions.
The following quote speaks to me and I stand for these words.

Injection sites normalize intravenous drug abuse, encourage a horrible addiction, and let down the people who suffer from it. Promoters of these sites offer addicts little but failure — medical safety at the time of injection but, overall, mere complicity in a nightmarish cycle of addiction leading to death.

If not put in rehab at once, we are going to lose these members of our society a bit at a time, until they pass.

Please hear us and study the success rate of all the facilities that are currently in place to “Help” our homeless, hungry and addicted.

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I joined this group because I was scared of the crime happening in cobourg because of the drug situation. I do not want to see drugs normalized. I feel I have a right to feel safe in my own home. Now that I’m older I feel very vulnerable. When I was younger I was much stronger and braver. This town is a large percentage of seniors and they’re an easy mark for drug addicts.

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This group is about community, working together to discuss the awful drug crisis that is destroying the town we love. We are often vilified for being against the unsanctioned consumption site that is not only illegal but dangerous. This is a safe place to discuss our feelings and to brainstorm what we can do to help make things better in our community. We want our kids to be able to walk downtown without fear that something terrible is going to happen.

We absolutely sympathize with the drug addicts that are currently trapped in their addiction. We absolutely do not agree with keeping them addicted to get through this epidemic. We share news articles about the drug crisis from all over the world. We discuss counsel meetings and what we can bring to the table to do our part to bring Cobourg back to the way it used to be. We love this town. It used to be a beautiful place, and it’s not anymore.

When I was 11, I would go for walks downtown to shop. Now, my daughter is 11, and I would never allow her to walk downtown by herself. Honestly, I don’t even let her drop her library books off at the chute. There are always drug addicts everywhere, and it’s not safe.

I joined this group because we all have the same wish for not only Cobourg but for the people in it. We want it to be safe and clean, and we want people to stop living in fear.

In this group, we are united, we respect one another, and we have a voice.

Jeff Mclean started this group, and he has brought us all together. He, like all other members, loves this town. That’s what this group is about. We do not spread hate. We love Cobourg, and we want to see the drug addicts in this town healthy and thriving with us as a community. United.

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I hope this can give a little bit of clarity to anyone who may be misinformed about what this group is and what it stands for.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

JEFF MCLEAN