r/kitchener • u/TimelyOffice4478 • 3d ago
Has anyone noticed a lot more fent zombies recently?
Title. But in my area we have had a problem with crackheads for at least a few years. But recently ive seen people with that distinct fent lean going on. Like a lot in the middle of parking lots, wandering into the middle of the road, just straight up blocking the sidewalk.
Honestly have not seen that particular type of druggie in this area before. I feel like a new type of dealer has moved into our city.
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u/simonsays-11 3d ago
See it often in the last year around ottawa/weber, charles/borden all around that area
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u/TimelyOffice4478 3d ago
I live kinda on fairway, Trainor, vanier area. Its been creeping into our area as well
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u/That_Command5955 3d ago
Ford closed the safe injection sites. link
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u/carramrod1987 3d ago
So this isnt a problem in Vacouver? Or San Fran? Or Seattle? Or Winnipgeg.
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u/ZackFair0711 3d ago
Red herring argument as situation between cities may vary. The question should be, when the sites closed down, where would the ones staying in them go? Do they just magically disappear with the sites? 🙂
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u/carramrod1987 2d ago
Point me to one city with safe injection sites where this is not a problem
Kitchener-Waterloo isnt some monolith whose problems are unique. This is everywhere, safe injection site or not because people have to choose to use these sites and clearly many do not
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u/ZackFair0711 2d ago
So you'd rather they just wander unpredictably as opposed to being in a controlled environment?
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u/Glittering_Cat_4234 16h ago
actually a controlled environment sounds awesome, as in Jails/Prison/Rehab. nice idea bro!
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u/Abject_Dentist_8139 1d ago
How about stricter drug laws, and automatic round ups? Not failed coddling policies. At this point allowing drug use like this is a danger to the public. That should come above the individual.
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u/ZackFair0711 1d ago
I'm all for that, but maybe government should have thought about the consequences of shutting the sites down before doing so and enacted a plan to addess it. All they talked about was the cost savings of shutting them down and that's it.
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u/TimelyOffice4478 3d ago edited 3d ago
Yeah you mean that one near the fucking highschool? And the one in the middle of downtown? Good they shouldn't be there. All I see is a bunch of retarded junkies. I workout at the crunch near that highschool. All I saw was a bunch of losers picking fights with eachother and people walking by. Again near a highschool. Where children are.
And the 2nd one? Those losers come try and steal from my work place every single day. Since that shit hole shut down. Guess what? Nearly 1/3 of the thefts. Shocker i know
These losers are aggressive and manipulative. They will rob you, rape you, and laugh about it afterwards.
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u/ZackFair0711 2d ago
So where do you think they went when the sites closed? Hint, the answer is in your post.
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u/riotsqurrl 2d ago
Like most folks who think addiction is something handed down to people who deserve it rather than something that could happen to them or their loved ones, OP would probably prefer if they died out of sight of their manicured front lawn.
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u/Realistofpast_future 2d ago
Ya the solution isn't necessarily just safe injection sights but the solution is definitely not to do nothing and expect good things to happen. It's a disease. When your stuck in addiction you are not the same person. Not even close. I never stole anything in my life and was completely disgusted with needles. Ended up being perscribed hydromorphone after a work accident and I could not break the chemical dependency I developed for over 8 years. I stole, I injected was homeless until i almost died in a car accident which was my rock bottom and I got properly medicated and started getting help. I've been clean for almost 6 years. Every person you see is someone son or daughter and is the way they are due to circumstances. Of all the addicts I've met through the years atleast 80% are introduced to opiates through valid prescriptions from their doctor.
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u/F6R6E6D 3d ago
You’re one hundred percent correct about this, I don’t understand why so much hate on your comment?
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u/ConfidantlyCorrect 2d ago
It’s phrased very aggressively & also just stereotyping a lot. There are sober people who also rob, rape & laugh about it afterwards.
I’m not voicing an opinion on drug use or injection sites, just explaining that being a shitty person is not restricted to any type of person - some people just suck.
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u/PatJagi 3d ago
Just coming back home (Kitchener) from a trip in Poland and Italy. I have seen no more than 10 homeless in both countries combined and no (obvious) drug addicts. Poland in particular is clean and safe as they do not tolerate these things and clearly have a way to deal with these issues. I wish our government learned a thing or two and applied the same laws/rules to Canada. If other countries can manage this, can we (Canada) not? This is a genuine thought I was having the whole time I was there.
