SILVER BULLET WON'T WORK

Editor, The News:

Thank you to Downtown Eastside Youth Activities Society health outreach
manager Judy McGuire for her very informative letter "Needle exchanges part
of whole package."

Her comment, "...(needle exchange) is not a silver bullet and will not, by
itself, curtail an epidemic. It is the experience of our exchange that
fully 70 per cent of the users we deal with want to get off drugs now," is
very revealing.

Unfortunately, both the federal and provincial governments have mandated
that harm reduction is the flavour-of-the-day, not rehabilitation.

Needle give-aways (let's tell it like it is) have been assigned political
correctness so that any common sense or medical arguments are summarily
dismissed. Once an NEP is in place, politicians and bureaucrats walk away
feeling they have really done the job.

The Vancouver needle exchange has been in operation since 1988. In the
intervening 13 years, detox facilities in Vancouver have remained grossly
inadequate.

I have contacted several drug and alcohol treatment centres in Vancouver
and the Fraser Valley. All tell me, off the record, that the greatest need
now is detoxification facilities so addicts may go on to rehabilitation.

None exists in the Fraser Valley. Chilliwack already services Abbotsford
with a needle exchange. Abbotsford needs to "complete the package," in Ms.
McGuire's words, and put in a detox facility, even if it is not politically
correct.

L. Stanway

Abbotsford