HOPE AND DESPAIR

I find the recent crisis around the public discard of needles in
Ottawa a reason for hope and a reason for despair. The community has
decided to take a stand on drug use and is looking for different
solutions. Drug use is a community problem. The police cannot handle
it own their own; the residents who are affected by needle discards
need support; and the drug addicts are in need of services tailored to
their needs. Seeing the community react to drug use gives me hope. I
believe that it is through debate and communication that Ottawa will
be able to solve the problem of drug use and of needle discards.

However, the way the debate around drug use and needle discards is
conducted by certain community leaders opens the door to much despair.
The war on drugs has failed, yet it is often touted as an effective
solution. The rhetoric surrounding the problem of drug use and needle
discards is steeped in fearmongering and exclusion; it ignores
concrete peer-reviewed medical science.

The actual messages in the debate surrounding drug use and needle
discard seem to be dividing the community instead of pulling it
together. Divisive community strategies always fail. I believe that
Vancouver's Downtown East Side came about through exclusion,
fearmongering and an over-reliance on enforcement. We must not let the
very serious problem of needle discards monopolize the complex issue
of addiction.

Jean-Francois Martinbault,

Gatineau