FAMILIES OF DRUG USERS NEED A SAY

RE Col Parrett's Letter ("Drugs: the emphasis should be changed", CT, 18
August). Mr Parrett obviously has not been in the position of a parent with
a drug-addicted child.

I am continually surprised that the people who have no such intimate
connection with drug users are the ones who shout loudest and are most often
listened to. Should not the message from those who have family members
involved with drugs be listened to also? Yes, Mr Parrett, Neil Lade was not
only advocating safe injecting rooms but drug-law reform as well. This from
someone whose child has died from an overdose.

For some reason people think that because you are for drug-law reform you
are pro drugs. Nothing could be further from the truth.

We hate illicit drugs.

They took our children.

The point being that we would like our children alive; if they were there
might have been some chance of rehabilitating them. I didn't lose my child.

I am one of the lucky ones. However, until my daughter took it into her own
hands to rehabilitate, I spent most nights for some years awake, wondering
if she were safe at home, or maybe unconscious in a gutter somewhere. Or
maybe even dead. Users come from all socio-economic levels, and should not
be stereotyped as the scrap of humanity crouched in a doorway. Even if they
were, they are all someone's beloved children and all deserve the same
consideration to be treated as individuals.

JAN STEELE Dianella, Western Australia