These pictures were all taken at various time during a Scared Straight Tour. To enlarge a picture, simply click on it. If you want to enlarge the picture even more, keep clicking.
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- This woman wanted to talk to the kids in the hopes than none of them would wind up where she is.
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- This woman allowed us to photograph her as she was injecting drugs.
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- We found this woman in one of the back alleys. She couldn’t stop her body from contorting and jerking. This is caused by abusing crack cocaine.
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- This man was preparing to shoot up when we encountered him. You can see the syringe on the right if you zoom in on the picture.
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- One of the many back alleys of the Downtown Eastside
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- This man fell asleep while receiving foot care. For homeless people, foot problems are one of the biggest health problems as their feet are always wet and dirty
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- Leftover from “Binners” (addicts looking for drugs or anything they can use or sell.
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- Hastings Street
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- Kids talking to an addict in a back alley.
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- This woman told the youth that both her baby infants died due to her drug abuse and her husband died of an overdose. Despite all of this, she could not stop using drugs.
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- One of the many shelters in the DTES. This one provides thin mats on the floor and only opens when it’s -4C.
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- This police station is one block from the main drug dealing area where $1,000,000 worth of drugs get dealt every single day.
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- This is a major hang out for many of the residents in the area. It is often filled with users and homeless people who are trying to find a place to rest.
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- Many of the women have to resort to prostitution to finance their drug habit. They often only get $5.00 for their services if they don’t get assaulted first. One woman we talked too told the kids that she had been raped 173 times so far.
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- The famous/infamous Patricia Hotel
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- This man self mutilated while high on crystal meth because he thought he had bugs crawling underneath his skin.
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- Homeless people will try to find shelter anywhere they can.
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- This picture was taken at one of the local soup kitchen. This particular one dishes out 1500 meals a day, 5 days a week.
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- Kids getting a tour
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- This is a “tweaker” which is someone who is hign on drugs and thinks something or someone is after him. He is trying to escape and may spends hours or even days up there.
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- Sometimes SS participants get to serve lunches to homeless people as part of their education.
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- One of thousands of used syringes laying around the DTES
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- Poem written to honor someone who died of a drug overdose.
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- Barry is an ex-crystal meth addicts who was one of the most violent men I ever met. He often talked to the kids when we had a tour.
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- This man was an elite hockey player who was destined for the NHL when he became addicted to drugs. He was chosen 16th overall in North America in the Junior leagues before things fell apart for him.
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- This man is mentally ill. He tried to explain to us that his sculpture represented the cosmos. What it represented changed everytime we encountered him.
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- Homeless person sleeping in a doorway of an office building.
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- This man would try to finance his drug habit by demonstrating some pretty amazing feats of strenght. Here he is doing a one arm “Thumb up” (a push up using only his thumb) while he had his bycicle on his back. Pretty impressive.
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- Many people carry the few meeger possesions they have in a shopping cart.
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- This First Nations woman was willing to talk to the kids and let us take her picture.
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- Youth talking to people on the streets.
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- This man, who worked for the city, was willing to share with the youth what he sees everyday working in this neighbourhood.
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- These are used to dispose of used syringes and can be found everywhere in the DTES.
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- Left over from people looking through the garbage for drugs or anything they can use or sell.
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- West Hastings Street. Ground Zero.
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- The once famous, now infamous Balmoral Hotel.
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- One of the many back alleys we visit.
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- Stan is an ex-crack addict and used to be one of the biggest drug dealers in all of British Columbia. For a while he helped out by giving the youth a tour through the DTES.
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- Pidgeon Park, a popular hangout for locals.
We had a couple of tours this December (sorry but these ones weren't open to the public) but we are currently planning several tours for February. Once we have some confimed dates we will be posting them and sending out a newsletter. Keep checking back here for updates or register your email with us and we will notify you automatically when the next tour is booked.
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I am extremely pleased with the new developments in our program as I think this will make an even bigger difference in the lives of even more people by helping them maintain a life free from addiction. I have dedicated my career (since 1997) to helping those suffering from this horrible affliction but my involvement with addiction goes much further back. Having grown up in a family where alcoholism was rampant, and having developed a serious addiction myself, which almost cost me my life when I was in my 20's, I take addiction and the devastation it causes very seriously.