HELP THE ADDICTED

I'm proud to live in a city where there is a needle exchange. It means
Victorians have the compassion and wisdom to help reduce the risk of
contracting AIDS or hepatitis for a group of people who are our
brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters, our mothers and fathers
- -- and whose only real crime is to have a disease, the disease of
addiction. It is a disease that has robbed them of their dignity and
has removed for them any choice in whether or not to take drugs. Would
we deprive them of the needle exchange? Surely not.

Anne Kirkaldy,

Victoria