Vancouver DTES Drug Scene / Slang & differences compared to London UK

[freskafreska]

I'm from London England, on a recent trip to YVR I visited the Downtown East Side. They have quite different slang for various substances; in the UK Heroin would be called Dark and Crack called White as opposed to 'Down' and 'Rock/Hard', but I also hear people selling 'side' usually along with down.

Anyone know what this 'side' is?

I also notice a lot of open drug use and dealing but a lot less discrete even right across from the police station on Main which is quite shocking, much worse than the Whitechapel / Shadwell / Aldgate East (E1 Area) in London, and I was very surprised that the stuff isn't double wrapped in plastic where it is the norm in London so people put it into their mouth right away so it could be quickly swallowed if shit goes down. Dealers in London are extremely cautious they won't spend their time weighing or breaking down the order to correct size, its all prewrapped usually dark in blue and white in pink plastic, with set preset prices, and they won't even talk to you unless they know you. One thing I haven't seen in YVR is people handing out drug cards rather they would call out 'Dillies, side, down etc...' when you walk by, and haven't seen people doing nitrous / laughing gas which is rampant in the UK. It's good they have a place like InSite / OnSite though wish something like that exists in London as well.

The dark in YVR seems to be all Fentanyl and Hydromorphone green, brown and purple rocks and a powdered form, all already in it's salt form I suppose which dissolves without citric and leaves no residue, where in London it leaves behind a shitload of brown stuff and requires a whole lot of citric which is really bad on the veins, I guess the synthetic stuff haven't reached the UK yet.

Just a few observations ¬

 

[Viraldrome]

People do nitrous in canada but not on skid row, its a different demographic.

 

[deficiT]

I believe "side" is meth, but I'm not familiar with Vancouver I just know it can be slang for meth.

 

[deficiT]

Yeah, the lack of police intrusion and the lack of concern about the police in the DTES is wild, at first. Buying a few points of purple-dyed cut and carfentanil in a busy street market that a dealer unceremoniously dumps (unbagged) into your outstretched hand as a police SUV idles fifteen feet away is weird.
It's funny to be talking about the DTES with a big BL "warning: no sourcing please folks!" banner underneath, because we're talking about the most significant open-air drug market in Western Canada, a sort of IRL dark-net where it takes five minutes of talking to strangers to score pretty much whatever you want. A fascinating hood. I used to work on Hastings and Abbot, right on the border between the DTES and the land of brusque yuppies and towering glass condos (ie most of downtown Van), and met a true cross-section of humanity, good and bad, poor and rich, victims and victimizers. Nowhere else (than the DTES) have I seen so much life of so many different stripes. That, in and of itself, is a little intoxicating, a little addictive. The DTES gets a brutal rap, but it's just a place, filled with people. Albeit a place in which many of the rules and laws we're used to fearing and following (or breaking) cease to apply, but nonetheless a place like any other (for in the end, all places are unique, in their own way, no?)


re: up/side/down
Up, coke, Side, meth, Down, dope (not heroin, heroin isn't real, any more. Fent, carfent, etc, often dyed, as you mention. Pretty fucking cyberpunk to be snorting purple dope powder, William Gibson would be proud).

Very nice description of Vancouver. I would love to visit some day.

Baltimore is similar in a lot of ways. One of the few cities on the east coast still with a high functioning open air drug market, as far as I know.

 

[Opi_Kid_Rock]

The Vancouver Police have been retraining to have a more compassionate approach towards mental illness and substance use disorder in recent years and it’s nice to see. There’s a mood in the air in the DTES that the War on Drugs has been lost and that incarceration is not ever the answer to society’s problems.

 

[TheFrogEffect]

The Vancouver Police have been retraining to have a more compassionate approach towards mental illness and substance use disorder in recent years and it’s nice to see. There’s a mood in the air in the DTES that the War on Drugs has been lost and that incarceration is not ever the answer to society’s problems.

