TURVEY WAS MAN ENOUGH TO STATE HIS VIEWS

Re: The world is a better place, thanks to John Turvey, Editorial, Oct. 14

John Turvey was a hard-working, outspoken, but friendly man. We
shared a common concern for street youth and I am pleased to have
known him. We worked together in getting kids off the streets of the
Downtown Eastside in the early 1980s when I was assigned as a young
Vancouver police constable to the Juvenile Car (Car 178).

The editorial deservedly eulogized John, but failed to convey his
feelings about harm reduction in general. Notwithstanding the honours
heaped upon him, needle exchange programs have spread HIV and Hep C
to a saturation level because they were meant to handle only the
heroin problem. When cocaine became more mainstream just after the
exchange opened up in 1989, these diseases became rampant because of
the relative loss of control over the users' lives when they used
"more" (a nickname for cocaine).

John was against drug injection sites. He knew that some so-called
harm reduction policies would make this world a worse place to live
in and he was man enough to say so.

Al Arsenault

President

Odd Squad Productions Society

Vancouver