'CULTURE OF DEATH' SUPPORTS ADDICTS INSTEAD OF HELPING

Editor, The News;

What an altogether curious report in your July 17 issue ('Addicts need a
'safe place' to shoot up,' A3).

Surely what addicts needs is a safe place to kick their deadly habit, that
is, without using dangerous, illegal opiates, so that they might return to
a healthy and happy lifestyle.

If ever there was an example of a culture of death, it's the notion that
citizens should provide funds so that those suffering from drug addiction
can continue their deadly habit. The adage "I must be cruel to be kind,"
seems most germane in the case of such addiction.

Also, the opinion that a health board, supported by the provincial
government, could sue a community that refuses to provide a safe injection
site for addicts strikes me as absurd, because providing such sites is
obviously facilitating the use and even indirectly contributing to the sale
of illegal substances.

The views expressed were those of only four of the Fraser Valley Health
Board members.

I wonder what the other 12 members had to say.

Mark B. Toth

Abbotsford