ADDICT'S MOTHER ENDORSES DRUG STRATEGY

My 40-year-old daughter has been fighting addictions all her life (Board
hears pleas on drug strategy, Feb. 20). It began at age 10 or 11 with
alcohol; for the past seven years, she has been injecting cocaine. She
is now heavily into the drug scene in the Main and Hastings area.

I agree with the Vancouver/Richmond health board's proposals because,
unless there is a miracle, my daughter will hit bottom and die. She and
other addicts in the same situation desperately need help.

I am, however, very concerned that this plan might end up being just a
quick fix. For example, if the resolution to give drugs to addicts gets
rid of some of the attendant problems like prostitution, HIV and other
health problems, and theft, the thinking could become that the problems
have been fixed.

There has to be prevention. The public, the addict and the future addict
have to be taught what addiction is all about -- in schools, by parents
and by health professionals.

By putting more money into education, prevention and treatment now,
further down the road we will be putting less and less money into jails
and health care. But if we continue on the present course, the costs
will keep escalating.

For a good 20 years, I have been trying to help my daughter get the
long-term treatment she needs. She was in five different 30-day
treatment centres before she started injecting cocaine. Perhaps, if she
had been in a three-to-five-year treatment centre like Santa Maria in
Europe, she could have had the chance to understand addiction, learn how
to deal with her addictive personality and get over her guilt, shame and
low self-esteem. She might have had the time to help herself instead of
going right back into the same lifestyle situations.

If this was your son or daughter, what would you do? What kind of help
would you want for them?

Louise Perron, Langley