Opinion: Open-air drug use in Denver not so ‘vibrant’

Photo byQuinten de GraafonUnsplash

Denver doesn’t look very “vibrant,” to use the mayor’s term, when bus stops are transformed into open-air drug dens. In fact, the people who smoke meth and fentanyl in homeless encampments, in front of businesses and walking down the street are tarnishing the reputation of Denver’s unhoused neighbors.

Craig Arfsten of Citizens for a Safe and Clean Denver coined these drug users as “service-resistant unsheltered addicts.” He argued that they are not average homeless people.

I agree with this assessment. Those who blatantly smoke drugs on the street do not have any respect for themselves or others. I understand that they use drugs in the open because they do not have a home. They are addicted and they need their fix.

It is easy enough to criticize drug users for blowing clouds in public. But some say it is not fair to do. Housed drug users can consume all the drugs they want in the privacy of their own homes. Unhoused drug users’ addictions are no different from housed people’s.

Passing the meth bong outside family hotel

On Friday I stepped outside to take my afternoon walk. Surrounding Fusion on the sidewalks were several people sitting on the curb. Some were passing a meth bong. It was 5 p.m. They were sitting across from the Renaissance Hotel outdoor swimming pool. Children can sometimes be seen and heard there. It definitely is not a good place for passing a meth bong.

Why people think they can consume narcotics openly befuddles my mind. These people are asking to be busted by police, although most never are.

Illegal, smelly, taboo

Here are a few things to think about if you are ready to smoke some blues in the open.

Meth and fentanyl are illegal. If you open smoke these substances, you are essentially flipping off the police. Be prepared to go to jail. Some police officers are known to haul in homeless people waving around their meth bubble.

Smoking drugs stinks. The chemical smell of meth is unmistakable, but even worse is the rancid, poisonous stench of burning fentanyl. It smells like popcorn and crispy vomit. Thees are not smells that anyone minding their own business on the street should ever have to encounter.

Openly using drugs sends a message that illegal substances are normal. Drug use already is heavily normalized at Fusion Studios, the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless property where I live. Some people smoke meth or blues in the hallway. Smoking drugs outside conveys the impression that these substances are not offensive to others. That could not be further from the truth.

‘Ghosts’ puff away under their jacket

If people are going to use drugs outside, they should at least throw a blanket over their head, like many do. Sometimes you can see several drug users looking like ghosts with their jackets over their heads.

Although Denver is in the throes of an addiction crisis, drug use still is frowned upon. Using drugs out in the open is incredibly disrespectful to the non-drug users around you. Nobody wants to see or smell that.

Many harm reduction advocates have called for the creation of so-called safe injection sites. These are places where drug users can shoot up behind closed doors. If they overdose, someone is available to revive them. While many people consider such places to enable the addicted, I like the idea of people doing their drugs out of sight. The injection sites should be available to smokers and snorters too if built so that no one must do drugs out in the open – and no one has to look at it.