I spoke with Vancouver Liberal leader and Vancouver mayoral candidate Kareem Allam after the Dunbar debate and asked him about the one pillar of the City of Vancouver’s 4-pillar drug policy that all politicians ignore. Prevention. Specifically on ADHD.
I explained to him that people with ADHD had huge rates of substance use disorder, homelessness and crime.
But if we were diagnosed with ADHD and treated with ADHD meds, decades of research show we have lower rates of all three of those.
But most of us ADHD adults are undiagnosed and untreated because most BC doctors are not trained on ADHD.
And I asked him if he were elected as mayor, would he commit to:
Screening people in Vancouver rehabs for ADHD?
Screening people in Vancouver homeless shelters for ADHD?
And asking the VPD to screen for people arrested with ADHD?
Like UK Metropolitan police and Cambridge University did, where they found that 50% of those arrested screened positive for ADHD. And of those arrested for drug crimes, 60% of them either had ADHD or screened positive for ADHD.
Kareem said he would commit to screening people in Vancouver homeless shelters for ADHD, screening for people in Vancouver rehabs for ADHD, screening for people in Vancouver Safe Consumption sites, he was on the board of the Vancouver Overdose Protection Society based in the Downtown Eastside for a while.
I asked him about asking the VPD to screen people arrested for ADHD like the UK Metropolitan Polie.
His anwer
“I’m not familiar with that study. I’d be very interested in looking at it.
I want to govern based on evidence, data, and science. And if the evidence and science support what you just said, absolutely, yes. Yeah, great. Kareem”
Watch the full interview Interview with Kareem Allam Vancouver Liberals on screening Vancouver rehabs and homeless shelters for ADHD and asking VPD to screen people arrested for ADHD
Here is the transcript for the interview.
And so my question is, on ADHD and prevention, the 2nd pillar of the City of Vancouver’s 4-pillar drug strategy is on prevention, and no one, left, right or centre, talks about that.
And one thing about ADHD, specifically, is that we have huge rates of substance use disorder, crime, and homelessness.
23% of people with Substance Use Disorder in a meta-analysis had ADHD, and some studies are higher, like 55% of crystal meth users had ADHD. 70% in another study
Your crystal meth strategy is good, but it needs to include ADHD.
So we’re not screening homeless shelters for ADHD. Despite 27% of homeless adults having ADHD, I’m wondering if, if elected, you would screen people in homeless shelters for ADHD, rehabs for ADHD, and do what the metropolitan police do. Pete Quily
100%, yes. So, uh, I was on the board of Directors of the Downtown Eastside Overdose Prevention Society. Kareem Allam.
Yeah Sarah (Blyth, OPS founder & the first politican in North America to go public with ADHD
I came into contact with exactly this data. Your right ranges from 28% to 55% in terms of whose study that you’re looking at; ADHD is a big driver of the trauma that is informing what is happening in the Downtown Eastside. We had a 4-pillar strategy.
Prevention is not something we ever funded properly in the city, but beyond that, I want a new Vancouver Accord.
I want a 6 Pillar plan, which fully funds all 4 Pillars, because we only ever funded is two. The 5th Pillar that I want to fight is mental health.
One cent of every dollar we spend on mental health is for people under the age of 18; we’re catching them too late in life to avoid some of these problems that I think things like ADHD should be caught without spending. And the last word, obviously, on the 6 pillars, housing. We’re not dealing with heroin anymore.
We’re dealing with a much more difficult, challenging drug, right?
So as to your question, as it relates to what’s going on, the downtown East site is ADHD.
I see that connection implicitly.
Firsthand, but also from all the top frontline workers, nurses, social workers and doctors.
So 100% agree. Kareem Allam.
Great. Pete
One last question. The Metropolitan Police in London, the oldest police force in the world, screened people they arrested for ADHD, because we have huge rates, right? I did a post ( in 2011 ) showing that 21 to 45% of prisoners had ADHD.
And they found out 50% of the people arrested had ADHD. We’re 5% of adults. And the ones that are arrested for drug use, 60%.
So would you ask the VPD to follow a metropolitan police lead and screen people arrested for ADHD so they don’t keep revolving? Pete
I’m not familiar with that study. I’d be very interested in looking at it.
I want to govern based on evidence, data, and science. And if the evidence and science support what you just said, absolutely, yes. Yeah, great. Kareem
I sent it to your BlueSky account. I know you’re all drowned in things (during the Vancouver election).
Pete
Yeah, I might be drowned. Kareem
Yeah. Are you Peter? Kareem
Pete.
Yeah. Pete Quilly.
Oh my goodness, yes. Yes. Yes, I thought I recognized you, right?
I wasn’t 100% sure. Sorry, yes. I’m really far behind on… okay. on everything. Kareem
That’s OK Pete
Yeah, thank you. I really do follow. I really do follow and read your stuff every day on Blue Sky.
Yeah, I know, I think you’re an important voice for the city. Doing what you’re doing. Kareem
Well, thanks. I appreciate it. Pete
And thanks for supporting people with ADHD. Pete
It took me a second, but I got it. I got it. Kareem
But good on you for volunteering for OPS. And they need to screen OPS’s and Insite’s as well. Pete
Yes. Kareem
And the meth strategy. Keep hammering it. And also, what I would say is: hammer the point that since 2017, the majority of overdose deaths are not (from) opioids, right?
They’re all smoke, they’re inhalation. So they don’t have enough inhalation facilities.
And what’s the big thing they inhale? Pete
That’s part of the challenge Kareem
A lot of it is meth.
And so, to add that point, we should have harm reduction facilities in every hospital, an urgent care service, but with security, 24-hour security. That’s why YaleTown OPS failed.
It was set up to fail. (by bcndp and Vancouver Coastal Health).
They externalized it (the waiting room and the post-use chill room) to the street. (vs. having both indoors) They didn’t have enough staff, Pete
We need harm reduction, but just like I said, we’re not funding all the 6 pillars that we need to be funding.
But I do think that, yes, they need, see, mental health money, especially for younger people. Catching this on early is critical. Great.
Well, thank you very much. Okay, good luck. Pete
All the best. Kareem
Okay, you too. Pete