ALCOHOL, DRUG ADDICTION AS MUCH A DISEASE AS CANCER

This letter is in reference to S. Wilder's Feb. 9 letter regarding
the Brentwood funding. How can someone still in today's society be so
intolerant? Since when is alcohol and drug abuse not a disease? I can
tell that S. Wilder has been without proper education for quite some time.

Have you thought about all the thousands of people out there who
suffer from mental illness and depression, conditions that may impair
their judgment and therefore develop addictions? I agree that there
is ownership to addiction, but you can't take away programs that help
them learn coping strategies. How do you ever expect anyone to
overcome addiction without structured treatment?

I feel for anyone in your family that develops any sort of addiction.
I'm fairly certain that you won't be around for support. How exactly
do you know that half of people in Brentwood are repeat offenders?

Do you work there? Completed any studies?You need to keep your
ignorant comments to yourself and stop offending many of the people
Brentwood has affected. God forbid an addict actually gets help.

Maybe we should just take all our suffering and recovering addicts
over to the Capitol Theatre for a nice play and refreshments. While
we're at it, why don't we shut down the local homeless shelters?
Don't homeless people choose to be homeless?

Allyson Attwater

Windsor