{"id":7423,"date":"2013-08-15T07:00:20","date_gmt":"2013-08-15T14:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=7423"},"modified":"2013-08-23T09:52:09","modified_gmt":"2013-08-23T16:52:09","slug":"anti-injection-site-article-spews-venom-misses-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2013\/08\/15\/anti-injection-site-article-spews-venom-misses-point\/","title":{"rendered":"Anti-injection site article spews venom, misses point"},"content":{"rendered":"

An article in The Calgary Herald<\/i> by Licia Corbella on July 26, \u201cVancouver\u2019s easy drug access may have helped kill Monteith,\u201d linking the death of Glee<\/i> star Cory Monteith to a safe injection site in Vancouver, was as disturbing as it was ridiculous.<\/p>\n

On the one hand, lazy writing should be against the law, but for a newspaper in this country to allow such prejudice is not just undisciplined, it\u2019s unconstitutional.<\/p>\n

It appeared there was a lot more going on in this piece than a simple rant. There was a clear between-the-lines story, and one that was missed in the subsequent shit-storm against Corbella. Her voice is strong, there\u2019s no arguing her opinions are riveting, and she clearly can write. Why then rely on so many clich\u017ds and assumptions? In other words, from what personal angst are her strident, hysterical Sarah Palin-esque opinions coming from?<\/p>\n

Her writing spoke to me of either deep, personal pain or, conversely (and just as interestingly), some pretty nasty supremacy. To get to the bottom of what I think her problem really is, I sent off an email asking for an interview. I suggested, reasonably, that no one writes with such a dearth of bias without a very good reason and asked her to help me understand.<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, there was no response.<\/p>\n

People on Facebook and other networks started talking about her. The expected and disappointing hatred of her hatred began to back-build against her personally. It was captivating to read the many intelligent responses to what she wrote, especially from other journalists.<\/p>\n

With nothing from Corbella, I called the administration office of safe injection site InSite in Vancouver, and was quickly put through to their intake manager, Darwin Fisher. Taking his time to make sure I was keeping up, Fisher helped me understand what InSite is.<\/p>\n

To summarize our conversation, or at least my grip on it, he spoke of understanding versus intelligence, of awareness and education. I was given hard, easily verifiable facts and stats on the program\u2019s success.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
InSite is North America\u2019s only legal, supervised safe injection site. It is located in Vancouver\u2019s downtown east side (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He emphasized that about half of those who use the safe-injection site are marginalized, homeless, and living in shelters, or have significant mental health issues. He also touched on Cory Monteith\u2019s struggle: \u201cHis death was incredibly tragic. Addiction doesn\u2019t have boundaries, it is a problem of profound suffering, and there are profound issues that come of that suffering,\u201d said Fisher.<\/p>\n

When I asked him if it was true what Corbella believes, that one can stand outside InSite\u2019s front door and \u201cscore,\u201d he said she has it backwards. He then commented on the mysterious degree of innuendo in the article.<\/p>\n

Really, we both wondered about that.<\/p>\n

Fisher explained that no one should ignore the fact that Health Canada\u2019s charter dictates InSite clients must obtain their product outside the site. They only use it inside. He was very clear: you cannot take any drugs out of the site once you\u2019re in there. He finished by exclaiming how inspiring the largely positive and supportive public response over the article has been for all of them.<\/p>\n

The worst part about this article was in the comments section below it, where evidence of the influence people like Corbella have on perpetuating stigmatized issues spewed forth like effluent, flushing out Canadians of similar disposition.<\/p>\n

After speaking to Fisher, and just in case I read Corbella wrong, I read it again, slowly, taking notes. The nasty, prejudicial, fearful, elitist vibe was worse the second time around. But the pain was even more apparent.<\/p>\n

Eventually, warming to her ignorance, and like a true bully lashing out, Corbella gets mean and makes fun of the addicted. Teasing is aggressive, period. I used to use levelling of others to make myself feel better, too, before I became an addict myself. I hit bottom on my son\u2019s birthday in 2008, and have been in recovery since, and, I hope, forever. One never knows about these things. I\u2019ve lost friends to suicides caused by abuse and addiction, and almost succumbed myself, when my own addiction to alcohol and pain medication raged through its final phase.<\/p>\n

So, you\u2019ll understand that I could hardly get through the part where Corbella describes a sushi roll from an upscale Japanese restaurant as an addiction. A deeper lack of empathy would be hard to find. (Her addiction, by the way, costs $12.95 for eight pieces. Exorbitant! The Herald<\/i> pays pretty well, it would seem, and I\u2019m pretty sure she doesn\u2019t have to prostitute herself or steal to obtain her sushi fix.)<\/p>\n

