10-30-2025, 04:13 PM
A little over a decade ago, I lived in the Nipigon area in northwestern Ontario, and worked at a college campus. Coming from the then-less-troubled south-central Ontario, it shocked me to find out that pretty much everything that could even remotely possibly be abused in a convenience store or pharmacy (so, all pain/allergy/cold and flu relief, mouthwash, peroxide, hand sanitizer, shaving equipment, glue, aerosol containers) had to be requested from a locked cabinet behind the cash register. At the college, the ashtrays in the smoking areas were frequently cut out of their bases and dumped out on the walkways, because people were sorting through butts. And the wildest part was that all the hand sanitizer dispensers in the college were stocked with a very watery foaming hand soap (if anything), because people would actually break them open and take off with the pouch of hand sanitizer to consume it. Now, I'm seeing similar steps being taken in this region and in Guelph. At what point do policymakers start giving a shit?