THROUGH A BLUE LENS
Constable Al Arsenault shows a slide of a wide-eyed 18-year-old girl taken outside a bar in downtown Vancouver. ‘Does she look like a drug addict?’ he asks a class of high-school students. When they answer no, the officer shows them the next slide of the same girl, Shannon, six months later. Her face is bruised and covered in festering sores. ‘She’s on the needle. She didn’t know she had an ‘addictive personality’. She does now.’ The students express their shock and disbelief. Arsenault, along with six other policemen, began video-documenting the people on their beat to create a powerful educational tool to help prevent drug use among young people. This unique group of officers, who formed a non-profit group dubbed the Odd Squad, resulted in an unusual relationship between the police and addicts in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Through a Blue Lens tells this moving and compassionate story. In this documentary, addicts talk openly about how they got to the streets. Through their participation in this video, they want to stop others from joining their nightmare.
ive seen most of these ppl in the video and know the cop who? does the reality walks and i now have old school buddys that were in tournaments mad metals too when i look back at this, this place is the last time i seen my friend i believe she is still down there i miss you and love u
? Thats so bad to say….
this is an awesome documentary on drugs and what it does to you, i,m showing it to my children (teenagers) to hopefully curtail any decisions, if and when they want to try drugs ,pray they wont tho<, but yeah , this is a way kul vvideo on this subject,, 5 stars to this vid for sure ,pass it along , it,mll ssave alot of lives in the long run ,, ?
This needs to be shown. Also, these police officers in Vancouver are a far cry from the ones I’ve? met here in the US.
@Larimuto They showed it to me in? my school.
Canadian cops have it right when it comes to drug policy. Seriously,? seeing how chill these cops are gives me hope for the world. Addiction is a disease, not a crime. I hope the poor souls in this documentary find some kind of peace.
@westcoastlogik same here?
@TheMatthewfitzgerald Addiction is? real of course, I would disagree on the “disease” assertion however
@Larimuto i watched it in school..in biology class? lol…
Does anyone know what kind of heroin predominates here? Is it black tar?
?
@Larimuto? they showed it in my school
FUCK TRICK DADDY?
Thanks to these officers, for showing how to do the right thing. Should? be adopted by all law enforcement agencies.
@dongdongvu1 Or they could put her? in the new Broadway production of Little Ophean Annie
Vancouver is the easiest? place to be a cop
u wanna see a tough job go to L.A. or Sao Paulo
It breaks my heart watching Nicola. Such a? waste of potential. She seems like such an intelligent, bright person. It’s terrible how many lives are destroyed by drugs.
Wow? I’m scared
@Larimuto it is? i seen it in 9th grade
Of course good cops exist, but the media will never let the public see that, or report it. No place is easy to be a cop,? try walking in a cops shoes for a day. Vancouver is probably the most difficult place to be a cop, we live in a country where, for some reason, society cares about the rights of rapists, pedofiles, murderers, gangsters…. there a tonne of great cops out there, I work with many of them everyday, I am greatful everyday those men and women get out of bed.
This movie….?
Compassionate police? officers, hard reality, nasty stuff, such a waste of lives. Sad.
WHAT HAPPENED? TO NICOLA?!
Gripping?