SHUTTING AWAY ADDICTS WON'T SOLVE THE PROBLEMS

Re: MLA wants to ship addicts to a rural tough-love facility, Sept. 28

I have worked in the addictions field in B.C. since 1969. In 1979, I
was hired by the provincial government's Alcohol and Drug Commission
to work in the ill-fated heroin treatment program. This program was
designed to assess clients with drug problems (especially heroin
addiction), to recommend treatment and could require addicts to submit
to three years of compulsory treatment. Brannen Lake in Nanaimo was
the treatment centre where addicts were sent. But the program was shut
down because it violated basic human rights.

Someone needs to remind policy-makers and politicians of the sordid
history of the schemes and dreams of politicians and others who just
want to bury the addiction "problem" with quick fixes rather than a
multi-faceted considered approach, which deals with all substance
addictions, including alcohol and tobacco.

Carol-Ann F. Dwyer

Campbell River