ONE SMALL STEP TOWARDS AN ADDICT'S MIRACLE

It is incredibly sad and painful for me to watch this heated and pointless
debate over the heroin injection room trials. Heroin addiction is a full
mind-and-body disease. Its debilitating effects on the individual far
outweigh the discomfort of non-drug users jolted out of their "lucky
country" bubble.

Emotional, financial, psychological and physical support need to be made
available to addicts of all ages. It is a sick joke to think supervised
injecting clinics glamorise drugs; anyone who has ever known or seen a
junkie knows that it is about as far from glamor as you get. Open wounds,
utter despair and a cruel, shaking craving are not "cool" or exciting.

I am a 19-year-old who has experimented with various qualities and
quantities of hard and soft drugs, and have a history of homelessness,
depression and anxiety.

My own personal motives to experiment were many and varied, including
self-sabotage, an ill-defined need to fit in, the glamorisation of the rave
scene (which is mostly an ecstasy, speed and LSD scene), a love of altered
consciousness, escapism, peer pressure, a justification for failure in this
increasingly competitive society, the physically and mentally addictive
properties of the drugs themselves and - in times of extreme poverty and
homelessness - an escape from feeling cold and hungry and powerless.

The circumstances of drug addictions are so varied and intense and personal
that to deny addicts access to specialised services because of statistics
and generalisations is not only narrow-minded but cruel.

Also, it is ridiculous to think that first-time or casual users could
"infiltrate" the system. This is an insult to the professional integrity,
training and experience of social workers and nursing staff. Try faking the
huge, vicious scars (tracks) on the arms.

Heroin addicts are treated with the same stigma of fear and
misunderstanding that disabled persons, mental patients, and AIDS victims
suffered in decades past. Addicts need to be treated as a minority of the
population suffering a life-threatening disease.

Heroin clinics should not be subject to "success" rates of clear, recovered
addicts. Their "success" is in preventing cold, ugly, lonely deaths. A
clean, recovered addict is beyond success; he/she is a living miracle.

Heroin injection clinics are only one part of the miracle process.

Nadia Okonn