RESIDENTS' NEEDS CLASH WITH THOSE OF ADDICTS

The type of polemic that Ian Mulgrew describes is not helpful at all
toward any resolution of the substance abuse problems in the Downtown
Eastside (Coalition gathers to fight Owen's drug policy, Jan. 20). The
Community Alliance seems determined to politicize a public health
emergency without bothering to articulate its own framework for
action. Mayor Philip Owen has done his homework and come up with a
plan. Until the Community Alliance does the same, its arguments are
hollow and perhaps even damaging.

William McMichael

Vancouver