That's pretty damn cool. That's the approach that needs to be taken. Taking punitive action against a person just for using or possessing drugs, despite causing no harm to those around them, does far more harm than good. It's created many lifelong criminals who are only guilty of wanting to get high. Sure, there's some users that steal or get violent and they should face appropriate repercussions, but just wanting to get high in and of itself should not be a crime. No victim, no crime. I've never been to Vancouver, BC but it's on my list of places to go. It's only a 3 1/2 hour drive from where I am, not accounting for any time spent held up at the border for whatever reason. (I've never been out of the country but I've heard the border stops can take a while.) I will eventually make my way up there to see what it's like on the Canadian side of the Pacific Northwest. I think I'll avoid partaking in the open air drug market though, as I am currently wanting to get and stay clean.

The war on drugs has been an absolute failure and it's time for world governments to catch on and catch up to this fact. Where I live, Washington state, has loosened up the drug laws substantially just this year. Everything that was previously netted you a felony now is only a misdemeanor, and your first two offenses will be deferred to other options by law enforcement. On third offense you could face criminal charges, but the prosecutor can also opt defer to treatment instead of coming down heavy handed on you. It may not be decriminalization, but its a damn good step in the right direction here.

 

[Opi_Kid_Rock]

"Substance Warning- Vancouver Oct 20. Beige/yellow grainy powder sold as fentanyl in the downtown east side has tested as Metonitazene, a toxic opioid that can cause an overdose. Please be safe and remember to use your Lifeguard App." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonitazene

 

[deficiT]

Merged with other thread on the Vancouver DTES

 

[LiveInHD]

As someone who lives in the subburbs of Vancouver for the last 15 years and goes downtown to score, yeah, I’ve noticed a big change too.

Things where cleaned up a lot for the 2010 Olympics, and the cops had the upper hand, then two things happened. First, Fentanyl kicked off overdoes in 2016 and the governments are trying to tackle that with harm reduction & destigmatization of drugs. Then in 2017 the leftist NDP won in BC and activists campaigned for a light touch from the police.

So last time I scored downtown in April 2022, I just stopped on a corner and bough my side like buying a newspaper. It’s nice being treated like an adult; my body, my choice.

This relaxed policy will help me find a good source of blow. Them MDMA after that, then eventually abstinence.

 

[LiveInHD]

Where I live, Washington state, has loosened up the drug laws substantially just this year. Everything that was previously netted you a felony now is only a misdemeanor.

Hey man, have you been to Portland yet? I’m interested in visiting to see what it’s like now the decriminalized everything. I don’t think though it’s as chill as my city, Vancouver which has defacto decriminalized drugs.

 

[TheFrogEffect]

Hey man, have you been to Portland yet? I’m interested in visiting to see what it’s like now the decriminalized everything. I don’t think though it’s as chill as my city, Vancouver which has defacto decriminalized drugs.

I haven't been to Portland since the year before they decriminalized. Next time I go down there I plan to score, get loaded as fuck, and go hang out downtown. I cold cop on the streets at home, I'll do it in Portland too. I have a 100% success rate on cold copping on the first stranger I hit up. I profile people well, makes it easy to pick out the person holding or the person who can take you to it. Been doing this for 2 years, even when the substances I prefer were still felony offenses.

I would imagine Portland is pretty chill by Uzs standards for sure. But not anywhere near as chill as Vancouver, like you said.

 

[LiveInHD]

I haven't been to Portland since the year before they decriminalized. Next time I go down there I plan to score, get loaded as fuck, and go hang out downtown. I cold cop on the streets at home, I'll do it in Portland too. I have a 100% success rate on cold copping on the first stranger I hit up. I profile people well, makes it easy to pick out the person holding or the person who can take you to it. Been doing this for 2 years, even when the substances I prefer were still felony offenses.

I would imagine Portland is pretty chill by Uzs standards for sure. But not anywhere near as chill as Vancouver, like you said.

That sounds like a fun day out, checking out the Portland scene. I’m a stimulant user myself and just like to “get loaded” and not cause any problems, just keep rolling/ flying until it’s go-home time at 1am.

Be careful with any electronic devices when crossing the border. Dudley Do Right has the power to ask you for your passwords and read all emails, texts etc.