'IS IT NOT TIME DRUG ADDICTS TOOK RESPONSIBILITY?'

Dozens of you scolded Lisa van der Zwart for her comments on the drug
overdose deaths published here Monday. "Have you no mercy?" you asked. To
recap, here's what derZwart wrote:

"Is it not time the drug addicts of the Downtown Eastside (and elsewhere in
B.C.) stood up and took responsibility for their own actions.

That the government of B.C. spends $50 million on drug and alcohol programs
out of the health ministry's budget of nearly $8 billion is incredible
enough.

In my opinion, this is $50 million too much to spend on individuals who
choose to abuse their bodies, abuse the British Columbia health-care system
and abuse the tax dollars of Joe Public.

I say, put this $50 million to better use helping people with diseases such
as cancer, multiple sclerosis, diabetes or heart disease. This money can
better help people with disease afflicting them by chance, not by choice.

I do not have sympathy for the 2,000 individuals who died from drug
overdoses in B.C. since 1992."

Have mercy, they were someone's sister, brother...

I am 23 years old and used heroin for the first time when I was 16. I used
it until I was 21 and put my entire family through hell.

I never ended up in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside because of the endless
support from my family. But it so easy to end up on the streets of Vancouver
when you're addicted to heroin. When you become junk sick and desperate from
the drug and don't have any money or anyone to turn to, where do you go?

If you call Detox they will put you on a waiting list for one week. If
you've been to that Detox centre before, you have to wait longer than a
week. Now every addict knows that when you ask for help, you need it that
same day.

What I would like to know is where is this $50 million being spent? The
methadone program is a complete joke; it's just a way to keep the addicts
from stealing to support their habit. It does not take care of the real
problem. It's just exchanging one drug habit for another.

These people on Hastings weren't born down there. Most of them are from good
homes.

Right now, you think this not your problem but when your daughter, son,
brother or sister tell you he/she is addicted to heroin, whose problem is it
then?

Jackie Watt, Burnaby

The disease of addiction kills many and affects millions psychologically.

That's right, it is a disease. Most people are sympathetic to people who
suffer from cancer or diabetes but stick a person afflicted with alcoholism
in the middle of the room and we are ashamed of them.

I'm an addict and lost everything. Today I have been clean and sober for
more than four years.

The money the government puts out helped me. I have been gainfully employed
for three and a half years and I am responsible.

Addicts are just as sick as the next sick person, the only problem is that
it isn't a socially acceptable disease.

I sure hope you're not a smoker.

Denis Martel, New Westminster

To insinuate that most people who live in the Downtown Eastside and
use/abuse drugs are there by their own choice is an ignorant assumption.

As for the 2,000 individuals who have died, they were somebody's daughter,
son, sister, husband, mother, and friend.

Tara Worth, Burnaby

These deceased people are mothers, fathers, sisters, and sons.

Tell me how drug addicts are supposed to find the strength to pull
themselves together, clean up and make a sober decision that they're not
going to shoot up today?

It is a disease these people have.

Tamara Gray, Burnaby

Drug users did NOT ask to become addicted, they did NOT ask to become
hookers, they did NOT ask to become the "bottom feeders" of life.

Do you know that most of these so-called "low lifes of society" were once
promising young people?

Unfortunately, most took the wrong road in life and this is where they ended
up. Some by making the wrong choice, some because of abuse by their parents,
some because of abuse by teachers, doctors, counsellors, priests, etc. Most
of these people have a GOOD reason for being there.

Let me tell you: There but for the grace of God go we.

Yvonne Ranks, Mission

Addicts have a disease that has taken over their minds and bodies. Show
compassion.

I've worked down there and it is tragic.

Corby Asher, Port Moody

I am 16 years old. My sister, Helen Mae Hallmark, went missing from the
Downtown Eastside about three years ago. She was a junkie.

Helen and many other missing women did not choose the path of drugs.

I am not saying that the government is responsible for the deaths of drug
addicts but I feel that the government hasn't done a whole lot to get them
off the streets.

Yes, these overdose deaths could have been prevented. However, they weren't
because of people who classify addicts as street scum.

As for junkies taking responsibility for their actions, they have! They have
cried out for help countless times and no one listens.

I only want people to try and look into the depths of a situation instead of
skimming the surface. These people have been condemned to the streets
because of family poverty and unimaginably tragic stories.

Kirsten McClelland, Maple Ridge

The heroin addict has been robbed of true choice by the very people who wash
their hands of these deaths.

A true choice would involve legal abstinence and legal use.

The addict is also robbed of the choice of choosing a regulated product with
an identifiable dosage. This causes most deaths. The choice of legal heroin
also eliminates the involvement in property crimes and prostitution.

In this world all actions have unintended consequences. Prohibition is no
exception. Quantum theory analogy dictates that even an observer has an
effect on any system. Prohibitionists are no mere observers. Their policy is
largely responsible for the genocide in Downtown East Vancouver.

Mouthing platitudes about personal responsibility does not absolve the
prohibitionists of the critical role they play in the death of addicts.

Chuck Beyer, Victoria,B.C.