ADDICTS ARE HUMANS, TOO

David Knowles criticises the Herald for the headline "Moral victory
for injecting room", arguing that official sanction to drug abuse is
certainly not moral (Letters, April 11).

On what grounds is a medical trial, to determine whether a supervised
injecting centre will reduce overdose deaths, the spread of
blood-borne viruses and the disposal of used injecting equipment in
public areas, an official sanction to drug abuse? Is it moral to
stand by and watch people die from shooting up in our streets,
doorways, alleyways and cheap hotels?

On leaving a Darlinghurst Road restaurant last night, I passed a
young man lying on a bench - cold, blue and barely breathing. He was
surrounded by restaurant patrons, studiously ignoring him. As I
attempted to revive him while waiting for the ambulance, I was told
by one diner that "it's all right, he is just asleep". I am guessing
that had he been a well-groomed dining patron, he would have been
offered immediate assistance.

While ever we continue to view drug users as other, it will remain
difficult to reach clinically based, socially acceptable decisions on
how best to meet their health needs, and those of the broader
community.

Sarah Harris, Mona Vale, April 11.