ADDICTS CAN BE ANYONE

The Editor,

RE: "Recovery not for my neighbourhood," News, Letters, July 11.

Guess what, Dezmond Mok, all of Richmond is your neighbourhood, as it is mine.

I acknowledge the concern for a 32-bed recovery home rather than a
more discreet 10-bed facility coming into any neighbourhood. However,
I would rather have a monitored, strictly regulated facility where
the staff and clients know they have to keep their noses clean or
risk of being shut down by the community and local government than a
home that has been turned into a grow-op or chemical lab.

Which one do you think would be more concerned about its neighbours
and being neighbourly? What do you think a recovering addict looks
like? Unkempt and unbathed? Shaven and tattooed? Clean cut and well
dressed? Well-groomed and well-spoken?

A person with an addiction can be anyone -- even the gainfully
employed decent looking person who lives down the street from you or
the stay-at-home caregiver whose yard is kitty-corner to yours.

Help should be available when these unseen addicted persons admit
that they need help.

To continue this NIMBY campaign, Richmond citizens are abandoning
those who have cried out for help.

According to your letter, what is important to the members of "The
Caring Citizens of Richmond" are their property values and the
preservation of their own pocket neighbourhood that has no interest
in the whole of Richmond, and not interested in the value of
compassion, understanding and the building of a healthy, integrated community.

Elise Emnacen,

Richmond