DIABETES AND ADDICTION: THERE'S MORE TO THE STORY

As someone who has had diabetes for almost my entire life, I feel
compelled to respond to the recent letters that say drug users should
not get free needles because diabetics don't get them.

I think this is a selfish attitude, saying "because I don't get this,
nobody should get it."

Both drug addicts and diabetics should get free needles, but at least
we have PharmaCare, and the addicts don't.

Addiction is a chronic disease, just like diabetes
is.

Now, people will read that sentence and say, "I didn't choose to get
diabetes, but those people chose to be drug addicts."

Wrong. They might have chosen to take drugs the first time, but they
did not choose to become addicted. And addiction is not something a
person can just recover from overnight.

There is no cure for addiction, just as there is no cure for diabetes
- -- only treatment.

Drug use can lead to diseases like HIV and hepatitis C. The use of the
needle exchange can help prevent those diseases, which could save the
health-care system a good deal of money down the road -- money that
might be used to treat diabetes and other chronic diseases.

Iris Gray

Esquimalt