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