POLICE ARE RIGHT TO CLEAR THE STREETS OF ADDICTS USING DRUGS

Two police officers patrolling the streets of Vancouver's Downtown
Eastside are hassled by drug addicts spitting verbal abuse and
brandishing placards protesting their "brutal" treatment. What's their beef?

They've been told they'll be arrested and charged if they continue to
shoot up in public.

Instead, the police want the heroin addicts to make use of the
supervised injection site right on their doorstep. And why should
this be such a difficult choice?

It's true that, for years, the addicts have been allowed to get away
with open defiance of the law. It's also true that to start sending
them back to jail for doing so will solve nobody's problems.

The desperate plight of these people requires society to do what it
can to alleviate their devastating health problems.

Providing a safe, secure environment in which to inject their drugs
is not only good for them but for us, too.

Whatever sympathies, though, we might have for their situation
doesn't mean we should be required to witness the degrading spectacle
of addicts injecting themselves in full public view.

Every month, some 7,000 used hypodermic needles are found tossed into
the gutters, posing an obvious health threat.

Legitimate businesses suffer, real estate values slump and a historic
neighbourhood that could be a city showpiece languishes in decay.

It's time the addicts went inside.