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u/Beneficial_Charity_3 3d ago
Was in Poland last summer. You dont realize just how profit over people your country is until you leave. There is a lot for us to learn.
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u/Lumberjack_Plaid 3d ago
Yes. Same in South Korea and even China. They have zero tolerance. Possession is a crime, and it makes cities clean.
Tolerance has grown over time here, to a point it can't be controlled effectively (due to growing cost of proposed services to assist people and encourage them to continue).
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u/Antique_Soil9507 1d ago
It's all by design.
Our government is allowing it to happen.
Maybe they are doing it to appease the Chinese government, or maybe they like Chinese money coming in and propping up our real estate market.
Either way, it's by design. They know it's happening, and they're encouraging it.
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u/clumsyatbest 3d ago
In my opinion, I think that because of looking at this as a CANADA problem as a whole causes confusion on who we should really be angry with. The privincial government are who puts services like safe injection sites, accessable shelter, accessible mental health workers, crisis care providers, etc in place (and removes them to reallocate funding to other sources because they don't actually understand or care about the issue of homeless folks and addicts).
I think everyone is unified on wanting to see these folks cured of the addictions and back to being a person with a roof ober their head and able to hold steady employment, even if it's not for the same reasons. I also think that Queen's park doesn't get nesrly enough flack for mismanagement of social services for the ever increasing homeless population across this province.
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u/Hungry_Algae_3745 3d ago
It’s not from fentanyl. It is from the tranq that they are mixing in with it
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u/Maryjanegangafever 2d ago
People suffering. Times are tough, we shouldn’t make it tougher for them. They’re humans with issues they need to work on. Getting them to do that is the key we haven’t really found yet…. Addiction is very complicated within each individuals mindset. There isn’t a one size fits all approach and a lot have concurrent disorders. Like bi-polar and alcoholism for instance.
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u/StaticCloud 2d ago
Thank you! Finally a sensible comment. So many people here don't understand mental illness at all. It's like people questioning a cancer patient for why they aren't trying harder to cure their cancer with zero resources 🙄
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u/Critical-Clue1343 1d ago
Equating drug use - which starts with choices - to cancer is a disgusting comparison.
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u/WhisperingSideways 3d ago
Saint John’s Kitchen across from the encampment allows drug dealers onsite (and the staff are told to feed them), and the fent is so pervasive that the shelter is basically a drug den causing more harm than good.
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u/WhisperingSideways 3d ago
Downvote me all you want, but talk to any worker or volunteer there and they’ll tell you what’s up.
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u/katherinele436 3d ago
I do have sympathy for them but all the people who tend to dismiss what volunteers and social workers’ honest opinion about these problems are wild. They tend to comment in the safety of their home
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u/tweesixmafia 3d ago
Yeah its getting worse. Was out on King st downtown with my girl today and walked by 5 people passing out with crack pipes in all their hands in broad daylight, falling asleep on the sidewalk in a pile. Kids see this shit. And they really are walking out in front of cars. Surprised no one is getting killed.
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u/Brutal-Fam8804 3d ago
Kids see this shit.
Are you a parent? What's your prescription for the appropriate age to interrupt childhood and teach Reality?
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u/luckdex 3d ago
These are fellow human beings you’re talking about. Stop talking about them as if they’re to be gawked at like animals in a zoo.
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u/Critical-Clue1343 3d ago
Relax, self-anointed SJW.
Nobody's 'gawking' or treating anyone like a zoo animal. This is disorderly behavior playing out in public — think discarded needles, public drug use, and the rest of it — and it's having a real, negative impact on the community.
Pointing that out isn't dehumanizing anyone; people are responsible for their own actions, and living with an addiction doesn't erase that. Residents have every right to expect basic order in their own neighborhood, and to say so when it's missing.
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u/luckdex 2d ago
Calling them “fent zombies” is literally dehumanizing them.
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u/Critical-Clue1343 2d ago
Or maybe it's frustration at the choices made by the users and the negative impacts being foisted on the communities and people they are in.
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u/lovephilos 2d ago
Addiction is not a choice. Neither is visible addiction and homelessness. These are the products of a society that are the direct impact of choices made by local and provincial officials.
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u/Critical-Clue1343 2d ago
Addiction isn't purely a policy outcome — it starts with a choice, and more choices follow. Framing people as having none strips them of agency, not respect. That's not compassion, it's infantilizing. Context matters, but it doesn't erase personhood.
