SHOW US THE SUCCESS STORIES FROM INSITE

Re: Closing down Insite will bring out the angel of death, Editorial, Aug. 12

If the Conservative government is a slave to anti-drug orthodoxy, then
The Vancouver Sun editorial board is enchanted by the cruel euphemism
of "harm reduction."

What it means is that people have to tolerate and accommodate the most
abhorrent social evils instead of eradicating them. The defeatists who
support this craven strategy tend to exhibit an inveterate and
inexplicable hostility towards police. For every social problem that
crops up, their solution is to simply legalize it to obviate law
enforcement. I imagine they will not intervene if their children
become junkies.

The federal government's focus should be on harm elimination. Drug use
is criminal behaviour, not a disease. It is a matter to be dealt with
under the aegis of law enforcement, not our fragile health care system.

The justice system must punish drug trafficking and its collateral
evils with the utmost ferocity. Drug addicts also have to pay a
penalty for their contribution to the moral and material decay of
society. Compassion is not infinite nor is the money to subsidize
peoples' moral weakness.

The Downtown Eastside is no less squalid than before Insite was
established. Yet the apologists make exaggerated claims of "progress."
We'll know it when we see it.

Steven Austin, Delta