Each of these deaths is regrettable, but the hand-wringing and the higher purpose people induced guilt has to stop.  All of the efforts of the poverty industry ($1,000,000 per day into the DTES) has done nothing.   Consider this;  each of these people has been plugged into to a myriad of social services, yet they still use drugs.  They still use drugs when each of them know it will probably kill them.  In the interim, we give them free food, free accommodation, counseling, a place to keep their dogs, shoot up and someone to blame all their troubles on.  They only thing we don't do is ask them to be accountable.  That is why, for every person who does find their way out of the maze of the DTES, there are others flocking from across Canada to take their place. 

I challenge anyone in the poverty industry to tell me of a  shelter/outreach that demands that these folks clean up after themselves, help wash dishes or do something positive.  They would be pilloried.  Why is that?