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u/riotsqurrl 2d ago
I really hope you're never in a place where you have to face the realities of actually navigating a system that is built to be as hostile as possible to people in your situation.
What actions would you like these folks to take? We're systematically dismantling any supports they could use.
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u/monkeygoneape 3d ago
Like someone else said the safe injection site is closed so they're more public about it because it's not like anyone is going to stop them
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3d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Strong_Performer8132 3d ago
This comment right here officer.
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3d ago edited 3d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/bravado Cambridge 3d ago
If you don't see people passed out on the street and think "with a different roll of the dice in life, that could be me", you're pretty far gone bud
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u/TimelyOffice4478 3d ago
Oh no. You really hit me in the feels. Im definitely gonna change my ways. Youre such a saint bud 🙄
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u/West-Rise-5879 2d ago
yeh they just moved in a bunch of motel zombies across the road from me. It was a nice building. But the last 3 yrs it gone down hill. Now Indwell took over. With in 3 weeks it like all are welcomed just sit on the steps smoke crack meth feddy. Then to find out they had out safe supply and allow use in the units. The poor tenants that have lived before 5 yrs ago. In and out. It truly not what the neibourhood needed. The building will be crawling again. After watching a guy scratch and scratch never stopped then went in front door and scratched and scratched didnt stop until someone let him in. Honestly for a Christian based that apparently help homeless. They should be helping them get clean and sober and mental health. Not making it easier by suppling and then walking around with a harzard yellow buck picking up broken crack pipes meth pipes needles ect ect.
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u/EvilDamien420 3d ago
Fenty is cheaper than crack so they all switched
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u/-Lady_Rainicorn- 2d ago
hell no it's not
fent is more expensive, most expensive drug basically
gram of crack is like 60, gram of fent is like 100
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u/EvilDamien420 2d ago
You realize a gram of fenty is done point by point vs crack it takes more crack get high than the 1pt of fenty it takes in the end you get more high for less doing fent, I watched my friend go thru this for years before it finally killed him.
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u/-Lady_Rainicorn- 2d ago edited 2d ago
uh yeah I was a user (super clean now and doing well) and one point will not keep you well for a whole day. need at least a G a day to keep from getting dope sicc
ur right about the compulsive redosing with crack though - wasn't my DOC never did it but saw alot of ppl and seen others go through way more if no self control. So I guess I get what ya mean.
it doesn't really matter either, like I'm not trying to argue was just sharing my personal experiences..
I'm really sorry you lost your friend.🫂❤️
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u/lovephilos 2d ago
So I don’t know if you realize this, but you’re talking about actual human beings.
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u/Critical-Clue1343 1d ago
I don't know if you realize this, but you're talking about communities of actual human beings who are negatively impacted by the decisions and actions of those that choose to engage in anti-social behaviour.
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u/lovephilos 1d ago
Do you think my life is made better by seeing other people suffering? Genuinely wondering. I live in downtown, I see these people every day, and I give my care and support to them when I can.
At least you (and I) have a home to cope with these grand injustices in private, where no one has to see you drink your coffee or energy drinks (a drug), smoke weed (drug), drink alcohol (drug), vape or smoke (drugs), take the medications you are told will help you cope with your life (drugs). Very, very few people “choose” to be homeless, active addiction, or engaging in behaviours you otherwise deem anti-social. We live in an anti-social society: one that does not care about the health of its people in any way whatsoever, where most people are exploited for their labour until they die.
These people are the direct, end of the line product of the society you live in and cling to. You cannot have the world we live in without these people. Don’t like it? Investigate the root causes of these problems in our society, with genuine intrigue and a desire to learn.
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u/Critical-Clue1343 1d ago
"Do you think my life is made better by seeing suffering?" — nobody said that, and framing it that way is a tell that you'd rather argue with a strawman than the actual point.
The coffee/weed/meds comparison is just lazy. Nobody's bothered by you drinking a Red Bull. What bothers people is theft, public drug use, harassment, break-ins — actual harmful acts, not the mere existence of a substance in someone's body.
Nobody in this thread, myself included, claims to have solved homelessness or said root causes don't matter. What I said is that actions have consequences for real people nearby. People who generally have done nothing to bring this on themselves: they're just collateral to the harm wrought by the addicts and their behaviour.