From the whole mess, one might argue the other addictions she exhibits: being hooked on abdicating responsibility, reliance on assumptions, manipulation of her enablers with cheap tabloid journalism.<\/p>\n

After the second reading, Corbella started giving me the creeps. There is a tone to her article that has a peevish quality and it\u2019s covering up a strong undertow. Since she wouldn\u2019t talk to me, I will make up what I think that undertow is.<\/p>\n

My theory, which is so far unfounded, is that Corbella may have lost someone she loves to Vancouver\u2019s downtown east side. Someone who she thinks, in her limited understanding and grief, \u201cchose\u201d drugs over her. How else do we explain why she lashes out with such contempt, with such deplorable research? Here, in her own words, is a sample of what I am referring to: \u201cHeck, ask virtually any informed person across the country and they\u2019d be able to tell you that if you want to go on a seedy trip of your choosing\u0143be it a heroin holiday or a crack cocaine carousal\u0143just head down to East Hastings Street and you will find what you\u2019re looking for with no risk of arrest,\u201d she wrote in the article.<\/p>\n

Wouldn\u2019t you like to know who the \u201cyou\u201d she is referring to really is? I would.<\/p>\n

A Facebook comment by Bob Bastien of Quebec describes his reaction to Corbella\u2019s insight about her contacts. I use it here in its entirety because it illustrates the disarming combination of her naivety and cynicism better than I could explain it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know Montreal, and a little about police procedure. Her anecdote about calling the Montreal police and asking where her sex-worker friend could score some H is beyond ludicrous. Did she expect the sergeant to say, \u2018Oui oui Madame, tell your friend to speak to Pierre-Luc at the Maisonneuve entrance to the Berri UQAM M\u017dtro station, and to mention that Sergeant Beaulieu sent her, he\u2019ll make her a good price!\u2019 The sergeant and \u2018the various other police officers I was transferred to\u2019 (quoted from Corbella\u2019s article) must have got a real chuckle out of that phone call. \u2018H\u017d Pierre, is it a full moon tonight? Listen to this lunatic on the phone. She claims to be a journalist, and she wants us to tell her where to buy heroin in Montr\u017dal!\u2019 Of course they did the only responsible thing to do. They stonewalled her. And from this, she concludes, \u2018Even police don\u2019t know where to go in their own city to find the stuff.\u2019 Incredibly stupid or hopelessly naive, or both. And that\u2019s the best The Calgary Herald<\/i> can do? I guess the labour shortage in Alberta really is as bad as they say!\u201d<\/p>\n

Ironically, the problem of journalists taking the tabloid route to air their grievances is succinctly defined in Corbella\u2019s own words. In a follow-up article, she is given a chance to explain herself. In response to what she thinks of the hate mail she\u2019s received over her piece, she digs herself in deeper by saying, \u201cTo me, it\u2019s just an ignorant person who has troubles expressing themselves. It doesn\u2019t really bother me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flippancy can cover strong feelings; I assume <\/i>Corbella knows very well the full and true cost of addiction. My concern stems from not just her own position of influence, and her abuse of that trust, but that of her employers. It\u2019s one thing to mock someone, quite another to actively work to perpetuate hate or to encourage it, as The Herald<\/i> has done.<\/p>\n

I feel sorry for Licia Corbella. She could have done so much to further our understanding by exploring her own in more depth. Instead of taking aim at her own feelings on the subject, she chose to fire into the crowd, not caring who she hit. She has not furthered her cause by discrediting InSite and adding to the anguish of the Monteith family.<\/p>\n

Licia, yours might have been the one stone dropped into our collective pool of insight that launched society into something better. Instead, you came across as entitled, giving us an image of someone who sits in judgment, glaring at InSite\u2019s front door while scarfing down platefuls of sushi.<\/p>\n

Letting us know why and how the manner of Monteith\u2019s death triggered you would have done more to draw attention to areas InSite could improve on. Perhaps more telling is that by going only as deep as your anger, you managed to brilliantly show how not tapping into our feelings is at the root of addiction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An article in The Calgary Herald by Licia Corbella on July 26, \u201cVancouver\u2019s easy drug access may have helped kill Monteith,\u201d linking the death of Glee star Cory Monteith to a safe injection site in Vancouver, was as disturbing as it was ridiculous. On the one hand, lazy writing should be against the law, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,14,108],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-views","category-august-14-2013"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7423"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7463,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7423\/revisions\/7463"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}