DRUGS: ANOTHER SET OF FACTS

Margaret Wente's selective use of examples from various nation-states
and academic literature does a disservice to those of us who have
been working in this area for decades, irrespective of the positions
that we take (Europe's Approach To Drugs Is More Enlightened ... It's
Tougher - July 17). There are more than 40 legally sanctioned
injection sites in the countries of Germany, Spain, the Netherlands,
Switzerland, Luxembourg and Norway; these countries do not experience
rates of illicit drug use and abuse that are fundamentally different
from other countries in Europe, taken as a group.

Additionally, there is plenty of credible evidence from the most
prestigious of peer-reviewed journals that many harm-reduction
programs save lives - and taxpayer dollars.

NEIL BOYD

School of Criminology, Simon Fraser University