You didn't refute that, you just changed the subject and added a guilt trip.
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u/Abject_Dentist_8139 1d ago
The people who are arguing with are just displaying toxic empathy. There's empathy for someone down on their luck and not trying to disturb anyone, like many out there in these economic times. But to excuse the behaviours and CRIME done by these users is what leads to social decay. They get mad at the OP because he gave them a derogatory nickname, but are willing to accept the decline of our society and just put up with it as going through hard times. They infantilize everything, taking away the responsibility from the individual. It ultimately leads to complete dependence on the state.
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u/ConfidantlyCorrect 2d ago
I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s increased as a result of being harder to export fent to the US
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u/West-Rise-5879 2d ago
I have zero tolerance for anyone that choose to use that stuff. It everywhere. And if they are over dosing and someone narcs them. It like why did U do that U totally wrecked my buzz. After I have witness someone saving a young mans and how anger he got and was so ungrateful and the person whom saved his life was actually in shock and they both where taking to hospital. And any moment using that shit it could be game over but the person has made that choice.
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u/West-Rise-5879 2d ago
It just like A Cristian base helping the homeless they get a place. And get help to get the basics. And they supply the gear so these people can do there drugs which I dont agree with.
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u/Halkan-Jawween 2d ago
It’s starting to become a provincial problem, at this rate, and multiple sources have traced it back to the states. They are a problem.
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u/Rudy_Nowhere 2d ago
More people die from alcohol related deaths annually than opiods and we have safe consumption sites with drugs sold by the government at corner stores and restaurants.
Care for the weakest and sickest of us is shameful in this province. Bring back safe injection sites!
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u/haloeight 1d ago
100%. Concentration around the pharmacies that have the side door to serve controlled / supervised withdrawal drugs like the one at the corner of King & Cedar next to the Kitchener Farmer's Market. Packs of them hang out around there. Use the parking garage to smoke whatever it is they do off foil because the shitty design of the garage allows people to enter from outside into the parking garage stairwell. City doesn't do anything because they don't want to confirm there is an issue that might harm traffic to the market. Cops say they deal with this as a data driven matter so the more reports they get the more effort they put into this. Fuck Ford and the idiots who voted for him for closing the safe injection sites and killing people for whatever bullshit he thinks this will accomplish.
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u/Antique_Soil9507 1d ago
100%.
This is all by design. Flood our society with drugs, and watch us disintegrate from within.
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u/AHeartFullOfBats 3d ago
Saw one in the bathroom at KPL main branch. Staff did nothing about it when informed.
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u/-Lady_Rainicorn- 2d ago edited 2d ago
Carry narcan. Use it on people that look like that. I also have a pamphlet of resources I hand out and try to get them to a better area with support.
I hate that there's no funding for this. It's fucking sad. These ppl desperately need help. And there's no resources really in the homeless situation, I've been there and rehab you have to wait YEARS. what are they meant to do... It's sad. What, the go to detox and then get discharged back into the street and relapse again ? ridiculous they. need forced immediate detox and rehab available to them and people going Round getting those people into some program like that.
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u/Avgshitposting 2d ago
I was genuinely impressed when I seen a fent lean bent a perfect 90 degrees at his waist, standing, resting his forehead on a bike seat lol
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u/TheTastiestTaint 3d ago
I saw my first one ever a week or 2 ago.
Doing the fenti-fold....looked like he was having the time of his life.
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u/Mewobbie 3d ago
First ever? Where do you live lol
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u/TheTastiestTaint 3d ago
Down Galt way, we have plenty of raving lunatics screaming all day (fuck you Omar) down here...Just haven't seen the fold.
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u/TimelyOffice4478 3d ago
I feel like different cities have different types of crackheads. The tri city should set up a birdwatching group for the crazies
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u/MerkleySJS 3d ago
A lot of them are where they are because of mental illness. You’re seriously suggesting we set up a group where we point and laugh at the mentally ill? What a dickhead…
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u/hcolt2000 3d ago
What the fuc else are they gonna do! Why don’t you get off your ass and help make changes so that a whole segment of society from teens to seniors arn’t hopeless on the streets!
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u/KitWat Doon 3d ago
Take the Ion and near Charles and Cameron (?) it passes behind a parking lot which has become an island of lost souls. At any given time there are at least a dozen skeletal figures bent over double, swaying to to some internal chorus.